One of the fun parts of being a drummer is collecting a drum set, piece by piece. This gives drummers a lot of options and the joy of owning a personalized drum set. However, the vast amount of options can become overhelming and without the proper approach, the quest for the ultimate drum set will result in a never-ending spending spree and frustration.
Too often, people focus on shell specs while in my experience, there are many other elements more important to being a drummer. In fact, the shells are one of the last priorities on my shopping list. Here are the priorities I wrote down for myself that remind me of what constitutes a good drum set.
1. hearing protection and isolated headphones
Absolute priority. No fun living with tinnitus. Playing along with music tracks teaches so much: keeping time, listening, playing musical, building a repertoire, having fun.... The cheapest (and very decent) iso-phones I found are by Vic Firth and cost 80 €. Professional phones go for 200 € and more but you won't need them until you mic the drums. Watch out with the phones' volume. If you need to turn up the volume to hear the music, you need both ear plugs and iso-phones! Even better are custom-made earplugs. You can inquire at the doctor. They reduce the volume more evenly across all frequencies so you don't get that muddy sound that cheap ear plugs produce. They cost 100-200 € to make but they're personalized and you can get different filters. I suggest -25dB for regular play. They're litterally a life saver.
Drums are damn loud, even when played softly, and if care isn't taken from day one, you'll damage your hearing sooner or later (in my case, after just one year with little exposure). Remember the volume of a snare rim shot hit at 50 cm (the place you sit) is close to 110dB! Hi hats played open, heavy crashes and chinas come a close second.
2. sticks, rods, mallets, brushes and a stick bag
Finding the right sticks is crucial. Once found, my hands adapted and I never changed or it would have brought me off balance. I have a pair of VF 5A for practice and a lighter pair of VF H5A for performance. Rods break easily but they're great for low volume settings. To cope with the cost, I'd either make them myself from garden sticks that you can buy cheaply, or buy a plastic pair like VF Rute 505. Then there are brushes and mallets which all cost but it's worth investing.
Sticks are a personal choice but 5A is a medium size and a good starting point. They break and are expensive but the right sticks make you play and sound better. Also, get a teacher asap to show you the correct body and hand position so you don't injure yourself in the long run. If you have to take one lesson only, learn this.
3. throne and practice pad
Don't let a mediocre throne injure your back or keep you off balance. A good throne costs quite a bit but I'd rather please my ass than buy an extra cymbal or tom. Nothing as embarrassing as falling off a breaking drum chair (it happened to me).
4. different heads, drum keys / drum dial and muffling devices
There's nothing else that changes the sound of drums more than heads and tuning. There's a lot of choice here and heads aren't cheap. Tuning drums can be quite complex and can only be learnt by trial & error. If you can't tune, your drums will sound bad no matter what you buy. Try different combinations before giving up on your current drum set.
If you don't know what heads to get, start with Remo Powerstroke3 on the batter side. Preferably a clear version for toms and kick, coated for snare. These heads tune up very easily because they have the benefits of a single ply (good rebound and sensitivity) and have a built-in muffle ring. This ring is much thinner than a more intrusive 0-ring. What it does is eliminate the annoying overring produced by the hoops without killing sustain. You get a full but controlled tone.
5. pedals
Just as sticks affect your limbs, so do pedals. Smooth and sturdy pedals make you play better and improve your progress. Good pedals are also expensive.
6. snare with stand and case
You'll hit it more than anything else, it's the most sensitive element of a drum set and changing the snare drum is the easiest way to personalize a drum set after sticks and heads. Also try a different set of wires. You can usually live with mediocre kick and toms that are tuned well but you can really hear the quality difference on the snare drum. More expensive still doesn't mean anything if you can't tune well or don't know how the many variables affect the sound.
If you don't know what to get, brass is very versatile and musical. It has the clarity of metal but the warmth of wood. No coincidence brass is also used for horns. Even though 14" is the default diameter, I'd get a 13". It's more focused and easier to get a good tone out while still having plenty of body. A medium depth of 5-6" is perfect. I'd always build up from small and gentle drums to something more powerful than vice versa. Maybe you won't need a different snare after all.
Once you find the correct SD for you, it deserves a sturdy stand and case. Nothing as annoying as a snare stand breaking in the middle of a performance (it happened to me). Well, save for the collapsing throne
7. hi hat and ride, possibly a crash, with cymbal bag
There's no way to alter cymbals' sound like you can tune drums. But you'll be hitting the hats and ride almost as often as snare and kick, if not more. Reason enough to look for that pair of hats and ride that suits you. You can even mix different hats or keep a secondary ride.
