Many drummers probably don’t know that the double bass drum, or double kick, was actually the brainchild of a 15-year-old high school boy who needed a project for his art class. From the 1940’s up until his death in 2009, Louie Bellson was considered one of the world’s greatest drummers and one of the “Big Three” alongside Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. Bellson pioneered the use of the double kick drum which is so prevalent in rock music today, especially with the heavy metal crowd.

Go to any heavy metal or hard rock concert and you’ll see drummers from Alex Van Halen to Jason Bittner with elaborate double-kick drum sets and the chops to play them. Early Van Halen music is rife with great double- and even triple-kick drum technique. But many great drummers still prefer the single kick, if for no other reason than convenience. Or maybe just to show off their drumming prowess. One of the techniques that made Led Zeppelin drummer, the late John Bonham, so influential was his ability to play quads (a four-note linear hand/foot combination), using only a single kick drum pedal. Check out the song “Moby Dick” sometime from the film “The Song Remains the Same” to see Bonham in action. It’s inspirational. The type of wood used for kick drums varies almost as much as the drummers themselves. Birch, maple and mahogany are probably the most popular, but there is also poplar, ash, basswood, and rosewood, along with fiberglass. While maple provides a warmer sound, it also sounds good across a wide spectrum of frequencies and is probably the most popular wood. Kick drums come in many sizes, ranging mostly in the 20- to 26-inch by 18-to 20-inch range. The bigger drums have a bigger, boomier sound and are mainly used for rock while the smaller drums tend to be used for jazz.

Whether or not to use two kick drums or a double kick drum pedal (two single pedals connected by an extension rod) with a single kick drum is a matter of personal preference. Many drummers like the convenience of only having to pack, carry and set up one drum instead of two. The types of drum heads to use are also a matter of personal preference. I don’t like having huge pillows or blankets stuffed inside my drum (like I did in high school) because it tends to interfere with the natural sound of the drum. Instead, I use drum heads with built-in muffling. If you’re using two kick drums, most drum experts advise using the same heads on both kick drums and tuning them the same to get an even sound. One method of tuning is to have the batter side of the head tuned one or two notes higher than the resonant side, which will be tuned as low as possible in order to get a punchier sound. I prefer a hole in my resonant or front head, no bigger than seven inches, to create a punchier sound and also allow a close-up microphone technique. For jazz, many drummers prefer not to have a hole and mic the head from either the front or the back near the kick drum pedal. As far as beaters go (the part of the drum pedal that hits the drum head) many come with a combination of wood, felt and rubber that can be switched to fit your sound preference. Wood is going to be heavy on the slap while the felt side will be punchier. There really is no right or wrong set-up. Whether you go with the double or single kick drum, or even four kick drums, the only limit is your own imagination. Written by Toby Tate Toby Tate is a performing musician, songwriter and studio engineer from northeastern North Carolina. Currently a freelance writer, Toby was a reporter and graphic designer for The Daily Advance newspaper for five years and has had stories and articles published in regional and national magazines and on the Internet. His first novel, DIABLERO, a supernatural thriller, will be released worldwide in October by Nightbird Publishing.

I’m sure you’ve spent hours listening to and learning the drum beats, rhythms and epic solos of your favorite jazz, rock and funk drummers. Without a doubt active listening should always be a part of your drumming regimen. Developing your ear for music is a vital skill all musicians, especially drummers, need to have in their training arsenal. Though it’s important, actively listening to your favorite drummers isn’t the only skill you should rely on to improve your craft. Using your eyes to drum is one way to start performing like a pro. What Is Drumming With Your Eyes? Most drummers would agree that it would be impossible to drum without your hands. But if you think about it, it would be equally impossible to drum without your eyes. Put simply, drumming with your eyes means going to a live show with the specific purpose to watch the drummer and truly studying how he works from start to finish. Like active listening with your ears, drumming with your eyes involves paying close attention to how another drummer sets up his kit, how he plays, how he interacts with his band mates before during and after a set. In their own way, the best drummers use their eyes to study everything around them, especially the habits and behaviors of other drummers. And by doing so, they pick up little things and work those insights into their own style to hone their craft. So whether you’re at a show watching as a fan in the audience or checking out a video at home, whenever you don’t have your drum sticks in your hands you should always be using your eyes to study, soak up and evaluate the habits and nuances other drummers. One of the benefits of drumming with your eyes is that you don’t always have to watch the best drummers in the world to learn something or pick up an inside tip. And once you get used to actively watching drummers of all skill levels, you’ll naturally become more aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. And when your drumming skills plateau, drumming with your eyes can also help to get you out of a creative rut. And when you have that complete awareness as a drummer you’ll be able to improve your playing, make adjustments and perfect your own style. Like practicing your rudiments, taking time to drum with your eyes is one way you can elevate your playing.  It’s a visual drumming tool that, when combined with active listening, can send you on your way to laying down beats, rhythms and grooves just like the pros do. How have you been drumming with your eyes? What nuances have you notice by watching other drummers?

