Be Excellent To Each Other

Certainly the fitted ones make it very hard to hear anything other than what they're being fed. Even if what that is is nothing.

If it was me, Id budget more for cymbals than the shells (drums)
The case in point being that you can make poorer quality drums sound nicer with heads (skins)
You cant make a shitty cymbal sound nice however for love nor money

Second hand all the way would be my advice, and possibly something by Yamaha, Tama, Premier for instance

also, people saying drums are soooo loud...yyou know you dont have to belt the crap outta them.
it is possible to play quieter as well as louder

The man can barely speak at levels less than a full blown shout, what do you think his chances of hitting something quietly are going to be like?

In total disregard for everything else I've said so far, I am considering a Yamaha DTxpress II electric kit for "£350 ono". DTExpress IIIs seem to go for £310-320 on ebay, so I'd want to come down below that, obv. Very tempted to go look at it tonight.

To be fair, it's probably not a bad idea, if you're in a terrace house as it won't piss the neighbours off as much. It won't feel as good, but I suppose if you really get into it you can get an acoustic kit or something.

Good luck with finding a reasonably priced one

I have the cash. All I need to do it not overpay so, if I get bored of it, I can sell it on for minimal loss.

Complete with stool though!!

Go for it.

Even playing drums quietly it's still possible to cause hearing damage due to prolonged exposure. Decent earplugs or canalphones are fairly cheap & you potentially have everything to lose by not using them.It won't sound that great either, with all the reverberations off the walls (think of noises in the shower) & it'll sound really boomy due to the room being so boxy (think how the bass ends up sounding when you put speakers in corners). An acoustic kit needs room to breath.

That seems like a damn good price and I wouldn't have thought you'd lose much on it if you did want to sell it on!

I'd go for it.. Bear in mind though, the rubber pads do feel different than a normal kit but it's damn close and it'll give you a good place to start!

FYI:
Electronic drum kits aren't as quite as you think. Mainly: The footpedal and the people underneath you. But then again, you play rock band, so I imagine it creates the same noise really.*


* Actualy, rock band creates much worse noise, as rock band appears to be 100% plastic from what I remember of playing them, whereas electric kits are rubber.... you can sometimes get that burnt rubber smells if you're playing hard+fast enough

"If you don't smell burning rubber, you're not doing it right."

Paid £280. It has a MIDI out, so if nothing else I can now buy a second hand GH:WT kit, cut the MIDI in and chipset and 360 wireless bit out, and fashion an extremely outlandish Rock Band controller.

I've already had an hour on it, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm only speculating, but I would imagine your living room has soul.

And a climbing frame by the look of it.

Now set up a video of you playing for us all to mock

Heh:



That's actually my dining room. Except it has no dining table, so I guess it's the drum room now.

Here's a "song" I played on a couple of years ago, quality is crap, it's ridden with mistakes, but hey, nevermind.


Video or sound footage would be grand Doc

I wish to hear Dr Gaywood drumming while Craster plays the Clarinet.

That is all.

Ah.. I see you favour the hard and heavy approach! Of this, I approve!

That was for our uni band comp a couple of years ago. We managed to get to the final. Didnt win, but it was fun.

Just me and my mate with a looper and more effects pedals than you can shake a stick at!

I've got some even old pop punk stuff somewhere... I'll see if I can find it

Hmm. My arms hurt!

Clarinet's not my thing, I'm afraid. I'm a penis.

Pianist.

Do you really really hate your neighbours, Gaywood? Because they'll hate you.

They won't complain as they know when they knock on the door and Gaywood answers he'll just blind them with science and their eyes will glaze over.

He'll need to carry around charts for every occasion with him at all times then

Why do you assume I don't already carry charts for all occasions?

on your person, at all times... You don't have enough arms man!

I'll bet there's an app for that.

It'll be like living next to Johnny Ball.

OY BALL, IT'S 2AM, PACK IT IN WITH YOUR EDUCATIONAL MATHS SONGS WHILE DANCING AROUND YOUR GARDEN DRESSED AS HENRY THE 8TH!

Although the reality when Gaywood opens the door to his neighbour is:



Ello Neighbour. Got any Special Brew and smokes, I've run out. Hic.

oh bollocks, I forgot about technology.