8. kick and two toms with carpet
While a kick is paramount in popular music, you can usually get a good kick sound with the right size, heads and correct amount of muffling. Toms are also affected more by heads and size than by wood type. Buying a kick and toms separately costs a lot more than buying a shell pack, so it's better to leave the kick and toms for this stage. And you really don't need more than two toms, not right now.
A small carpet with rubber underneath is a must to prevent your kick and hi hat stand from slipping away and to protect the floor from the pedals' spikes and grease. I've seen people use beer crates (being guilty myself) or pull ropes to keep gear in place. In my experience, beer crates soon become empty and lose their resistance and unless you like fishing for your hi hat, I suggest you get a piece of carpet. Preferably the less hairy type
9. stands and bags / cases
After you upgrade, protect your gear and keep it in place. Reliable stands are expensive for being just a piece of metal. You'd guess it can't get worse after breaking a throne and snare stand, but I've had a crash and ride collapsing (oh the humility!). In the long run, you'll save by buying a few multi-use stands from a renowned brand than by starting with cheap stands that will eventually need to be replaced. And no-one will buy that crap from you second hand. Make sure they're heavy enough (not necessarily the most heavy). You can mount most brands on those double or triple stands and interchange freely. Some prefer a rack but that's only interesting when having a huge set. Throw all the hardware in one sports bag. If it's too heavy, split the gear between two bags.
10. extra gear
You can expand as much as you want: 2nd crash, 2nd snare and cowbell is all I need. But I experience that the larger the drum set, the more cramped the gear is set-up, the more distracted I become and the worse I play. There's apparently a point of reduced reward. Instead, at this point I'd rather buy micing and recording equipment or a second drum set: one for the stage and one for the studio. If you buy a shell set of 10-12-14-16 toms and 22 kick, order an extra 20" kick (or 22 if you like double bass). Now you can have either one big drum set or split it in two: 10-14-20 setup for the studio and 12-16-22 for the stage. If you did buy lousy hardware that I talked about in #9, it can now come in handy to hold one of your sets while buying sturdier stands to hold your favorite setup.
Above all, you need an isolated room with good acoustics where you can store your drums. If you don't dispose of such a place, you might as well stop at #7 and invest in an electronic set. I've learnt more practising on my e-drums than on my a-drums but crave to play a good set of acoustic drums. There's something particular and rewarding about collecting your own set of drums. I just remind myself of what matters more when being on this quest.
Too often, people focus on shell specs while in my experience, there are many other elements more important to being a drummer. In fact, the shells are one of the last priorities on my shopping list. Here are the priorities I wrote down for myself that remind me of what constitutes a good drum set.
1. hearing protection and isolated headphones
Absolute priority. No fun living with tinnitus. Playing along with music tracks teaches so much: keeping time, listening, playing musical, building a repertoire, having fun.... The cheapest (and very decent) iso-phones I found are by Vic Firth and cost 80 €. Professional phones go for 200 € and more but you won't need them until you mic the drums. Watch out with the phones' volume. If you need to turn up the volume to hear the music, you need both ear plugs and iso-phones! Even better are custom-made earplugs. You can inquire at the doctor. They reduce the volume more evenly across all frequencies so you don't get that muddy sound that cheap ear plugs produce. They cost 100-200 € to make but they're personalized and you can get different filters. I suggest -25dB for regular play. They're litterally a life saver.
Drums are damn loud, even when played softly, and if care isn't taken from day one, you'll damage your hearing sooner or later (in my case, after just one year with little exposure). Remember the volume of a snare rim shot hit at 50 cm (the place you sit) is close to 110dB! Hi hats played open, heavy crashes and chinas come a close second.
2. sticks, rods, mallets, brushes and a stick bag
Finding the right sticks is crucial. Once found, my hands adapted and I never changed or it would have brought me off balance. I have a pair of VF 5A for practice and a lighter pair of VF H5A for performance. Rods break easily but they're great for low volume settings. To cope with the cost, I'd either make them myself from garden sticks that you can buy cheaply, or buy a plastic pair like VF Rute 505. Then there are brushes and mallets which all cost but it's worth investing.
Sticks are a personal choice but 5A is a medium size and a good starting point. They break and are expensive but the right sticks make you play and sound better. Also, get a teacher asap to show you the correct body and hand position so you don't injure yourself in the long run. If you have to take one lesson only, learn this.
3. throne and practice pad
Don't let a mediocre throne injure your back or keep you off balance. A good throne costs quite a bit but I'd rather please my ass than buy an extra cymbal or tom. Nothing as embarrassing as falling off a breaking drum chair (it happened to me).
