In the Key of K

I’ve played drums and percussion since I was probably around ten years old, give or take a year or two (at the time writing this I’m in the latter part of my forties). I played in the school band and I think I received my first drum set for christmas when I was 15th or 16th. It was a CB 700 Internationale in a dark cherry red, five piece (snare, bass, and three toms–also had hi-hat, ride, and crash cymbals). It was probably made in the late 1980s.

When I briefly lived and played in Texas in 1995, I answered an add in a paper that was selling a Slingerland kit. It had seven toms (SEVEN!), two bass drums, and a snare drum (no cymbals). All the toms except the floor tom were single head, batter side, which was common for sets made in the 1970s. The serial number corroborates that it was manufactured sometime in the 70s. I played those drums for about five minutes before paying the $400 for them.

The Slingerland kit is presently setup in my cramped drum room just off of my studio space (see the picture). Nearly 30 years later (as of 2024) and more than 50 years after it was manufactured, it is still my favorite kit. I only use one bass drum with the double pedals but I seldom play it now. The kids like to bang on it every once in while though.

So what do I drum with now? Mostly the Alesis Strike Multipad electronic drum pads. I run triggers to a pad on the floor with bass pedals and I have a hi-hat pedal. I have gigabytes and gigabytes of drum samples to choose from. It’s so much easier to record ideas when there is not the whole process of tuning, re-tuning, tweaking the mixer board, having one mic clipping out occasionally and then you have redo the whole thing. I should clarify here that I don’t preform live anymore. Not to say I wouldn’t or won’t ever do it again but I’m more interested in writing and recording. That being said, if the right people or money came my why…never say never…

When working on my own music, I’ve almost always done this by myself so it can be very tedious. It’s way less work in someone else’s studio but there can still be HOURS of mixing the mics to get the levels ready, at least, that has been my experience. Once in the 90s I was recording with a different artist and the studio took three hours to setup, tune, mic, and mix a five piece TAMA or Pearl drum set. It sounded great though when we were done. I wish I had the recordings but I don’t think I ever got a copy.

Anyway, all of my music that I recorded in the 90s was done on one of my two drum sets mentioned above. Once you get over digital prejudices, life is much much easier with electronic drums.

I did have a little help recording when I recorded Deliver in 2006/2007. I don’t remember what kind of drum set I used–the drums were recorded in a practice space at a music studio where I used to work. I think it was some type of TAMA or Pearl. Five toms and one bass drum/double pedals. I used my own cymbals and the Slingerland snare drum (still my favorite snare drum). Anyway, one of my coworkers helped me mix down the drums and I recorded them all on one Sunday. I was probably at the height of my drumming abilities at that time. It was so fast and easy–i had mapped out the songs before hand and just played the charts. No click tracks just careful planning–keeping time with the bass drum during rests (zeroing the volume in the mix later so the rests were observed). I was playing in a bunch of student ‘bands’ and we would rehearse weekly and then perform at local venues. For my music at this time, drums were always recorded first.

Now I make a barebones midi drum track for filler (because I hate metronomes and clicks) and use that as a click track. Then I layer in the other instruments as I have time and inclination. Laying a midi drum track helps outline the song form and structure. It makes recording everything else super easy.

I have played many other drums and e-kits over the years. And quite a large variety of percussion instruments. But having access to digital samples that were made with real instruments saves so much time and space that I doubt I will ever go back to all the acoustic drums. Well, maybe if I ever find a deal on four to six timpani….I will make room for that. 🎶🤪