Ironwood drum set

defunkt said:
What exactly is a talking drum?

It's a traditional African drum with hourglass-shaped body, usually one to two feet long and diameter of four to eight inches. The heads aren't attached to the shell, but are lashed to each other (the original floating heads). The drum is held under one arm and squeezed while the other arm hits it with a stick or fingers. This raises and lowers the pitch. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_drum. It's believed the sound of the drum mimics the tonalities of some African languages, whence the name "talking drum."

The drum I have from www.b-radpercussion.com is a modern version. A foot pedal - much like a bass drum pedal but designed to produce much more power and leverage - controls the action of the drum through a bike cable, leaving both hands free. So far, no one has accused me of cheating, but I DO have a Duallist ...

I actually made my own foot-operated talking drum from an LP Nada drum, a foot pedal, bike cable and a custom metal basket, and played that for about 10 years. But the b-rad design works much better and is ingeniously engineered - the whole thing breaks down quickly for transport. The drum came with one tom mounting bracket at the top, but I flipped it over and added another two brackets, fabricated some legs and now it sits like a floor tom, not a suspended tom.

www.terrasonus.com
 
defunkt said:
Thanks. I bet it sounds awesome
Also why get the dualist and not a double kick pedal?

Oh man, you don't know what you're asking! Check out this thread for all the thoughts on the most controversial piece of gear ever: http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/s...hlight=dualist

Plus, where would I even put a FIFTH pedal? The Duallist does everything I would want a double pedal to do and it frees up my right foot to operate the hi hat, percussion block and talking drum. Maybe there are things a double pedal can do that a Duallist can't, but if The Duallist can't do it, I don't need to play it.

I'm going to a Guitar Center drum off tonight and I've worked out a composition playing the Afro-Cuban rhythm guaguanco with the left foot playing clave and 16th note shuffles on the Duallist. Works just fine for me!

www.terrasonus.com
 
thats a great looking kit. i've looked around the spirit site, they seem like great drums
 
Synthetik said:
Spectacular!

That kit is reminiscent of the heavy shelled power-depth Sonors of the 80's. Very imposing look. I can only imagine the deep thunder of those drums.

There is a kind of a mystique there, because AFAIK, no one else makes Ironwood shells. You have a kit even more exculsive than a Brady.

The fiberskyn FA and percussion bits really add to a "Earth sounds*" personality for the kit.

The only thing I'd like to see if a pic that has more intense lower lighting. The wood has a cherry-like color.

Great stuff!
* Yes, I was digging the Terra Sonus Sound clips.

Well, i never thought of them as "imposing," but now that I step back from it, the deep shells and raw finish do give them an imposing attitude.

I would have actually preferred a 20 inch bass drum, but those are extremely hard to get, even by Spirit Drum standards. The logs must be 22 inches, which means they literally weigh tons if you can find them. But even the 18 inch drum sounds resonant, thick and punchy.

You are perceptive to notice how the Fiberskyns add to the persona of the set. The shells and lug style give it a primitive quality and the Fiberskyns accentuate that.

You are right about the sound - it is thunderous. It dominates the entire house and I have to be careful when I play; ideally, when no one else is home.

The shells with RIMS hardware in total weigh around 100 pounds for the set of six drums. Add in the DW 9000 series stands and it's a workout to move. I like to lift heavy objects, however, and I need to lose weight more than the drums do.

www.terrasonus.com
 
Very unique, looks like alot of fun to play.................sorry, you may have allready listed it, but what is that "mushroom" shaped cymbal beside your floor tom? Also, I believe the guitar is a fender Squire, which is an entry level "strat" copy, not like the pricey American strats(I play guitar....lol) but none the less, a cool setup!
 
HardcoreLogo said:
Very unique, looks like alot of fun to play.................sorry, you may have allready listed it, but what is that "mushroom" shaped cymbal beside your floor tom? Also, I believe the guitar is a fender Squire, which is an entry level "strat" copy, not like the pricey American strats(I play guitar....lol) but none the less, a cool setup!

Man, ain't no foolin' you ... that is a low-end Strat copy, Mr. Sharp Eyes. It's just a guest guitar for a pick-up jam if someone comes over, so it works okay for that.

The mushroom cymbal is actually a melodic metal drum called a Hang Drum; see http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om16250.html. It's a newer instrument, invented around 200, a kind of steel pan drum turned outward to be played with the hands. There are many, many tunings and most people prefer a Chinese pentatonic scale, as it's the most versatile. This one is tuned to a Middle Eastern scaled called Hijaz in the key of D, which has more tension than pentatonic scale.