4. different heads, drum keys / drum dial and muffling devices
There's nothing else that changes the sound of drums more than heads and tuning. There's a lot of choice here and heads aren't cheap. Tuning drums can be quite complex and can only be learnt by trial & error. If you can't tune, your drums will sound bad no matter what you buy. Try different combinations before giving up on your current drum set.
If you don't know what heads to get, start with Remo Powerstroke3 on the batter side. Preferably a clear version for toms and kick, coated for snare. These heads tune up very easily because they have the benefits of a single ply (good rebound and sensitivity) and have a built-in muffle ring. This ring is much thinner than a more intrusive 0-ring. What it does is eliminate the annoying overring produced by the hoops without killing sustain. You get a full but controlled tone.
5. pedals
Just as sticks affect your limbs, so do pedals. Smooth and sturdy pedals make you play better and improve your progress. Good pedals are also expensive.
6. snare with stand and case
You'll hit it more than anything else, it's the most sensitive element of a drum set and changing the snare drum is the easiest way to personalize a drum set after sticks and heads. Also try a different set of wires. You can usually live with mediocre kick and toms that are tuned well but you can really hear the quality difference on the snare drum. More expensive still doesn't mean anything if you can't tune well or don't know how the many variables affect the sound.
If you don't know what to get, brass is very versatile and musical. It has the clarity of metal but the warmth of wood. No coincidence brass is also used for horns. Even though 14" is the default diameter, I'd get a 13". It's more focused and easier to get a good tone out while still having plenty of body. A medium depth of 5-6" is perfect. I'd always build up from small and gentle drums to something more powerful than vice versa. Maybe you won't need a different snare after all.
Once you find the correct SD for you, it deserves a sturdy stand and case. Nothing as annoying as a snare stand breaking in the middle of a performance (it happened to me). Well, save for the collapsing throne
7. hi hat and ride, possibly a crash, with cymbal bag
There's no way to alter cymbals' sound like you can tune drums. But you'll be hitting the hats and ride almost as often as snare and kick, if not more. Reason enough to look for that pair of hats and ride that suits you. You can even mix different hats or keep a secondary ride.
8. kick and two toms with carpet
While a kick is paramount in popular music, you can usually get a good kick sound with the right size, heads and correct amount of muffling. Toms are also affected more by heads and size than by wood type. Buying a kick and toms separately costs a lot more than buying a shell pack, so it's better to leave the kick and toms for this stage. And you really don't need more than two toms, not right now.
A small carpet with rubber underneath is a must to prevent your kick and hi hat stand from slipping away and to protect the floor from the pedals' spikes and grease. I've seen people use beer crates (being guilty myself) or pull ropes to keep gear in place. In my experience, beer crates soon become empty and lose their resistance and unless you like fishing for your hi hat, I suggest you get a piece of carpet. Preferably the less hairy type
9. stands and bags / cases
After you upgrade, protect your gear and keep it in place. Reliable stands are expensive for being just a piece of metal. You'd guess it can't get worse after breaking a throne and snare stand, but I've had a crash and ride collapsing (oh the humility!). In the long run, you'll save by buying a few multi-use stands from a renowned brand than by starting with cheap stands that will eventually need to be replaced. And no-one will buy that crap from you second hand. Make sure they're heavy enough (not necessarily the most heavy). You can mount most brands on those double or triple stands and interchange freely. Some prefer a rack but that's only interesting when having a huge set. Throw all the hardware in one sports bag. If it's too heavy, split the gear between two bags.
10. extra gear
You can expand as much as you want: 2nd crash, 2nd snare and cowbell is all I need. But I experience that the larger the drum set, the more cramped the gear is set-up, the more distracted I become and the worse I play. There's apparently a point of reduced reward. Instead, at this point I'd rather buy micing and recording equipment or a second drum set: one for the stage and one for the studio. If you buy a shell set of 10-12-14-16 toms and 22 kick, order an extra 20" kick (or 22 if you like double bass). Now you can have either one big drum set or split it in two: 10-14-20 setup for the studio and 12-16-22 for the stage. If you did buy lousy hardware that I talked about in #9, it can now come in handy to hold one of your sets while buying sturdier stands to hold your favorite setup.
Above all, you need an isolated room with good acoustics where you can store your drums. If you don't dispose of such a place, you might as well stop at #7 and invest in an electronic set. I've learnt more practising on my e-drums than on my a-drums but crave to play a good set of acoustic drums. There's something particular and rewarding about collecting your own set of drums. I just remind myself of what matters more when being on this quest.
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