As drummers, we all take the snare drum for granted. It’s just another drum, right? Nothing special. But the snare is usually the first drum any drummer learns to play on. In fact, it could be argued that the snare drum is the key piece in your kit, providing the backbeat or the locomotion of the rhythm. The snare drum began life rather inconspicuously—as a marching instrument for military bands, strapped on to its player and sporting an animal skin for a drum head. Eventually the snare became the core of the “trap” set or drum kit. Snare drums can be made of birch, mahogany, maple, plywood, fiberglass, or even stainless steel and usually employ plastic or Mylar drum heads. Usually about 14 inches in diameter and six to eight inches deep, the snare drum is sometimes called “the steering wheel” because, well, it kind of looks like a steering wheel and because it “drives” the kit. Sitting on a stand, it is the central focus, directly in front of the player (in most cases) and surrounded by the other drums and cymbals. The kick drum, hi-hat and ride cymbal are also part of what propels musical rhythm, but the snare drum is usually the focal point of any drum kit. Snare drums are used in everything from classical music to big band, jazz, country and rock. Think about some of the great drummers of the past—Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, John Bonham—and consider the role the snare drum played in their music. From amazing drum rolls to loud rim shots, the snare always seems to cut through the mix. There are even bands like the rockabilly trio Stray Cats, whose drummer Slim Jim Phantom uses only two drums—a snare and a kick drum. The snare drum is typically the most played drum in the kit. Its versatility allows the player to create many different sounds. Loosen the chain (snare) on the bottom (resonant) head, and you instantly have a completely different sound, like that of a timbale. The head can be loosened for a deeper sound or tightened for a higher pitched sound. Triplets played with brushes a la Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” can create the effect of a train running down the tracks, while a single stroke hammering every fourth note accentuates the driving rhythms of drummer Charlie Watts that brought The Rolling Stones from London clubs to worldwide fame. Watch an instructional video and most any drum teacher will begin by explaining the purpose of the snare drum and its place in the drum kit. But after a few hundred years of change and evolution, the snare drum has definitely earned its place in the history of drum playing. References: Drum Solo.cc: Buying a Snare Drum: The Center of our Universe by Greg Gaylord Percussion Clinic.com: Snare Drum

“Drumtrainer – Backbeat 16th Note” by Benny Greb is an iPhone/iPod Touch app that allows you to select different note arrangements for a bass drum, hi-hat, and snare (including ghost notes). The app lets you and see what they look like as notation and hear what they sound like through the headphones.

(photo by Terry Richardson for Rolling Stone)

Lady GaGa’s tells Rolling Stone her ex boyfriend is a heavy metal drummer named Luka. Who is he? Here are several heavy metal drummers named Luka we could find on the web: • Luka van der Poel of Dutch metal drummer of the band DeWolff? • Luka Kovac of Croatin metal band J.W. Pozoj?
• Luka Gómez of Spanish band Frozen Silence?
• Luka Szpakolski of Austrialina band Dirty York?
• Luka Canali of Italian metal band Idols are Dead?
• Luka Salehar of Slovenia metal Silence and Niowt?
• Luka Podobnik of Slovenian band Zerocold? Which metal drummer named Luka do you think was Lady Gaga’s ex boyfriend?

