Drummers

Scuzi

Scuzi

Scuzi

Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
20,466
Location
UK
Long story short…
My 9 year old had a go on drums last year and seemed to have some sort of natural ability so we got him an electric drum kit (Yamaha DTX430) and booked him some lessons. He’s doing very well and got to the point his drum teacher said he really needs an acoustic kit to progress further.

We got him a Pearl Export kit which he loves. Trouble is, it’s deafeningly (literally) loud and we don’t want him to damage his or our hearing. We got a QT silencer set which works really well on the toms but makes next to no difference on the snare. Because of this we have the additional problem of the snare being much louder than the rest throwing it out of balance and still risking hearing damage. So the first question is, how do we quieten the kit down whilst still keeping it in balance and still having it sound good enough so that it doesn’t take the enjoyment out of it? I’ve read about donuts and mesh heads but don’t want to drop the money on them to find out they don’t have the desired effect.

Another question, more for when he wants to take the pads off and play at full volume. He currently plays music through an Amazon echo dot fed into a 30w drum monitor and drums along to it. When he puts his ear defenders on, he struggles to hear the music above the drums. I’m thinking it would be better to bypass the monitor and use suitable headphones. Can anyone recommend headphones that provide similar or better hearing protection than ear defenders?

Finally, is there any platform (app based maybe?) which will play the music without drums so he has to do it all himself? He’s mostly working on songs by bands like Nirvana, Green Day, Megadeth and the like.

You’ve probably realised long before now that I haven’t much of a clue about this. I’m just trying to do the supportive dad thing and need some advice. Thanks.
 
Here's a few options -

"Drumless Music" - After the popularity of Rockband/Guitar Hero etc there is quite a lot of unofficial Drumless music available (which we can't discuss on here) but trying to find legitimate music can be quite hard. I use Spotify to start with alongside streaming Youtube (good selection) but then managed to "find" about 3.5GB (400 tracks) of Rockband/GH type music but be aware of "legitimate looking" sites who are just selling Torrented songs for hundreds of dollars - looking at you drumlessversion.com - how it hasn't been shut down yet I've no idea!

Monitor - Consider using bluetooth in-ear headphones as these will have a dual purpose of listening to the music and also noise deadening, then (due to his age) I'd also put over ear ear-protectors on him too to further isolate the noise.

Quiet kit - All the rubber mats/pads felt terrible to me but if you need to use them and you;'re happy with everything but the snare then I'd consider using the rubber pad on the snare on top as normal but then use a short bungey cord to hold a pillow or rolled up towel against the bottom skin to dampen that down too which should make a noticeable difference.

Thats some basic stuff, I'm sure others will be along with other advice too.
 
Last edited:
After not playing for ages due to life and job commitments, after moving from an apartment into a detached house I thought screw this I’m going to set my kit up in my kitchen diner. I have an SJC custom kit and a big cymbal setup containing mostly A customs. I had a few Initial sessions playing along to songs putting my sonos play 5 up to max. Trouble was it was just too loud and although I get on with all my neighbours I didn’t want to annoy them. For context, I play to all sorts of music from punk to metal to hip hop and I play quite loud.

Sorry for rattling on - anyway best thing I did was buy ‘low volume cymbals’ which typically are cymbals filled with holes. They are almost exactly the same feel as playing the real deal but up to 70% quieter (depending on product).

I also bought a tama ‘soft beater’ bass drum pedal head which works well and these dampening rings to put on the other drums. My snare is crazy loud with 2 huge vent holes in and I stuffed a few kitchen towels/ pillow cases inside the snare to dampen it.

whilst it’s still loud, I find if I close the doors and Windows in the house it brings it down to a very acceptable level for those outside your house.

I can’t remember the brand on my soft cymbals as they have a funny name that’s hard to read but I’ll give an update if I find out. They are absolutely brilliant and actually sound very decent.
 
@Scuzi check out an app called Moises, works pretty well for cutting out instrumental parts.

Can't comment on the reducing sound levels as I've always just played my kit with as is, sometimes use noise cancelling headphones which can help though.
 
Tea towel over the snare.

Have a look at some of the more upmarket Roland e-kits. They're very good. I've not had an acoustic kit for about 15 years, but have had my td8 for that entire time. It keeps me playing and when I play on acoustic at rehearsals or gigs, I tend to find it's easier. The response from the mesh heads on the td8 isn't as good as from normal drum skins, so it's a nice surprise moving to acoustic.

An e kit will also allow you to send midi to a computer, I use it to trigger samples from addictive drums which sound amazing. That also means that using a recording app eg logic I can record what I play, play along to music, loop sections and generally have loads of flexibility to practice and write.
 
bloodiedathame said:
Tea towel over the snare.

Have a look at some of the more upmarket Roland e-kits. They're very good. I've not had an acoustic kit for about 15 years, but have had my td8 for that entire time. It keeps me playing and when I play on acoustic at rehearsals or gigs, I tend to find it's easier. The response from the mesh heads on the td8 isn't as good as from normal drum skins, so it's a nice surprise moving to acoustic.

An e kit will also allow you to send midi to a computer, I use it to trigger samples from addictive drums which sound amazing. That also means that using a recording app eg logic I can record what I play, play along to music, loop sections and generally have loads of flexibility to practice and write.
Click to expand...

Definitely this. A decent Roland E-Kit is the way to go sadly (as they are very pricey) but the mesh heads aren’t that bad in terms of comparison to the real thing and they allow so much flexibility.
 
