12 Myths About Drumming

"Myth" 3 misses the point, & frankly, so do most drummers & drum manufacturers. Good suspension mounts are as much about the fundamental tone as they are about sustain. If I wanted a short sustain & punchy drum sound, I'd still use a suspension mount. Head sustain & shell resonance are related, but utterly separate subjects. A resonant shell doesn't necessarily equate to head sustain, it's more about the tone of the fundamental (that's the most audible part of the drum's voice). Whoever wrote that piece is as ignorant of the facts as most of the drum industry.

I like drums with the mounts bolted straight to the shell, if that's what I want, but if you go that way with a thinner shell, you'll get less "tone". If it's a thick non resonant shell, then go right ahead and bolt that beauty up. Let's face it, direct mounts are a much better look :)
 
Let's face it, direct mounts are a much better look :)

I'll agree to disagree here. To me, direct mounts just look too simple, Simple. They just remind me of my first kit and all the nuances of it. Surely, they clean up the look of a lot of hardware, but suspension mounts look-- dare I say-- sexy to me. Even if they are bulky, as long as they are shiny, I think they look very professional.
 
Number 1 is very true. The Beatles, for example, had a mediocre drummer, but they are the most popular and influential Western band ever.

They're already thought through the arguments:

"If “great” means serving the music, regardless of how subtle or crazed the drums might have to be to do that, then this is correct. If it means always playing mindblowing stuff even when some space is called for—or offering up supremely tasteful, metronomic accuracy even when more blood and guts are required—then it’s not.
 
That was really good, I thought.

No.5 and No.12 resonated with me the most.
 
I'll agree to disagree here. To me, direct mounts just look too simple, Simple. They just remind me of my first kit and all the nuances of it. Surely, they clean up the look of a lot of hardware, but suspension mounts look-- dare I say-- sexy to me. Even if they are bulky, as long as they are shiny, I think they look very professional.

Suspension are a need in some situations, I agree, but it doesn't matter how shiny they are, whatever they're gold plated or in some black chrome finish, they're just plain ugly to me, they add nothing to a kit but extra hardware, and often, they spoil a beautiful shell finish. :(

I have to agree with Andy, direct mounts are much better looking, and the less obvious they are the better. :)

Suspension mounts' also a "fashion" within the industry today, everybody's doing it, even on entry level kit, but you can get a beautiful open singing sound with direct mounts :)

I would be very interested of the verdict if a few drummers would undertake a blind test listening to a few kits with and without suspension mounts, I genuinely believe we could have some "surprises" :))
 
I would like to see Bernhard stirred up by your comment. Don´t bash Ringo! :*(

The Beatles, for example, had a mediocre drummer, but they are the most popular and influential Western band ever. .
 
Suspension are a need in some situations, I agree, but it doesn't matter how shiny they are, whatever they're gold plated or in some black chrome finish, they're just plain ugly to me, they add nothing to a kit but extra hardware, and often, they spoil a beautiful shell finish. :(

I have to agree with Andy, direct mounts are much better looking, and the less obvious they are the better. :)

Suspension mounts' also a "fashion" within the industry today, everybody's doing it, even on entry level kit, but you can get a beautiful open singing sound with direct mounts :)

I would be very interested of the verdict if a few drummers would undertake a blind test listening to a few kits with and without suspension mounts, I genuinely believe we could have some "surprises" :))

Fistfights have broken out around here about suspension mounts. I've seen it a number of times.

I don't think suspension mounts change the sound of the drum all that much. I use them just because I want as few as possible holes drilled into my drums, and as little metal hardware as possible bolted through them. I want my drums to be drums, not double function as hardware stands.
 
Fistfights have broken out around here about suspension mounts. I've seen it a number of times.

Actually the guy that invented the RIMS mount wrote in to the magazine, his letter was published in the next issue. I'm sure his response has been summed up a few times already but he essentially said that the purpose of the RIMS system is to allow for a lower tuning and not more sustain.

If you're all interested I can dig up the magazine and re-type his response.
 
I dunno but I think Ringo woulda sounded better w/ suspension mounts - but hey, that's just what I think...
 
I would be very interested of the verdict if a few drummers would undertake a blind test listening to a few kits with and without suspension mounts, I genuinely believe we could have some "surprises" :))
Agreed Henri. I've done the A - B tests. Forget sustain, it's not all about that (although it does have an impact). Put as simply as possible: The more resonant the shells are, the bigger difference good suspension mounts will make. Although not exclusively, that typically means thinner shells. On thicker shells, the difference is minimal, & on very thick shells, there's no difference at all.

Any reference to lower tuning is directly related to thinner shells. They produce a lower fundamental by "absorbing" higher frequencies via sympathetic resonance, so the more they resonate, the lower the resultant fundamental tone = simple science.

Away from suspension mounts, & back to the "myth" statement. Shell resonance does not equal sustain, but may help, depending on a multitude of other design elements.

Suspension mounts' also a "fashion" within the industry today,

Suspension mounts' also a "fashion" within the industry today,
One typically follows the other :) The blind leading the blind, & the marketing hype encourages us all to soak it up.

BTW, our new drum series will feature suspension mounts where there is a benifit, & won't feature them where they're a waste of money & space. Possibly a marketing disaster, but the results will stand for themselves.
 
There were a lot of great points in there. 8 and 9 are both pretty good points. I like to think I'm somewhere in between punk and over educated snob.
As far as this thread getting hijacked by debate on tom mounts goes, Yamaha got it right with the first YESS mount. End of story. Discussion over. You're welcome. ;-)
Now back to talking about the article mentioned in the original post.
 
Fistfights have broken out around here about suspension mounts. I've seen it a number of times.

I don't think suspension mounts change the sound of the drum all that much. I use them just because I want as few as possible holes drilled into my drums, and as little metal hardware as possible bolted through them. I want my drums to be drums, not double function as hardware stands.

As I said, and as Andy pointed out, in some cases suspension mounts will make a difference to the overall sound, and in these cases I would use them, the sound quality's more important than the esthetical aspect of a drumkit.

I understand your view, you want as less tempering possible with the drumshell, however, I'm not sure how much 4 littles holes with insulation gasket under direct mounts affect a drum shell, I guess the same rules regarding the thickness of a shell applies here too.

But if I can help it, I'll buy a drumkit with direct mounts, like you, I want my drums to be drums, not a pack of shiny hardware.

Put it another way, If a got a nice collectible Jaguar E type 2+2 in a marvellous British Racing Green, it would kill it if I put modern alloy wheels on it, dead ugly, you have to put the original wires wheels, it will look classy. :)
 
Spot on. We might read a lot of this here, but not expressed as effectively.

... and we don't know that Ringo would have been better with lessons. Philly Joe Jones declined to give Moonie lessons because he knew it would hinder more than help (must have been an amazing teacher). Not so easy to guess the synergies that make for musical magic - sometimes the logical is not ...
 
Although the game was golf, this weeks Masters winner never had a lesson and has never watched video of himself. Some people get by just fine with natural talent.
 
Getting back to Ringo...here is my analogy.

You give 7 white guys a simple Dodgers cap and they'll pretty much all wear it the same way. Now give that same cap to 7 different black guys and each one will wear it their own unique way. So, take a simple song and give it to a few book-learned, rudiment oriented, paint-by-the-numbers drummers and you'll get very similar sounding beats. Now give that same song to Ringo and a few other unorthodox drummers, and, even though it's simple, they will each have a unique approach to drumming on that song and they will make it sound unlike the others.
 
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