Dixon Drums is proud to announce that we are the official drum set of Feelgoods Las Vegas. Founded by Vince Neil, lead singer of the legendary rock band, Mötley Crüe and custom chopper builder, “The Count” of Count’s Kustoms, Feelgoods Rock Bar and Grill offers diners a unique and tasty dining experience topped off by live rockin’ entertainment from the stage. Dixon equipped Feelgoods with an Outlaw series 5-piece drumset in Blackburst finish, complementary hardware and Sabian Cymbals.

Drummers from bands including Jani Lane, Heavy Honey and Faster Pussycat have performed on the Dixon kit and commented on the great sound and quality of the drums. “Dixon is proud to partner with our friends at Feelgoods and to grace their stage,” says Jim Stanek, product manager for Dixon Drums. See the full gallery of photos here.

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you have not already. Community Perhaps the most overlooked part of creating a successful channel is to understand YouTube as a community. If you join Twitter or Facebook don’t just send out one message and leave it at that. The more you engage the YouTube community the better chance you have of your videos being found. YouTube supports content providers who are active in the community. That is why you often see videos with lower view counts rank higher then videos with substantially more views. It’s about interaction:

Subscribe to other channels. Add friends. Comment on other videos. Respond to people who commented on your videos and channel

Collaborate with other musicians or people with channels on YouTube. Recommend their songs, videos, and channels and ask them to do the same for you. This helps cross promote musicians’ channels and brings the collaborators additional viewers. Don’t sit back and wait for people to discover you, go to where they are. Browse popular videos, ones that are currently rising, top videos of the day, etc and drop a comment. It’s best if the videos have some connection or relevancy to your music, but even if they don’t you are just trying to build exposure for your channel. When commenting follow the same etiquette you do on other social networks. Don’t spam and drop tags randomly, leaving unrelated comments or worse just dropping an ad or call out for your video. Attach video responses on other popular videos but make them relevant (since the owner of the video you respond to will need to approve your video). Don’t be spammy. Video responses are very successful in gaining awareness and they get a much higher click through then text comments. This wants to be done daily. If you haven’t logged into your account for a week or a month, YouTube may consider you inactive and it could affect your ranking. YouTube is offering you a free channel to market your music and your showmanship. The more time you put in the more you will get back. Optimize Your Channel The place to start is by optimizing your account. What do you name your channel? I suggest you think long term. You may want to name the channel after your band and that might be a good strategy if you are only building an audience for this one band. If you are establishing yourself as a drummer that would like to play in a number of bands or as a drummer for hire, allow your channel help create your personal brand . You might want to think of creating a channel that has legs beyond this band. Why promote yourself? Because people want to trust that they will have a good experience before they buy your next record or attend the next gig. Major artists are well know. You have expectations around their defined genres, styles, and high production value. You know what you are buying. Not so much when it comes to independent musicians. Write your profile to give visitors a sense of your personality and what this channel is all about. Your description adds some keyword juice to improve search results but more importantly it gives channel visitors an opportunity to know you at a glance. Include all relevant links to your MySpace band profile, Facebook fan page, Last.fm, Soundcolud, iLike, Twitter, and any other links that can help establish your music. You are selling yourself and your content so make sure you tell a compelling story. Think Long Term Just like other social networks and DIY marketing efforts this takes time. I would plan on devoting time everyday to your channel. This is a long-term strategy and it is important to start as early as possible in setting up your channel. If you can produce content before you release new tracks or play gigs, you will have better results when you are ready to announce something actionable by your fans. By staying connected to your audience and adding fresh content you will build a fan base not only for this band but for future projects as well. These are the fans that hopefully will purchase your music or attend your gigs, help spread the word of mouth buzz that greatly contributes to a successful music career and perhaps be the ones who help fund your next project.

Bedrock Rehersal Studios in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silverlake/Echo Park will host its Summer Drummer Open House on Saturday, May 29th between 11am-1pm. Parents and kids are invited to meet the Bedrock staff, play some drums, have fun, grab a snack, and get some free stuff. It’s all about letting drum students know about Bedrock’s Summer Drummer 2010, a drum education program being held from July 12 thru the 23rd. In this two week program, students will learn how to play beats and drum fills, lead the band, design their own drum kit, create their own custom bass drum head, and meet a few surprise guest drummers. The program includes a ton of opportunities for each student to rock their drums in a supportive and creative environment. Upon the enrollment, each student will get his or her very own Dixon Chaos drum set (complete with cymbals, hardware, and sticks) to keep as part of the workshop. A graduation concert will be held for friends and family for the students to show off their new chops with a professional band. Also at the EchoParkNow.com blog.

