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.
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.
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.