Any advice on downsizing a drumset?

[ER]

I only use my drumset for recording here at home and we moved to a smaller place so I was thinking about selling my kit and getting a smaller jazz/bop type kit. The kit I have now is a full bonham size ludwig kit, 26" bass drum, 14" rack tom, and 16" and 18" floor toms and it takes up a ton of room and is really loud but it sounds great. I also kind of don't want to get rid of it because I had a custom maple snare made to match it that I love.

The thing is I'm a guitar player like most of us here and for what I'm doing probably anything would work O.K. I've been tempted to buy this kit on craigslist;http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/msg/3963303061.html

When I just sit at the drums I like to play Jazz stuff, but recording is mostly proto-metal heavy blues psychedelic (Acid Rock I guess?). My current kit certainly nails that, but could I get a smaller kit and be happy with it? Maybe I need to think more mitch mitchell and less john bonham...

I can't decide. Getting a bigger house or having two drumsets isn't really an option right now.

[tribi9]

I like the more minimalistic approach to drumming.

I like having a snare, bass drum, floor tom, hats, crash and ride. That is all.

[Leo_Gnardo]

When I just sit at the drums I like to play Jazz stuff, but recording is mostly proto-metal heavy blues psychedelic (Acid Rock I guess?). My current kit certainly nails that, but could I get a smaller kit and be happy with it? Maybe I need to think more mitch mitchell and less john bonham...

Hm.. I'd be thinking Nick Mason. I've also lately (finally) developed a liking, for BJ Wilson (Procol Harum) who was into some top flite Premier kits. Actually I've liked Wilson all along, let's just say I finally figured out another part of the Procol puzzle and gathered a deeper appreciation. Mid 70's to 87 he was in the Joe Cocker band too. And you've heard him a zillion times on Cocker's 3/4 version of "A little help from my friends" along with Jimmy Page on guitar.

Whether a smaller kit would really do the trick I can't say. I AM a fan of some of the oddball 70's kits like Fibes (clear plastic, Lexan I think.) Saw Billy Cobham smashing the heck out of his kit with Mahavishnu oh how many times. And Sonor is tough and toney. Top line Yamaha kits are mighty fine too.

Whatever happens, if you like your snare, hang onto it. And find some more for variety's sake. Even funky ones. Piccolo snare is a darn cool item to have too @ 10 inch.

At first I thought this post might be a joke and I was going to say a quart of gas and a match (along the lines of all those muso jokes about which is better, a banjo or a viola) but I'll spare you that.

[Reeltarded]

Wooo Fibes was the main set for 11 years.

I like recording a good drummer with a mounted, a floor, 2 crashes, a ride, k and s. done. You can carry it all in a big bag. A big bag. Big.

[M Fowler]

Here is my cheap drum set.

I had a 1960's Ludwig set but sold that when I moved so my buddy set me up with this set.

[ER]

Yeah, for now my downsize approach has been to put away the 18" floor tom and run just the 16". I'm just a little concerned about going to a kit where the kick drum is the size of my floor tom and the floor tom is the size of my rack tom.

I always liked the sound of a piccolo snare but not sure if it's going to sound good with my stoner rock and stick to tape well. It's hard to justify having too much drum stuff, I need to find a happy medium without resorting to a drum machine.

I think I'll just stash away some of the cymbals and stuff and go minimal like you guys are talking about with my current kit. Also my son's name is ludwig and he likes seeing his name on the drums. All my hero's played the big band style full sized ludwigs.

Here's my current kit;

[img:500:375]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3666/9413 ... 4ef407.jpg[/img]
[img:500:375]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3753/9413 ... 4c6541.jpg[/img]
It manages to be minimalist and grande at the same time.

-ER

[Leo_Gnardo]

my son's name is ludwig and he likes seeing his name on the drums. All my hero's played the big band style full sized ludwigs.

And Ringo too. Well that settles it. Saves a lot of hassle too.

What about cousin Rodger, he's gonna want a kit.

