Hopefully you’ve done all of your preparation, in which case we’re ready to record!

My recording setup is pretty basic, but I’ve pulled some decent results from it. I use a single overhead – an SE Electronics S2200A large diaphragm condenser mic as the overhead, a Shure SM57 on the snare and a cheap, generic dynamic mic on the bass – the high SPLs generated by the bass drum destroy mics quickly, and I find that the quality is good enough that it wasn’t really worth sacrificing a more expensive mic.

Once you have your mics set up, have another play of your kit in order to find, isolate and fix any creaks or unwanted noises. Then we’re ready to record.

I recorded my samples in chunks, taking a break in between to listen to what I’d just done and redo any that didn’t make the grade. I grouped my kit as follows:

• All snare drum hits and ornaments
• Bass and toms
• All Hi hat hits
• Cymbals

Using my favourite DAW, Reaper, I set up a track for each of my three mics and did my levels check – making sure that the gain was low enough to avoid any clipping on my biggest hits, then for each group, I just hit record and got to work.

After each block, I stuck on some headphones and listened carefully to each hit for any issues. Any that didn’t make the grade, I simply made a note of (e.g. flam #3, hi-hat #6) and then went back and re-recorded them before starting on the next block.

It’s better to just add them to the end of the file and then copy and paste them over the original hit later, rather than trying to replace them as you go.

Things To Remember

• There’s no such thing as too soft – Some of my hits barely register on the waveform, but often these ghost notes can make the groove. I can’t tell you how often I use ghost notes when I’m playing for real.
• Record the samples dry – You can always add effects later, but if you apply them as you’re recording you can’t take them away. This is especially important with external effects – if you want to use the external effects at a later date, you can always route the signal from your DAW, out to your effect, and back in again, so there’s no real need to use it now.
• Make sure you re-record any samples that have any unwanted noises in them – I can’t emphasize how important this is. Even if it’s something that would be ordinarily unnoticeable if you were doing a real recording, you have to redo it – especially if it’s on a kit-piece that’s likely to be used a lot throughout a tune. Hearing the same artifact again and again will alert your listener that you’re using sequenced drums. It will also get really, really annoying to listen to.
• Leave enough time between each hit for the ring to sufficiently decay – Especially on cymbals. With some of my crashes, I left a space of up to 20 seconds between hits – yup, you need a lot of patience when doing this.
• Label your samples – Most DAWs allow you to apply markers to sections. The length of my sample file is about 1 hour, so I’ve marked the beginning of each sample set for ease of use later. It’s also a great way of making sure that you don’t miss the really soft notes that might not register on your waveform preview

In the end, it took me about 3 hours to record the 180 samples and I haven’t cut them up yet, but I’m pretty pleased with how they’ve come out. Here’s a preview of my snare drum:

Download audio file (drum_samples_dry.mp3)

Why Sample Your Kit?

I’m about to go off travelling indefinitely and I’m going to miss my drums but I don’t have to lose them completely. If I create samples of each of my drum sounds, then I can plug them into sample software such as Battery and be able to ‘play’ my drums wherever I am – even in the middle of the jungle!

This isn’t the only reason why you might want to sample your kit, though. Perhaps you live in an apartment, and have to use an electronic kit. Wouldn’t it be great to get the sound of your acoustic drums without the accompanying noise levels?

Maybe you house your drums at a studio across town, and can’t always get access to them, but would like to experiment with new beats or lay down scratch tracks at home or late at night. Using samples gives you the flexibility of composing electronically while maintaining your own signature sound and feel.

And those are just some of the practical reasons why you might want to do this – there are also the creative reasons, like being able to mash up your sounds in new and unique ways.

Preparing the Kit

Whether you want to hire a studio for a couple of hours and get it done professionally or you want to do it all at home, DIY style (like me), it’s worth sitting down and doing some prep work before you jump in.

The first and most important part of the whole operation is tuning your kit. Shit sounding drums are still going to sound awful even if you record them on million dollar microphones, but a killer sounding kit will still sound great recorded on a $10 Wal Mart special.

I would seriously recommend spending some time reading Professor Sound’s Drum Tuning Bible – it’s free and is one of the most detailed resources on tuning drums I’ve ever seen.

Invest in some new heads, put aside a day and follow this guide to the letter. It’s well worth it.

Once you’ve done this, have a play of your new kit and listen out for any unwanted noises such as pedal creaks, rattling wing nuts or loose lugs. Isolate them and then fix them. You really don’t want them turning up in your samples.

