So you probably noticed the home page of our site being under construction with the beginnings of our store. Don’t worry…that is not the template we will be using. ..that is just a default. You can experience the transformation along with us as we build. Our aim is to be launched on May 1 selling product! Stay tuned for announcements here and on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
Once we launch the store, we promise to focus more on the forum and creating that community space…
Humdrum Admin
When purchasing a new kit or snare you have many options, everything from brand, color, sizes and even the material it’s made out of. I want to touch on the last option I listed, and give a little description of the sound qualities you can expect from some of the most popular materieals used for drums today.
- Maple: Warm, deeper in pitch, with more resonance, great for recording.
- Birch: More “attack”, brighter,cuts through, great for live drumming.
- Acrylic: LOUD, and bright. Not much warmth here.
- Hybrids: (wood shell that has been split w/acrylic in the middle or vise verse): If the bearing edge is made of wood, you will get those sound qualities, if the bearing edge is made of acrylic you will get those sound qualities. These kits are mostly for visual appeal.
- Solid Shell: (true solid shell, not stave or segment) Warmth and full bodied sound. The tricky part here is that “solid” shell drums also come in many types of woods, which will variety the sound qualities.
- Mahogany: (African mahogany, not the cheap stuff) The most warmth of ‘em all, great bottom end and still has attack.
Josh Brown
It’s interesting how a drummer’s choice in equipment and accessories evolves over the course of their playing career due to the experiences they have. I started practicing as an early teen in the confines of a small room in an apartment with an extremely used kit I bought from an acquaintance with my paper route money. Noise was obviously an issue so I started my drumming life using light jazz sticks (7a’s) with nylon tips. Extremely practical considering I was trying not to blow out the neighbors and most of the time I was playing along to tapes on a boom box. This experience obviously taught how to play quietly which of course is a very valuable skill. When it finally came time for me to play in actual rock clubs where the drums were mic’d I ran into an unusual problem. Because I was using very light sticks and I wasn’t hitting particularly hard the sound engineer had to turn my mics up to the point of feedback! As it turned out a bit later I ended up befriending a talented sound guy at the same club who gave me a few helpful suggestions. First was to move up to a heavier stick. I still kept the nylon tips just because I love the articulation they provide on toms and especially the ride. I guess because I spent my formative drumming years with nylons I could never get used to sound and feel of wood tips. I also kind of feel engineers whether in recording or live end up equalizing wood tips to get the same sound I can achieve in the first place with the nylons. The second suggestion my friend made was to switch from felt kick pedal beaters to either wood or plastic. This also provided me with a bit more power and more high end articulation for the sound guy to get that click on the attack. Once again this is something I think engineers do with judicious eq and gating with felt beaters. Might as well meet them as closely as possible and in that way take more control of your sound. As drummers we’re constantly striving to balance our individual and overall volumes around the kit. These were just a couple of things I picked up that ended up doing that for me.
Mike Flaherty
There is one thing that every drummer should own and I can guarantee it’s not what you’re thinking. It usually comes in a small package, has a few buttons, and can be adjusted to fit your needs. What is it? It’s a metronome, and it’s the one piece of gear that is most often forgotten. I usually get two different responses when I bring up the met: #1 is “Dude my timing is great, I don’t need to play to a met.” Or #2 which is “I will always have one by my side!” I can always tell who the seasoned vet is by the response I get ( and it’s not #1 in case you were wondering). Read more…
Josh Brown
There comes a time in every drummers career when he or she first encounters the phenomenon of the “ drummer joke”. This may come as quite a shock to young drummers when they first hear these jokes and may not know how to counter them or react. I mean, you just spent hours packing and unpacking and then setting up your gear to play in your friends garage or some crappy rehearsal studio and this is the thanks you get?
These jokes basically break down into three categories: a) the drummer is not a “real” musician, ie: who is the person who hangs around with the musicians…etc. b) the drummer has a brain barely capable of carrying out basic motor functions let alone higher cognitive abilities or c) can’t keep time or speeds up. There are other variations but those seem to be Read more…
Mike Flaherty
The store is still a work in progress as of right now. Watch for future posts to find out when you can start shopping. Nevertheless, we thought we would tell you a little bit about the store we are putting together…
Humdrum’s philosophy is simple…let’s make ordering a custom kit as convenient as possible! With all of the choices that are available these days, it can be very confusing trying to figure out what your options are. So we decided to do that for you by putting your options in one place. We bring together some of the greatest custom drum manufactures and put all their options right on the table. From sizes to colors and EVERYTHING in between! Now you don’t have to be worried of how your investment will turn out! Order in confidence, shop HUMDRUM!
We will be sure to post here as we add new manufacturers to the store.
Humdrum
Humdrum Admin
So we are getting close to launching! We have been working hard to get this site up and running and we should release in three main phases over the next month or so.
- Phase 1: The Home site…this is close, as you can see, and includes this blog and the blogs of our friends in the drummer community.
- Phase 2: The Community site…this will give you the ability to contribute via message boards and other social interactions.
- Phase 3: The Store site…this will feature our favorite drum manufacturers and give you the chance to order custom drums from the best in the business.
We can’t wait to launch these phases in the near future! So keep checking back and let us know what you think by using the Contact Us form.
Humdrum out.
Humdrum Admin