Google up some famous drummers, see what bands they played in and then look to see if there's a drum-less version of their albums.
Good ones to start with are those who have their own 'Signature' range of drumstics from manufacturers like Vic Firth.

For example, Dave Weckl is a fusion-jazz drummer, who has several albums that also come without drums and include a book of sheet music for each track. I was never into jazz per se, but he was pretty much required reading for my teacher and I learned an absolute tonne just by studying his stuff. I later went to see him perform at Ronnie Scotts and got a few tips direct, which was brilliant.

As for silencing the kit - We used to use these big rubber discs with a thick central piece for the snare. It made things much quieter, though still not silent, but then it also forced us to learn to play quietly, which was important for control as much as anything else. Earplugs were also required, though you can also get proper custom-moulded noise-attenuating plugs too, often with the option of add-in monitor sockets that work with the more modern mushroom-tip headphones. That way he gets the music direct from the stereo during practice or the mixing deck when gigging and you can hear it over the drums.

Another option is a Flats kit, if they still make those. It's basically just a single head for each drum rather than a full cylinder, which is somewhat quieter anyway and great for playing small venues. Also quite cheap, last time I looked.
Electronic kits can often mix both the drum sounds and the music together, which is one of the cool things they can do. Personally I still don't find them as good or as flexible as a full kit, but that's just personal choice, I'm sure.
 
Very helpful, thank you for the advice. I doubt we’ll be buying a new kit any time soon - still feeling the sting of the new acoustic kit!
 
Forgot to update this thread. I got him a set of Remo Silentstroke heads and a set of WHD low volume cymbals. It works great - takes the average/peak noise down from 110/120dB to 92/100dB whilst still keeping the kit balanced and as real feeling as possible. The Remo heads needed a bit of masking tape over them to tighten up the sound as they were very flat as standard. The snare and floor Tom sound great. The rack toms not so much but still much better than the rubberised pads on the normal heads.

He’s progressing well and competently playing some of the more advanced stuff from the Foo Fighters, Killers, Nirvana and Megadeth. I thought I was just seeing him through rose tinted proud dad spectacles but his teacher is pretty impressed. We just need to find him a group to jam with to get some real on the fly exposure but other kids his age just can’t keep up. Not sure what to do about that.
 
Bit late to this but yes I would have recommended the Remo Silenstroke heads as well. I'm in the process of changing over from a Roland TD17-KVX e-drum kit to an acoustic with Silentstroke's. After 3 years of playing I found clear limitations of the drum kit, despite it being one of the mid range ones (and costing nearly £2000). For that kind of money you can get a serious acoustic kit, so i'll sell of the Roland at some point. I even shelled out for Superior Drummer which is very highly regarded but the feel was never there for me (despite the mesh heads on the TD17), toms are too small and I don't have hours and hours to learn how to be an audio engineer to use SD properly.

As he already has a teacher that's great, and makes a world of difference. I do however use drumeo.com. They have hundreds if not thousands of lessons but the main draw for me is the collection of songs with drum score to play along with. All transcribed very accuarately. You can slow down the entire song, or only specific portions. You can even just play the drum section. I don't believe you can remove the drums altogether from songs though. Some amazing, very well known drummers have also done live sessions there and mini-lessons which are amazing to watch. It's not cheap, but I use it almost daily.

Best of luck to him. I wish I continued playing at his age instead of going down the route of playing an instrument my parents wanted me to. At 37 I picked up the sticks again and it's one of the best things I've ever done.
 
I used to be well into drums when i was younger, regular lessons and playing in band at school but we got so many complaints (when i was playing at home) that we had to sell my kit and bought an electric kit instead (Roland td iirc) but lost interest as it was just never the same.

Just posting to say well done for sticking with it for your nipper really.
 
The neighbours have been amazing. Some of them would hang around outside his window until he was done then clap for him :D Before we quietened the kit down it was unsustainable. The cymbals in particular could be heard a quarter mile down the road, and I’m sure the neighbours’ good will would have worn off long before now.

We’re happy with the setup now. I just had to return the snare and kick drum heads to Gear4Music under the warranty as they had worn through. They replaced them with no questions asked which was great.
 
He heard this song in the car and decided to give it a go. This is after about 45 minutes since first attempt. Far from perfect but I can't get my head around how he translates it from ear to hands and feet without any notation or tabs or anything like that.

 
I would definitely recommend getting him some proper fitted musicians earplugs made by your local audiologist. I've long used them when rehearsing and gigging (I play guitar in a loud rock band) and my hearing still seems pretty good. I have known a few drummers that didn't bother with ear protection and ended up regretting it.

Lots of tips already suggested here to quiet a kit. Can you soundproof a room or find a practice studio or other place where he can rock out at volume? Otherwise a higher end electronic kit will cost money but might be a viable compromise such as the Yamaha DTX8K-M or Roland TD-27KV. Or if you can really throw money at it then get something like the Roland V-Drums TD-50KV2.
 
Any tips on recording drums? I’m recording him with my iPhone at the moment but the mics tend to home in on the cymbals and drown out the other tones. I have to stand next to the speaker to ensure the background music can be heard on the recording.

He would like to start making some proper videos for a YouTube channel but phone videos won’t cut it. Would a relatively cheap set of drum mics into a mixer recorded on a laptop do the job? I’d like to trial it as cheaply as possible to test the concept before chucking any serious money at it.

Here‘s a few examples:



 
@Scuzi it depends how much you want to spend. You could try a small portable recorder with a twin XY integrated mic, I think there’s a good one made by Zoom, or you could get a full mic setup and spend hundreds!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom