How to Make the Most of Your Cheap Drums
Believe it or not, the primary factor in how your drums sound is not the wood, nor the thousands of dollars you shelled out to buy it, it’s the heads you choose to put on it, and properly tuning and dampening. I was gigging with a 400 dollar starter kit for about 4 years before I saved up enough to get a Tama Silverstar. Because of these techniques, I was able to make it work, and actually make it work well.
The first choice you must make is in the heads. By throwing out the stock heads and investing 50 dollars in some Evans or Remo skins, you instantly bump up the quality of your drums. For warm and deep cuts, I suggest coated heads. For precision and clarity, use clear heads. ALWAYS USE 2 PLY HEADS ON THE TOP HEAD. This will give your drums a beefy sound, as well as let the heads last much longer. For a short, thuddy sound put a 1 ply head on the bottom. If you want resonance, put a 2 ply head on the bottom. I keep 2-ply on my floor toms and they end up sounding like kick drums. For snares, every head company makes a snare-bottom head, which I personally believe is an extremely wise investment as far as durability and tone. Stock heads work, but they are REALLY easy to gash.
The second step is tuning. You can tune your drums to pretty much any pitch or tone you want, you just need the knowledge to do it. Tightening up your bottom heads allows for a lot more ring to your drums, while loosening them makes the resonance shorter. You can go without bottom heads, but your drums will lose their presence, and adding that layer will allow them to cut on a gig. Your drums will sound more “solid” in their upper register, but they will sound so much deeper and beefier in their lower register. It really depends on what you are going for. Putting on heads should be like replacing a tire, doing all of the lugs diagonally. Start off by getting them all finger tight, and then adjusting slowly from there. As far as snares go, they will not cut AT ALL unless you have the bottom cranked up way tight. This unfortunately makes it easy to break the bottom head.
The final step is dampening. Don’t underestimate this part, because every great drummer uses this technique. Ringo Starr was noted as the first drummer to use this technique, by taping cloths to his toms to get the sound you hear on the iconic Beatles tune “Come Together.” Using products like drum dots or moon gel cost about 8 dollars for a full set, and they completely change the game of drumming. Not only do they provide extra thud and attack, but they also get rid of nasty overtones that can leak out. They do complete wonders on a snare, just try it out. If you can’t go out and get gel, just take some toilet paper, fold it up, and tape it onto your heads. It should work almost as well. Dampening products are amazing because they are cheaper than a pair of sticks, yet they completely transform your sound.
Dampening also applies to cymbals. Just lay duct tape on the bottom side of the cymbal, and it should eliminate pesky ringing and add to a drier sound. They do make cymbals that are supposed to do this for you, but they usually run extremely high. When you have a budget of 60 dollars and have to settle for Sabian B8s, duct tape is a blessing from God.
*Snares are by far the hardest thing to influence, so that should be where your money is focused. Every detail, from the flange of the rims to the layers of wood in the shell, has a huge impact on the sound of it. Since your snare sound defines who you are as a drummer, make sure to do some extra research on snare rims, types of wood, size, layering, etc before you make such a crucial purchase. Some snares run as high as 3 grand!!
Gooding $1000 Drum Budget
$300 – Snare
$110 – (2) Toms
$100 – Kick Drum
$350 – Cymbals (hi hat, ride, crash)
$80 – Hardware
$60 – Accessories (heads, dampeners)
Believe it or not, the primary factor in how your drums sound is not the wood, nor the thousands of dollars you shelled out to buy it, it’s the heads you choose to put on it, and properly tuning and dampening. I was gigging with a 400 dollar starter kit for about 4 years before I saved up enough to get a Tama Silverstar. Because of these techniques, I was able to make it work, and actually make it work well.
The first choice you must make is in the heads. By throwing out the stock heads and investing 50 dollars in some Evans or Remo skins, you instantly bump up the quality of your drums. For warm and deep cuts, I suggest coated heads. For precision and clarity, use clear heads. ALWAYS USE 2 PLY HEADS ON THE TOP HEAD. This will give your drums a beefy sound, as well as let the heads last much longer. For a short, thuddy sound put a 1 ply head on the bottom. If you want resonance, put a 2 ply head on the bottom. I keep 2-ply on my floor toms and they end up sounding like kick drums. For snares, every head company makes a snare-bottom head, which I personally believe is an extremely wise investment as far as durability and tone. Stock heads work, but they are REALLY easy to gash.
The second step is tuning. You can tune your drums to pretty much any pitch or tone you want, you just need the knowledge to do it. Tightening up your bottom heads allows for a lot more ring to your drums, while loosening them makes the resonance shorter. You can go without bottom heads, but your drums will lose their presence, and adding that layer will allow them to cut on a gig. Your drums will sound more “solid” in their upper register, but they will sound so much deeper and beefier in their lower register. It really depends on what you are going for. Putting on heads should be like replacing a tire, doing all of the lugs diagonally. Start off by getting them all finger tight, and then adjusting slowly from there. As far as snares go, they will not cut AT ALL unless you have the bottom cranked up way tight. This unfortunately makes it easy to break the bottom head.
The final step is dampening. Don’t underestimate this part, because every great drummer uses this technique. Ringo Starr was noted as the first drummer to use this technique, by taping cloths to his toms to get the sound you hear on the iconic Beatles tune “Come Together.” Using products like drum dots or moon gel cost about 8 dollars for a full set, and they completely change the game of drumming. Not only do they provide extra thud and attack, but they also get rid of nasty overtones that can leak out. They do complete wonders on a snare, just try it out. If you can’t go out and get gel, just take some toilet paper, fold it up, and tape it onto your heads. It should work almost as well. Dampening products are amazing because they are cheaper than a pair of sticks, yet they completely transform your sound.
Dampening also applies to cymbals. Just lay duct tape on the bottom side of the cymbal, and it should eliminate pesky ringing and add to a drier sound. They do make cymbals that are supposed to do this for you, but they usually run extremely high. When you have a budget of 60 dollars and have to settle for Sabian B8s, duct tape is a blessing from God.
*Snares are by far the hardest thing to influence, so that should be where your money is focused. Every detail, from the flange of the rims to the layers of wood in the shell, has a huge impact on the sound of it. Since your snare sound defines who you are as a drummer, make sure to do some extra research on snare rims, types of wood, size, layering, etc before you make such a crucial purchase. Some snares run as high as 3 grand!!
Gooding $1000 Drum Budget
$300 – Snare
$110 – (2) Toms
$100 – Kick Drum
$350 – Cymbals (hi hat, ride, crash)
$80 – Hardware
$60 – Accessories (heads, dampeners)
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