What to Record

It’s a good idea to write down a checklist of all the things you want to record or else you’ll get to the end and find that you’ve forgotten something important. Here are a few things to think about:

• Number of velocity levels – a drum hit at a low velocity sounds totally different to one struck hard, even if they are played back at the same volume. The timbre totally changes, so don’t expect to be able to record one hit and then simply turn it up or down – it just doesn’t work like that. Work out what your dynamic range is and make sure you capture a hit from each level that you use most often – I decided on 10 levels (very, very soft to very hard).
• Drums to capture – If you have a huge kit with tons of cymbals, you may want to think about choosing only your most important pieces or doing a pared-down version of your lesser-used pieces, otherwise you’ll be at it for days (if you have the patience and the time, then go for it!)
• Strike zones – It’s important to think about which areas of the drum/cymbal you hit regularly and capture samples of all of those, too. For example, I recorded 10 levels of the hi hat being played with the foot; 10 of it played fully closed; 10 of it played 3/4 of the way open; and 10 levels of it played fully open.
• Techniques – This is probably most important on the snare, but think about the kinds of ornaments you use when you play – the idea is to create a sample set that best reflects your playing, so if you use a lot of drags or flams, for example, make sure that you capture a set of those.
• Beaters – Different sticks and beaters give different sounds, so if you play with brushes or soft mallets a lot, make sure you get some samples of you playing with those too!

In the end, I recorded 10 levels, from very soft to very hard, of the following:

• Snare drum straight hit
• Snare drum flam
• Snare drum drag
• Snare drum cross stick
• Bass drum straight hit
• High tom straight hit
• Mid tom straight hit
• Floor tom straight hit
• Hi hat foot
• Hi hat closed
• Hi hat 3/4 open
• Hi hat fully open
• Crash cymbal 1, straight hit
• Crash cymbal 2, straight hit
• Ride bell
• Ride, straight hit
• Ride edge, for the crash sound
• Ride with soft mallets

That’s 180 different hits to record!

That’s why it’s important to write stuff down, especially if your memory is as bad as mine. Also, it’s important to read over your list while you’re actually in the process of recording too. Don’t do what I did, which was write everything down then not look at it again until I was finished – at which point I realised I’d forgotten to record my 10 levels of cross stick…

Now that we’re prepared, we can make us some samples! In part 2, we’ll look at the actual recording process and some hints and tips on post-processing. Stay tuned!

A drummer (or musician, or architect) is not so much something you become and more something you are. If you play the drums a lot, you’re a drummer. If you own a drum kit, but never use it, then you’re just a person with a drum kit. Here is a list of my top 5 tips to being a better drummer.

1) Practice.

Playing anything is better than playing nothing. Just pick up your sticks, and play something. If you’re really, really stuck, just play a straight rock beat:

HH |-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
SD |-----o-------o---|
BD |-o-------o-------|

(HH – High hats, SD – Snare Drum, BD – Bass Drum)

Do that for half an hour every day and it’ll do you the world of good, guaranteed.

But I know you’re much more creative than that, so throw in some fills, change the tempo, add some ghost notes and generally mix it up a bit. Make a mess – it’s all good.

2) Listen

Listen to other drummers. This one’s great, because you get to listen to the music that you love and call it work – but the key is that it has to be work. You have to put some effort in to get the rewards, so don’t just start singing along. You’re not here for the melody. Focus on the drummer and see if you can figure out what she is doing, you don’t have to get it note for note – it’s more about the feel – but try to at least get an idea of the foundations of the beat. What notes are being hit every bar? That’s your foundation beat – the rest is just decoration.

Also listen for dynamics, rhythm, accents. Listen to how the bass drum fits in with the bass instruments. Ask yourself why she has chosen to play this beat at this time in this song.

And if other musicians, or your drum teachers, give you a list of drummers that you ‘should’ be listening to then, by all means, check them out. However (and it’s a big however), if you don’t like them, stop listening to them. There are no ‘shoulds’, and you’re not wrong for not liking them. Don’t make this harder on yourself – it’s already hard enough.

3) Read

As you’re listening to your favourite drummers, see if you can get some of tabs of the songs and read along. There are plenty of resources available on the internet where you can get free tabs – print off a few, or pull them up on screen, and see if you can follow along.

Even better, transcribe the beats yourself. Bar by bar. This can be an intense exercise, but it’ll really open your eyes.

4) Jam

Playing with other musicians is a must – drummers rarely play solo (and when they do, it can get a little boring). Get out to your local music shop and check the want ads – there are always bands looking for drummers. Hook up and jam.

If it works out, then congratulations – you’re in a band. If not, don’t sweat it – go find some other musos to play with. Somewhere, out there, is your perfect line up. Don’t stop until you find them.

If you can’t do this for whatever reason (mobility, access, location), there’s still hope! Grab some CDs, get some tabs (or transcribe them) and play along. If you want to get super-hi-tech, hook up with some other musicians online and get them to record some ideas that you can jam along to. With the power of the internet, bands no longer have to live in the same town!

5) Practice

Yeah, it’s here twice because how good you are is simply about how much time you put in. Wanna be an amazing drummer? Play the drums. A lot.