You might want to think about mounting a mic inside the kick. There's usually a special oxygen breather hole somewhere, you can stick a wire thru. One of our local drummers did this with his AKG D12E and it was a charm.

With a mic pointed near the kick beater strike point, you could do some things to get some "point" to the tone. Here's an old trick I got from UK session work in the 80's. Wood beater, tape a heavy coin to the head where it strikes. In the UK we used to use a tuppence, a copper coin about the size of a half dollar. Put a nice sharp "tick" on the kick attack - it was the bees knees. Lots of hard hitting could bend the coin or even heat it up to the point it'd melt a hole in the head so be careful. There are plastic discs sold for the same purpose. I think Falam Slam was one of the brand names for these. A little less click with the plastic but also less likely to wreck the head. Playing a small club or jam session in a small room with limited PA? Just ran the mic into a spare bass combo amp. Brilliant! Credit Tony Beard for all the ideas in the above paragraph. Haven't seen him in donkey's years. A terrific drummer and a great guy.

FWIW I've been at local recording sessions with some top players: Shawn Pelton, Gary Burke, Steve Holley, Mickey Curry, Anton Fig. I can't recall their kit brands, but of course they all sounded terrific. None had an elaborate kit. It had more to do with how the drums were tuned, damped, and of course how they hit 'em. I'm sure you'll do well with your good ol' Ludwig kit.

[cpollack]

Like Charlie Watts, my wife has a nice little 4-piece Gretsch kit. Due to a roller derby accident, she doesn’t have that heavy a foot, but the 20" deep x 22" dia. kick drum really gets out. The rack tom is a 12”, the floor a 16”, and she has a matching 14” snare. Add a Zildjian 16” crash, 22” ride, 14” high-hat, and an LP cowbell, jam block, and tambourine, and it’s a nice little versatile compact kit. The whole lot fits nicely in the back of a Ford Edge along with a Twin Reverb and fat-body guitar case.

I’ve even seen a lot of contemporary drummers, even really heavy ones and those who can pay someone else to move and set up their gear for them, using a 4-piece these days. The old joke from my drummer friends was that Buddy rich mainly used his second floor tom to hold his towel.

My suggestion? Keep your existing kit but strip it down and toss the stuff you don’t need into storage. You can always fetch it if you miss it or need it.

[Structo]

Or you could go all Dave Weckl on it.

[img:550:367]http://www.ohfoto.de/psg-AUF06-collagen ... -weckl.jpg[/img]

[NickC]

...... or Neil Peart

[Structo]

Yes, he does seem to have the best set of ............

[Leo_Gnardo]

Or you could go all Dave Weckl on it.

& Peart, yes.

Or Carl Palmer. Or Bill Bruford.

If I was drum tech for ANY of those guys I'd charge an extre $100 for setting up each drum or perc toy they DON'T hit during a show. Laughing all the way to the imaginary bank, .

[NickC]

....... I'd charge an extre $100 for setting up each drum or perc toy they DON'T hit during a show .............

Those guys can play so fast, and they're hidden behind so much apparatus, how would you know they didn't hit a particular drum?

[ER]

Thanks for the tips Leo-

A friend of mine used to do that coin trick, I'd forgotten about that. May add a bit more definition to the 26".

I've had the best luck with a Glyn Johns mic technique so far: two overhead condensers (one directly above the snare and another over the right shoulder pointed at the snare) and a dynamic on the kick out about 14" just where the air stops moving. Everything out about 36-40" from the center of the snare to deal with any phase issues. Recently added another dynamic on the batter side of the kick pointed at the contact area and obliquely picking up the bottom of the snare.

Stripped everything down to snare bass tom floor ride hats and single 18" crash. I'll try some recording today and see if I don't miss the other stuff to badly.

[NickC]

........ Recently added another dynamic on the batter side of the kick pointed at the contact area and obliquely picking up the bottom of the snare ...............

Do you flip the phase on the mic channels picking up the snare top and bottom, and front and back of kick-drum?