Did you miss part 1? Check it out here. METADATA: title, tags and description Google is a search engine that uses text-matching techniques to find web pages that are important and relevant to a user’s search. Replace “web pages” with “videos” and you have YouTube. The spiders that crawl your channel to index your video have no idea what your video is about except what you tell it. This is about optimizing your video to get the highest ranking. The YouTube keyword tool can get you started. One big difference between how people search on Google compared to YouTube is that on Google they search more for information, and YouTube for entertainment. Think about using adjectives with your key search terms that reflect that approach.

After you type your search word, YouTube, just like Google, has a drop down menu that makes a suggestion for the most common related words. This is great information to get you started as it supplies you with actual top search results. Each video should add to your overall SEO based on keywords. Just like a blog post or website page, your video should be optimized for keywords. The goal is to get your video ranked on the first page and preferably above the fold. Being on page two means very few people see your video. Title The title is the most important as it supplies the most SEO juice. It also informs your viewer about what they are going to see and sets up expectations. The tendency is to put the title of your song in the… title. It works for the major artists because the labels have spent millions of dollars creating awareness for those song title. People search for those song titles. If your music hasn’t created that awareness then you will not get people searching for your title. So be descriptive instead. You have around 120 characters for your title before it gets truncated but it is weighted so keywords want to be at the front of the title. This is not about creating the next viral video hit but building an audience around you, your current songs and your future songs. It is not just a numbers game of how many viewers you can get but the quality of the viewer. You want to build an audience that will pay for your music and/or live performances. Tags Use keywords from your title and description. Write the tags thinking about a sentence but only with keywords. Don’t keyword stuff as YouTube might consider this spammy and don’t duplicate words as they will be edited out anyhow and you risk confusing the spiders. Description The first two lines are the most important. Not because they are weighted for optimization, but this is what the visitor sees and you need to entice them when they glance at your description. Common wisdom says to put your website URL first. I disagree. With the new layout on YouTube this description is taking up valuable real estate directly below the video and more people will read it. You haven’t earned my trust yet for me to leave YouTube and go visit your website. So I recommend you make those first two lines compelling enough to grab someone’s attention and help them decide to watch your video. Put your website and all other links (Facebook, Twitter, etc) in the body of your copy. Brevity is not your friend here. A full description, you have about 1,000 characters, loaded with keywords will help you not only be findable but just as important help you end up in “relevant videos” which you see on the side of the page. How to get into relevant videos YouTube doesn’t disclose exactly how the algorithms work that determine which videos show up as relevant to other videos. At times you see a video that appears to be completely random but what they are doing is trying to expand the video experience by adding videos you might not otherwise ever discover. Most importantly, the more video content you have, the more views you will get from your own related videos. Once you the viewer clicks on your title video, your other videos will appear in related videos. This exposes the viewer to more of your content leading to additional views from the same visitor. Try experimenting with keywords to try and get into other popular and relevant related videos. Watch your own videos and see which related videos appear. Research their tags and descriptions to see if they have keywords you can add to have you show up in their relevant videos. What you can’t control is a users history and that will be a factor in what relevant videos show up in the side bar. Test, Measure, Revise None of this fixed. Through YouTube Insights you can analyze tons of data about your videos, including what search terms are working. Track your videos and experiment with keywords in all your metadata to find the ones that bring the best results. Research other videos to get new ideas on what is working and what isn’t. When you make a change in your metadata, allow time for YouTube to index your video’s as results are not immediate. Insight offers too much to go into here but check this out for more info. Stay subscribed to read part 3.