I got my first drum kit when I was about 16. It was a Hohner with a steel snare and a shallow bass drum and it came with a thin ride and a some weedy hi-hats. They sounded awful but, whatever, it was my first kit and I was excited just to have it and it got a pasting

The Crash

At the time, I was a drummer who was into his heavy rock music. It quickly became clear that bashing the hell out the ride just wasn’t going to cut it. I was going to have to buy a decent crash.

Being new to the drumming world, I had no idea what these things cost. As I chirpily made my way to the drum shop with $100 in hand, I was sure that I’d be able to have my pick of the finest hammered bronze in the world.

Boy, was I in for a surprise.

The First Shock

My spirits were soundly crushed when I was shown a range of rather pathetic looking no-brand cymbals that fit my rather pathetic price range. I had heard a many great things about the bigger brands – Zildjian, Sabian, Paiste – but was disappointed to see that only a few of the Zildjians had made the sub-$100 cut. None of the A, K or Z range that I had read so much about, just one or two from the ‘budget’ Scimitar Bronze range.

Determined not to leave empty handed, I swallowed my pride and bought the 16″ Scimitar Bronze Rock crash for about $90. Then I went home to make the best of it – at least I now owned a crash.

Twelve years later, I still play it every single day. It’s lost its shine and the branding has long-since faded, but it’s an integral part of my setup and has been everywhere with me – it even made it to the Other Stage and Acoustic Tent at Glastonbury 2005, where I was fortunate to play with my then band, The Deadbeats.

I have played countless cymbals from all the main manufacturers over these past 12 years and yet I still return to this old workhorse as an example of what a crash should sound like. It is my personal definition of a crash sound – thick and meaty with an explosive yet pleasant attack and a quick delay. I love it and hope that it remains part of my kit forever.

The Ride

About five years ago I upgraded my ride cymbal. My local drum shop does not have a price on each of the cymbals that it has on display. Instead, it has a price list posted to a board which makes it very easy to ignore and which, on this particular day, I did.

I went through with my favourite sticks (Vic Firth American Classic 5As) and tried out all of the rides on offer. I was looking for something that had a nice ride twang, but also a good crash edge and a solid bell ping sound. After about half an hour, I had found it. It was another Zildjian – the 21″ K Custom Special Dry Ride – and it was beautiful. The main cymbal sound was dark and esoteric, with a solid crash edge that makes the most wonderful whooshing noise when played with soft beaters yet with a bell that shines loud and clear when hit with the stick shaft.

The Second Shock

After falling in love with it, I then checked the price list. Not only had I found the most expensive ride cymbal, but I had actually chosen the most expensive cymbal in the entire shop. $400 it cost me, but by this point I was too far go and I had to have it so I bought it and the relationship has grown stronger over time.

Together, my cheap crash and expensive ride make a killer team and are an integral part of my overal sound. I couldn’t imagine playing without either of them. However, the most important thing is the lesson that they both taught me. Sound comes before brand and price. Every single time. If you like the sound of it, it doesn’t matter who made it, what the reviews say or how much it costs – you buy it.

That’s how you build your sound.

The construction of a drum is simply a hollow shell with some sort of membrane stretched over one of the open ends. This membrane is then struck with either hands or some sort of beater to produce a tone. This description is deceptive, though, as the range of sounds that can be produced from this basic construction is seemingly infinite!

Drum Heads

Traditionally, animal skins were used as the membrane, which were stretched over the hollow shell and held in place.

Then, in 1956, Chick Evans invented the plastic drumhead and revolutionised the drum world. Today, Evans (along with Remo) are one of the world’s largest manufacturers of drum heads, producing a wide variety of thicknesses and styles. Most drumheads produced these days are plastic and the versatility of the material has allowed head manufacturers to produce a huge range of products and create specialised heads for different musical styles.

Selecting the right drum head has become a critical consideration. You need to be aware of what kind of sound you are going for and then selecting the correct head for the job. We’ll be looking at this in more detail over the coming weeks.

Drum Shells

Drum shells are generally constructed from wood or metal. The type of material used in the construction of the drum, together with the overall diameter and depth of the shell, can greatly impact the overall sound. For example, a drum constructed using mahogany has better frequency response within the low end of the frequency spectrum and is often described as sounding deeper or warmer than an equivalent shell constructed in Maple.

As with drum heads, we will be looking in more detail at drum shells over the coming weeks.

Hands, sticks or beaters?

Once you’ve built your drum, all that remains is to hit it! Where you hit your drum and you use to hit it makes as much difference as the head and shell you choose. The variety of sounds that can be achieved on the same drum by simply switching sticks, or switching from sticks to hands, is immense. Also of importance is how you hit the drum. Different ways of hitting the drum produces different sounds. If you hit the drum the leave your hand or the stick touching the drum head, you are going to produce a less resonant tone than if you bounce your hand or stick off the head.

The topic of technique is vast and deep but, worry not, here at drums online we will be bringing you the best advice we can find…

Drums Online is dedicated to exploring everything related to drums from cymbals to online drum lessons. But before we begin, let’s start with the absolute basics: What are drums?