You can hear me play this drum at www.terrasonus.com on a song called Kosmosis.
 
Deathmetalconga said:
Well, i never thought of them as "imposing," but now that I step back from it, the deep shells and raw finish do give them an imposing attitude.

I would have actually preferred a 20 inch bass drum, but those are extremely hard to get, even by Spirit Drum standards. The logs must be 22 inches, which means they literally weigh tons if you can find them. But even the 18 inch drum sounds resonant, thick and punchy.

You are perceptive to notice how the Fiberskyns add to the persona of the set. The shells and lug style give it a primitive quality and the Fiberskyns accentuate that.

You are right about the sound - it is thunderous. It dominates the entire house and I have to be careful when I play; ideally, when no one else is home.

The shells with RIMS hardware in total weigh around 100 pounds for the set of six drums. Add in the DW 9000 series stands and it's a workout to move. I like to lift heavy objects, however, and I need to lose weight more than the drums do.

www.terrasonus.com

Here is a compare: classic, imposing heavy sonor kit:
EUDrums2.jpg


And a kit that I don't consider imposing:

bigJRX3-Jr.jpg
 
oh kewl... are you from aussie? did u get that made? kewl... u could give me that dualist! heehe very interesting pedals... hmm..
 
Thanks, eyeofthebeholder and atomicsoy (great handle by the way).

l live in Boise, Idaho, around 12,000 miles away from Austrailia I figure (I recall checking it on Google Earth). This set was made from an approximately 350-year-old tree. It probably started as a sucker around 1650.

The six-piece shell pack and snare was about $5,300, which is what you'd expect to pay for a high-end custom drum set.

I read about Spirit drums in the Oct. 2000 edition of Modern Drummer and I made it my goal to get a set before I died. I like unusual and fine things and the Spirits definitely have a magical, thunderous, authoritative, rich primitive sound that cannot be duplicated. I also like the exclusivity - only about a dozen of these highly exotic kits have ever been made, although there are a fair number of snares in circulation. I also hear they made djembes and congas as well. Flutemakers and luthiers also prize ironwood for its acoustical properties. It's three times as dense as maple and sinks in water. Unfortunately, in Australia, it's often use for mindless applications like fence posts and railroad ties, but it's poisonous to cattle and must be cleared from some areas anyway.

The wood is almost indestructible - I was mounting one of the heavy toms and the ball joint slipped, causing it to crash down on the bass drum. There was no scratch at all in the drum and a very slight bend inward on the steel rim flange. Serious attitude!

Someday, I will get a set of Spizzichino cymbals.

www.terrasonus.com
 
Spirit drums: normal playing can kill small rodents at 25 paces. Knocks over a whole row of corn at full volume.
 
Synthetik said:
Spirit drums: normal playing can kill small rodents at 25 paces. Knocks over a whole row of corn at full volume.

HAHA! Reminds me of a thread I started to collect funny advertising terms about instruments. Were you around then? Got deleted in the last Off-Topic Lounge holocaust.

I noticed an ad once for a snare drum that had "crowd-cutting backbeats." I thought it was strange, the idea of assaulting your audience, so me and my band mates have been coming up with others like:

"Sternum-crushing bass"

"Audience-decapitating cymbal crashes"

"Stool-softening tom fills"

"Ear-impaling rim shots"

"Nose-hair-curling tabla solos"

"Divorce-triggering volume"

"Aura-bleaching sitar solos"

Now we can add ""Cornfield-leveling sound output" and "Rodent-exterminating volume."

People added a bunch more and I wish I still had the list.

www.terrasonus.com
 
wow, it's impressive just to look at! I can only imagine the wide range of creativity you can release on something like that, especially with the unique use of the talking and hang drums. The kit looks like it could play any style of music that the musician can, and I'm sure it sounds even better than it looks. Hopefully I'll have something as nice to play on one day, I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. Your heads match your carpet :p
 
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KalashnikoV said:
wow, it's impressive just to look at! I can only imagine the wide range of creativity you can release on something like that, especially with the unique use of the talking and hang drums. The kit looks like it could play any style of music that the musician can, and I'm sure it sounds even better than it looks. Hopefully I'll have something as nice to play on one day, I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks - it is indeed fun to play and it has a pretty big vocabulary.

I couldn't afford something like this until I turned 40 last year. You're still pretty young, so hang in there, do well in school, find a good career and you will have the disposable income someday soon.

www.terrasonus.com
 
tamadrummer132 said:
how much did it cost u?

Deathmetalconga said:
The six-piece shell pack and snare was about $5,300, which is what you'd expect to pay for a high-end custom drum set.


It's good to read the whole thread before posting.

Biz
 
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