The ''Right'' Way To Set Up Your Kit

Damn, I thought I'd get away with it this time!
Well let's see:
- Named "Jeremy"
- Been in 5 bands
- Rather lady-like approach to the double pedal
- Ahead sticks (way... ahead)
- The humanly-impossible-to-reach tom

Dead giveaway, mate! Watch what you put on the tube.
 
I just found this nice video clip. Can you spot one or two things you could change to improve the setup's efficiency?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-qE07hMDoZY

WOAH, that was really unexpected. That just hurt my insides just looking at that. That kid needs some help education-wise. What does he think when he sees live performances with all these other drummers who have really comfortable formations on their kit?
 
Sarcasm? I'm usually pretty bad at spotting it....

:)

Yeah, that whole schtick doesn't usually transfer very well over the internet.

By the way, although I wouldn't be too comfortable playing the kit in that video, I don't care how he wants to set it up. I will complain about his playing, though, he has terrible time and just wants to show off his double bass, which he might want to work on more.

Anyway, since this thread is about how you set your kit up to be comfortable for yourself:

Horizontally-

IMG_0003-1.jpg


Bell of every cymbal is uncovered mostly except for the china cymbal, and they overlap otherwise. Hi-hat is to the right of the slave pedal because I don't like to cross my arms too far to reach the hi-hats.

Vertically-
IMG_0004.jpg
IMG_0005-1.jpg


Primary snare drum, hi-hats, and splash are all mostly flat, if not slightly tilted towards me. Basically everything else is tilted toward me at a comfortable angle so I can crash and ride (bow and bell) each cymbal. My hi-hats aren't that high, mostly because most of my playing on them is with the tip of stick on the bow, rather than with the shoulder on the edge. Keep in mind these two pictures are below eye level from the driver's seat.
 
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I just found this nice video clip. Can you spot one or two things you could change to improve the setup's efficiency?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-qE07hMDoZY

Personally, I think he is a dual kick nood who thinks that having his legs that close together will speed him up, and that leaves no room for the snare, hence the weird kit.

In time he will most likely grow out of this setup....
 
when people buy a drumset and don't even practice it. it grows dust and dust and is just not respecting the drum
 
do u mean like...dust on the setup? is that how its to do with setup you mean?

my dislike - sometimes its angles, sometimes its lack of any angles - bascially any setup pisses me off where it lookks like when someone's playing it they're having to try and play it rather than just play it - for dave lombardo fluiditiy and speed seems to come form having angled and actually, well spaced rack toms! for me that's a big wtf...but he's a lot better than me. sometimes too much too close....its good like derek roddy said to never have to suspend your arm thus lifting up you elbow loads and cutting any whipping motion and this really high or really high and angled things sound out...but then lok at some of the greats....
basically while id like to think the right way is say glat and lcose together or the opposite, its in fact this ->when i see someone playing a kit where it looks like their arms are too close together all the time and theres no freedom of muslce movement but also i hate it when it looks like someones having to leap from rtheir racm tom(s) the the floor tom(s) and massivley adjust their hand agnle in relation to the batter heaeds and technique just to play a roll aroudn the set -something that you should always be able to do in my opinion. if you cant do it comfortably and at different speeds and dynamics without im and stick clicking and discomfort, THATS the wronf setup!
 
Re: What annoys you on peoples drum sets?

I also hate bad tom angles and Travis Barker like setups that is just stupid. We are all different, maybe you like how he setups his kit but that doesn't mean you'll feel confortable playing like him, so just be yourself.


i guess i don't understand why everybody has such a huge problem with travis' setup. no, i wouldn't set up that way. but i read somewhere once that one of his first teachers was into that kind of setup and it just stuck. i do think its kind of rediculous and unnessescary that he has to stand up to reach his rack tom but, if its comfortable for him then its all gravy.

the only thing that bothers me about his flat rack tom and cymbal set up is that alot of people my age that play will set up like that and then when i watch them play i'll say "you don't like very comfortable, ever tried doing this or that to your toms and cymbals?" and they'll respond with "well the drummer from that one band sets up this way....."

i don't think people should set up based on what they see and think looks cool. they should find whats comfortable.
 
Re: What annoys you on peoples drum sets?

i hate people who complain about other peoples kits.
Right on brother!

Couldn't agree more.

I bet some of you are reading this thread feeling all superior and than someone posts something they don't like and you go and readjust your kit.
 
Yep that's what I do. I changed my kit four times today alone. I have to stop looking at other kits.
 
IMHO, there is no "right" way to set up a kit, but there are sure a lot of "wrong" ways.
 
I like flat crashed (not high) but not flat rack toms. I just don't understand how even great players like Eric Singer or Tommy Lee play like that. I guess it was a visual trend and they just became good that way. But man if I played on a kit like that it would just sound like "clickety click click click".

I don't like hi-hats really high, snare drums angled too much towards me, and ride cymbals too far to the right.

The times that I've had to play on someone else's drums, tuning has been more of an issue than setup. I used to open for this guy who had a nice Pearl MLX. He had them tuned up so high they sounded like bongos. It was like torture to play on!
 
I have been playing about 46 years and it seems setups are pretty trendy, the 60's double bass drums, then the Bonzo snare stand for the ride tom, then and now you see small toms rims mounts, hanging toms racks, and the infamous double tom stand off set to the right of the bass drum, and it seems with these trends everyone gets on the bandwagon Oh and double pedals (this one is the dumbest one to me) but truth is you have to find your own way to set the drums to where they work for you not against you . You should not have to try hard to play a set it should be easy, if it is hard try different way till it gets easier... but forget what you see on TV and in video's that is someone elses body and what works for them probably will NOT work for you have fun...
 
Hey guys I'd like your opinion on my setup the first pic is my current setup and the second is my previous setup
394502_328307507189877_100000318924967_1097414_257748143_n.jpg
378003_317787204908574_100000318924967_1063172_657149_n.jpg
 
Well, first of all, congratulations. Now you don't have to lug around as much gear.

I realize this is a resurrected thread that dates back to 2007 (didn't realize this when I first commented), but there are some very good points if you go all the way back to the beginning. I repeat, there is no right way but very many wrong ways to set up a kit. And, to each his own. The one thing I fail to understand is how anyone plays a kit with the throne set up so low that your knees point up (sat on one of those yesterday). I compare it to trying to play uphill. I've just never been comfortable doing that.
 
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