If you are a solo artist or band trying to get noticed, you should have your music on YouTube. Here you will learn that optimizing your videos for YouTube goes beyond choosing the right keywords. While they are critical to your success they are only part of the solution to getting more views for you content. Lets start by stating our goals:

Increase awareness and interest for your music Develop and sustain positive word of mouth Build an audience Promote yourself (as a musician/band/live act)

There are four key components:

Content Metadata (part 2) Community (part 3) Channel (part 4)

Content Remember, this is about marketing your music and building your reputation as a recording artist or live performer. Audiences want to know what they are buying and trust becomes a big factor in any purchase decision. Your marketing content can get people interested in your music and in you, building the trust needed for an audience to pay with their valuable time. Think of each video the same way you would think about a post on your blog. The videos should communicate a message to your audience that fits your strategy for promoting you and your music. You are constructing a library of content that through the long tail of the web will continue to get views. You have to balance volume and consistent uploads of content to fewer videos of higher production quality. Your videos could be as simple as a vlog or more high production value content such as a full music video, but be consistent and post videos often (at least once a week). The key point is to make a connection with your audience to build trust and interest that provides them a reason to spend their time on your music. In your videos add a clear call to action asking your viewers to rate your video, (YouTube recently ditched the star system for a thumbs up/down model) leave a comment and subscribe to your channel. The ratings and comments on your videos factor very highly into the ranking of your video. The more people rate and drop a comment, the more it shows Youtube you have engagement with the community. Content is a key factor in whether someone will subscribe to your channel. These are your über fans who will help you spread the word about your music if you engage with them and make them a part of your channel. Successful marketing is often about good storytelling. Your content should be original, entertaining and interesting enough to increase your chances of viral success (viral meaning simply the act of sharing the videos). You want subscribers to your channel. Who wants to subscribe to a channel of dull videos? As an independent musician, give the same thought to your marketing videos as you do your album releases. In part 2, we’ll talk about Metadata.

Our fan and customer Yianni posted a link to a his review of his new Dixon Demon on our Facebook Fan page. He was aided in his decision to choose Dixon based on the video review by Dixon Player Sean made a couple years ago. So, on March 8th I purchased a drum set. I’ve been waiting 4 years to get a new drum set, and upgrade from a low-grade kit to something more advanced, with more equipment. I wanted to make sure this kit was the right one. A few months prior, I have never heard of this brand of drums before, but after seeing a review of them on youtube (props to the maker), the brand has shed ALOT of light on me, someone who thought Tama, Pearl, Mapex, or DDrum would be the best choice for him. As a metal drummer, I wanted drums with a BANG, so I chose Dixon, specifically their “Demon” model. After setting it up, tuning it, getting new heads, I’ve started to fall in love with these drums. 6 pieces (10″ / 12″ tom, 14″/16″ floor tom, 22″ bass drum, 13″ snare) of Satin Black drums with a PUNCH!

Sandy West, the drummer of The Runaways, is perhaps know as having the best performance and presence out of all female drummers. The biopic film, The Runaways opened recently and takes the audience through the band’s fabled rock adventure: obscurity, stardom, fall, and reconciliation. But for Sandy Pesavento (aka Sandy West), her bittersweet story is only a subplot in the new film. Evelyn McDonnell at the LA Weekly has a great article on her timeless rock epic that is definitely worth a read. In 1975, sixteen-year-olds Joan Jett and Sandy West jammed away in Sandy’s bedroom in Surf City, USA (Huntington Beach, Ca).  Sandy had a Pearl drum kit and a Marshall stack with a Gibson, while Joan would bring her Sears Silvertone guitar. A strong music bond was forming. Joan would make the trip by bus from the Valley to OC. If you live in SoCal, you know this was dedication. And when they first jammed with Lita Ford, bonding over their ability to play obscure Deep Purple and Kiss tunes, the bond was made even stronger. Sandy was a tomboy, so surfing, basketball, competitive swimming, motorcycles, track, horseback riding, and playing the drums were her thing. Her parents wanted her to play violin so she could form a string quartet with her sisters who played violin, cello, and viola. But Sandy was born to rock. It was not classical music that was turning her on; it was the sounds of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, and Queen. Pounding the drums helped her to get through some personal traumas. The early passing of her father and her mother’s re-marriage to a widower with his own children were some points of stress in Sandy’s life. Drumming was her therapy. Sandy and the other members of The Runaways practically did runaway to hang out outside the Sunset Strip’s Roxy, The Starwood, and Rainbow Room to get discovered while all the girls were still underage. Manager Kim Fowley and KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer helped the girls meet, and the band went on to get signed to Mercury Records. Why is she one of the greatest rock female rock drummers? For starters, she and the other girls faced adversity as an all girl band in a male dominated space. She was one of the few, if not the only female rock drummer at the time. Sandy was a great performer. She had strong arms (like Tina Turner’s legs, as McDonnell says) and twirled sticks. She could sing and play drums at the same time (see the video below). And you could tell that, in their group photos, she had a strong presence with her masculine frame yet her girl-next-door good looks. As they toured the US, England, and Japan, the typical rock and roll antics ensued. Sex, drugs and Jackie Fox’s reaction to her broken bass guitar helped to end the original lineup. After the breakup, Sandy continued to pursue music with the Sandy West Band while playing small gigs with Cherie Currie. But this bad combination of wild success, an unfair record deal, and the fall from fame led to desperate measures. Unfortunately, she became involved in organized crime, partying hard with drugs, and subsequently went to jail several times. And it was all so she could continue her main passion: playing the drums in a rock band. She passed away from cancer in 2006. Joan said Sandy would have been very happy to see the band’s story told as a film. Here is Sandy playing her favorite tune, Wild Thing.