There isn't, I think. But there should be. Hmmmm.

DRUMS!

I LOVE DRUMS!

I have, at the moment, no drums. That is cos I just sold my pride and joy, which was a DW Collector Series. I fucking loved that kit (it had/has the flame finish). I even went the whole hog and bought an extra bass drum. Fuck that twin pedal mallarky. I wanted to ROCK! But, my impending move to HK forced me into parting with it. Even though it had been locked in a rehersal studio for the past 18 months and I hadn't even looked at it, it still hurt when I said goodbye.

Looks like I will have to get a set of TD20's to replace it, but it just won't be the same.

I feel your pain.. When I moved into a house it meant I had to leave my drum kit at my mom and dads but I saved and saved for all I'm worth and finally got a Roland TD9. I opted to replace the normal rubber heads with all mesh heads as they are the closest thing you can get to real drums.

One mess up at the drum store later and I get a fourth mesh head which means now.... I'm the proud owner of the below! I've said it before, but it's the best thing I've EVER spent my money on! It plays and sounds better than any drum kit I've ever been on and I love it!

I took this picture on my new Nokia 5800 which I have now realised has a crap camera. Go figure!

Nice!

I have played the TD20's a lot (it was a while back when they first came out) and I admit that I fell in love with them because of the way the mesh heads played and because of the sounds you can get out of the module. They are awesome. But most of all, they are practical. You can properly play at home. I couldn't do that with my kit - it was fucking huge, for one thing, and the other was that I hit hard, and hitting hard makes a whole lot of noise. Makes recording a damn sight easier, too.

D:

*wants*

I've only got a Yamaha Stage Custom Advantage, but it is in a sexy British Racing green, with pro sonix and an iron cobra (which I may sell) at the moment it's just sitting in bits As I didn't have room at uni, and it'll probably be in bits for a while still, which makes me sad. No problem with having to sell it tho as it is my baby

Out of interest, where do Traps fit into the hierarchy of drummage?

EDIT: Tippy-tappy-typo

How have you set it up? Traditional "Hi hat" on the left style, or are you going for some rock band based shinanigans?

Drums are the best "pissed with your mates" toy ever!

As it came, which is what I think is normal. Snare/tom/tom/floor tom across the low level, hi-hat (which is a round pad like the drums, not a pie-shaped pad like the cymbals, for some reason), crash, ride across the top level.

I meant; is the hi-hat on your left hand side, above your left foot and you're playing cross handed? Or are you playing like in rockband where it's one of the pads on the right hand side and you're playing open-handed?

The former. It's up and to the left of the snare. So yes, cross-handed when playing snare and hi-hat.

I'm useless with my left foot! Rock Band didn't prepare me for that!

PWN3D
\

867 Bananas!

Q: How can you tell that the drum riser is level?

A: The drummer drools out of both sides of his mouth.
---
Q: What's the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?

A: You only have to punch the information into the drum machine once.
---
Q: How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: About 35, but nowadays, most bands have a machine to do it automatically.

DrumZing.

Speaking of which, when having a quick bash during lunchtime, I clonked my right thumb with the left hand's stick, right on the nail. That really stings, I now know.

The balanced grip simply feels wrong to me. I shall persevere.

It can all depend on the size of the sticks you are using, too. Using a lighter stick (A's) could mean that you are trying too hard to make a sound; you're hitting the drum harder than you need to.

Alternatively, if you are using a heavier stick (B's) they may actually be too heavy for your playing style and you are gripping too tightly, holding on for dear life, as it were.

Experiment - get some different sizes and see if that makes much of a difference to your playing.

Then invest in some Ahead sticks once you have found your size. They're nylon with a steel core and they never break. When the nylon sleeve wears out, you just replace it. They're about 30 quid a pair, but they are worth the investment in the long term. Replacement sleeves cost around a fiver - much the same as a new set of sticks, but they last much longer.

Bah! Breaking sticks is fun... my cymbal bags are just full of broken sticks (im too lazy to empty), but it's a good feeling playing then realising you've broken the stick, then having to flip it round so that you can actually finish the song without having to stop to get a new stick

If I get a detached house or one big enough that I can soundproof a room then I will definitely get a drumkit. Until then, I'll just have to annoy my neighbours with my GHWT kit.