Drum Kit Diary 2007

August 4, 2007

There are a few changes at the kit that may be of interest to those of you who, like myself, are fanatical about hitting things with other things. My kit is an organic and evolving thing that changes in various ways that reflect my desire to make it more efficient, easier to play, and better sounding. Most of the changes that occur are minor ones, often questions of simple placement designed to maximize economy of motion. Others can be quite drastic, forcibly altering one's approach to the instrument. I recently decided that I wanted to add a second ride cymbal. After several abortive attempts to make it work, I concluded that this was a stupid idea. Point is I tried.

The photographs above are representative of the percussion status quo at the Recording Facility, Darlingtown.

Notable changes include the removal of a 14" Medium 2002, replaced by a 12" Wuhan China. The 11" Splash 2002 is now the furthest target to the right (from our hero's perspective) and topped with a 10" Thin Splash (Zildjian) for a nice trashy effect with virtually no sustain. In its former location near my hats hangs my trusty 8" Splash Rude all by itself now, no longer perched atop an 8" Paperthin. Longtime companion 20" Ride Rude (hand selected by yours truly at the Paiste plant in Nottwil, Switzerland) has been replaced by my new 20" Full Ride Signature, with its strong bell sound and shimmering full body. I've also added a Latin Percussion Stealth Block (ooh it's black so it's not just a block, it's a stealth block – sheesh! Punch the marketing guy!) Which brings a lovely - if somewhat cartoonish - color to my sonic palette.

I'm now playing Evans heads exclusively. I made a switch with my snare batter from a Remo coated ambassador with a sound dot underside to the Evans equivalent - a coated Power Center Reverse Dot. The Evans heads are just more durable, the coating on the Remo heads was wearing off too quickly. Not to mention the fact that I'm not going to miss that diplomat, ambassador, emperor shit at all.