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I’d like to throw in my 2 cents in regard to the battle between acoustic and electronic drums. I have almost 20 years experience with both of them so I consider myself qualified to make the following assessment. Keep in mind this is merely my own opinion.

It is not like comparing apples to apples, more like comparing a fresh, ripe fruit basket to a fruit cake. Not the best analogy, but it’ll do. The fruit cake or acoustic drum set is a one trick pony so to speak. It definitely does sound amazing when played alone, in a band situation, amplified in a live bands performance type scenario and in the studio, there is no doubt about that. But, and this might get long, that is the one sound you will get, forever. Based on the number of plies the shell has, the shell composition, (whether it be Basswood, Birch, Maple, or a hybrid of some sort) not to mention the tuning of the head and head type, are the few tone determining factors. Granted, you can get quite a few sounds out of a standard acoustic drum set by simply changing these variables, but still not nearly the arsenal of sounds available to the player when using an electronic set. I’ll break it down for ya. Tune your toms tighter on the batter side and tighter on the resonant side and you have more of a jazz sound to them. Same goes for the kick drum, tighten it up a bit on the batter side and remove some head dampening, you will get a more distinctive jazz sound, which has a lot more throat and mid-range head resonance to it. The snare drum is no exception, loosen the tension rods a bit on the batter and resonant head as well as the actual snare wires and you get a mellower, jazzier sound. Now, with all that said, think about how much time it would take to make your “Rock Tuned” drum set sound like a “Jazz” kit. Not your typical 15-20 minute drum tuning tweak-up, no, it will literally take you more like 1-2 hours and possibly more if you are as picky as I am regarding drum sound. It may even take a major drum head replacement. Just something to think about.

Enter the Electronic Drum Set! Now, if I used an electronic drum set or even a standard drum set with dampened heads and a full trigger setup triggering a decent sound module, I can play live gigs and completely change the sound of my kit with merely the turn of a knob. I know what you’re thinking, it really is NOT that easy, and you are correct, it isn’t that easy. But once you go through some initial setup with your module to find the sound you want, it becomes that easy. Here is a little background about myself. I am the type of drummer that has a vision or an ideal sound in mind and I will tweak the settings for as long as I have to until they are right and sit well in the mix of whatever band I am tailoring my drum sound to fit. An example of a “decent” drum module would be the Roland TD12. It has an incredible library of sounds ready to be sculpted to your taste and Roland makes it very simple to modify to your liking. Select the drum you want to edit, and start tweaking. You can change the shell material, thickness, depth, diameter, as well as tune the heads by changing the tension and add or remove effects or dynamics processors. Very intuitive. In the case of a drummer wanting to actually play the electronic set in a live situation… that is easily done too since they are typically quite compact and portable. I do hear numerous folks that have played electronics and/or own them and I hear a common issue, the feeling is not there. It does not feel like an acoustic drum set and all I can say to that is, “Darn right, it isn’t an acoustic drum set!” It is a drawback to even myself but that is exactly why I am the type of player to add triggers to my acoustic set. I want the feel and rebound of acoustic drums with the sound versatility of an electronic kit but not for all applications. I will still use my electronic setup for rehearsal rather than my full acoustic drum set that would need to be mic’d in order to have a nice mix sent to my in-ear monitors, the electronics just make that aspect and many others so much easier. So there you have it. Any comments?
-Ryan

Labels: acoustic, acoustic drums, drum head, drum module, drum set, Drum Triggers, drums, Electronic drums, In-Ear Monitors, kick drum, music, Roland TD12, snare drum, tom tom drum

Yesterday I discussed a decision that every drummer in the twenty-first century must face – whether to rock with the traditional drum set or embrace technology for all its worth with electronic drums. I must admit that I was slightly biased towards an electronic drum set in my article yesterday. However I will try to list a few of the cons of an electronic set in the hopes of evening things out to give a balanced perspective.
In all honesty, there is no substitute for a good old-fashioned acoustic drum set. If we are being sincere, you and I both know that electronic drum sets have a lot of capabilities but reproducing acoustic drum sounds perfectly is not among their skill set. There is also the issue of dependency when you operate on an electronic drum set. You are dependent on a power supply as well as whatever speaker system you own for your drums. Fred Fishburne said it best when he said, “Have you ever seen a marching band with an electronic drum line?” He continued to say that with electronic sounds, it is not really the artist that is creating the sound but rather a machine. Whereas if you play the acoustic drums, there is no one to share the glory with when you deliver a stellar performance.
In the end, every musician must make up their mind for themselves about this rather controversial issue. For those of you who have experience with the acoustic or electronic drums, feel free to share your sentiments. I will leave you with this question: Which is better, acoustic drums or electric?

Labels: acoustic, drums, electric drums, music, review, shopping, supplies, technology, vs

If you are considering taking up drumming, you might want to weigh a few variables to determine whether you want to rock it the good old fashion way or whether you want to roll with all technology has to offer. First and foremost you need to determine whether a traditional drum set will be disruptive to you, your family, and the people who live near you. If you live in an apartment, acoustic drums are pretty much out. Even when you live in your own house and the neighbors live 20-30 yards away, they might still complain about the noise. Also you won’t be able to practice during your own hours if you have to worry about waking up family/neighbors. However if you go with an electric drum set, you can play till the wee hours of the morning even if there is nothing more that a thin wall separating you from your neighbor’s apartment. With electric drums, you can put on the headphones and listen to your drumming as loud as you would like. This is also beneficial for your ears because sometimes consistently beating on a drum set can damage your hearing. Whenever you would like to play a little louder, or if you would like to perform for an audience or with a band, you simply hook your electric drum set up to a speaker system and you can churn out some pretty sweet tunes.

Labels: acoustic, acoustic drums, drums, electric drums, shopping, vs