Also check out clips from bass player Jackie Fox’s Runaway documentary, Edgplay.

The snare drum is the cornerstone of your drum kit. The snare drum influences the sound of your drum set up more then any other piece in you kit, and so it is important to find the right one to fit the sound you are trying to create. You will want a snare that fits your style of play. Selecting the best snare drum can be fun. And the journey you will take as you learn how to shape a snare’s sound can be enjoyable. You want to find a snare drum that both looks and sounds good, and one that will allow you to change its sound. The shell material, head type, and tuning create your snare sound’s overall character and personality. If you chose to replace the snare wire, this will also create a different vibe. So given all of these variables, how might you select a snare drum that you can set up to your preferences after you buy it? Any easy way is to hear a snare sound you like either on a recording, or at a live show, and find out what make, model, head type is being used, and if there were any other modifications like aftermarket snare wire, non-standard tuning styles, dampeners or tone rings used. Another way is to start out by getting a couple of snare drums to experiment with as you learn how to modify their sound. Another way to to test snare drums is at a drum shop. Ask the salesperson to allow you to test the snare drum in different areas of the store, such as an open area away from the other drums and cymbals, since the snare hits will resonate these other instruments. If the store has an empty practice room, you can try it there as well. Just try not to scare the students by practicing too much. One thing you cannot change after you buy a snare is the shell material and size, since this is the essence of the snare drum. We won’t attempt to explain all of the nuances of snare sound in this blog post. The best thing to do is to learn for yourself how the various materials sound by experimenting in a shop or playing on a friend or bandmates setup who hopefully will have multiple snare drums. However, here are a couple of terms people use. Tones can be described as warm or dark, decays can be described as long or short, and can be adjusted by tuning the heads. I like to refer to the Drum Tuning Bible to show people how tuning can affect the sound character. The attack can be hard or soft, and can be adjusted by tuning the heads or loosening or tightening the snare wire, or using snare wire of various designs, and widths. You can also “throw off” the snare. Most good snares have a lever called a throw-off that will remove the snare wire from the base of the snare for a more tom or timbale-like sound. Some throw-offs let you adjust the snare wire tension on the fly. There are a variety of woods with multiple plies and ply thickness, two or more types of wood in a single shell, as well as metals and synthetics like acrylic and carbon fiber. The angle that the shell’s bearing edges are cut, and the shell’s height and diameter also matter. The depth and width that the snare bed’s are cut play a large roll in the sensitivity of the snare drum you choose. With wood snares there are also a number of processes used to bend the shell into a cylinder shape. To sum it up thickness, plies, material, height and diameter all add to the snare’s character. Sticks also matter. You can play with traditional sticks, brushes, shakers, or mallets to suit the feel of the song, even using more than one set of stick types to shape the dynamics of the song. I often see drummers start out a song using mallets or brushes for a mellow intro, and then switch to sticks for a more aggressive sound. So get out there; learn and experiment to become a master of snare drum tone!

Photo by Sean Blaney With unlimited set up options available from all the drum manufacturers, why does the current trend seem to lean towards smaller set ups? When I say smaller set-ups, I am referring to the configuration…not necessarily the sizes of the drums. More and more touring bands as well as local drummers are using a four or five piece kit, meaning one up one down or one up two down. The first thing that comes to mind is you will be able to set-up and tear-down much quicker, and at 2 or 3AM, loading out as quickly as possible is important to most drummers. You may think this idea may not be as significant to a touring band with a road crew, but the cost of cartage and backline rentals can rack up quickly, especially if the drummer has a larger kit.  There are a lot of bands doing what some people call, “U-haul tours”, meaning, living out of the back of a van and a U-Haul trailer full of gear.  There may not be enough space in that trailer for a six or seven piece drum set. When I was on a U-haul tour with my band, as we were running out of space, the first thing my band mates asked was “hey do you really need that second floor tom?” My point is that they always look to the drummer to make the sacrifice; they never ask the guitar players if they really need three guitars and the huge board of effects pedals. Another issue is the size of the venue.  A lot of venues have tiny stages or the room itself is small, so a minimal set-up is perfect, especially if you are using a mini P.A. where you only mic the Bass drum. With that being said, your soundman will love you for bringing a small set up. It’s easier for them to mic up your kit, which leads to a quicker sound check and less time is needed to give you a “good mix.”   Obviously this depends on how quickly you go through drum heads.  But the cost of drumheads is not getting any lower, so re-heading four or five drums is easier on the budget than seven or eight drums.  The fewer drums you use, the fewer heads you need to change over the lifetime of the set. Let us know your thoughts and tell us how much more minimal your rig has become.

Congratulations to the winners of Modern Drummer’s The Great Modern Drummer Sweeps we announced in December. Mark Bucher of New York won a 5-piece Dixon Outlaw drumset in Blue Burst Sparkle, model OL-522E-BLBS and percussion instruments by Toca, Sabian, and drum hardware from Gibraltar. Laura Storjohann of West Virginian the Dixon DS-0613-RWD Rosewood Snare, cymbals by Sabian, and drum hardware from Gibraltar. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Lou Mars was interviewed for KCHO radio by Catherine Beeghly about his world record attempt at marathon drumming. It airs today, 2/20/2010 at 3:00 PM Pacific time in the Chico area. You can listen below.

Lou Mars

The Chinese New Year may have to change from “Year of the Tiger” to “Year of the Drummer” as my world record attempt at marathon drumming has ignited what perhaps may result in one of the greatest years ever for the “sport.” Strength training coaches Rob Wolf began one of the post-even interviews with “I don’t know who will ever want to take on this record again!” We now know the answer. Drummers are made to drum, and they love a challenge. Drums are back in the spotlight, and the players are anxious to shine.

Kunto Hartono

Kunto Hartono of Indonesia, the 2004 Guinness record holder, watched my 108.5 hour show via live stream, and contacted me shortly thereafter to announce and ask for my support for his March 2010 attempt. I responded with a positive, “Yes.” Kunto’s goal is to play for 135 hours.

Russ Prager

American Russ Prager, the current record holder at 120 hours, has also been in communication with me and stated “I’m keeping an eye on Kunto, if he breaks the record there just might be one more attempt in me!”

Allister Brown

I love great engineering whether it is high end cars or precision drum construction. Here is a really cool video that uses both! It is the official trailer for the new 2010 Porsche Boxster Spyder. Cut in with shots of the car driving on windy roads are close ups of a drummer doing his thing playing to the soundtrack. Lots of good “drum porn” such as kick drum beaters meeting the head and brushes on hi hats and the snare. And when the player’s tempo goes up and down, the car’s speed goes with it.

Kaden Gower wins Lou’s kit In conjunction with

The event will be streamed live world-wide from the Lakeside Pavilion and include a sneak preview of Lou Mars upcoming documentary. The drawing for the Dixon Demon drum set that Lou played on during the event will also take place.  Lou will perform four songs along with a slide show and special guests. Friday, January 29th, 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM Pacific Time. See Lou’s blog for the stream link.