beerdragon Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 After practice last night we found that we might have issues with our drummer next year, he is in two bands and at the moment is finding things tough financally. so he told us last night that he might have to take whatever gig comes first, which might mean our band twiddling our thumbs for weeks on end if we are not as quick as the other band, (we both share the small pub circuit) He's a great drummer and a really nice bloke and i understand what he means about about the money. not that its a great amount. i would not like him to leave but if that what it come to, so be it. we know of another drummer in the area who just recording at the moment with a band called Nightwing and he has a very good reputation and his a friend of our keyboard player, he has been to one of our gigs and was impressed with our sound, the only problem. if it is a problem he is playing an electric kit at the moment, i'm not sure about them because i have never come across them before, anyone play with an electric kit in a band. are there any differences in the sound? sorry to waffle on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galilee Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Our drummer has both an electric kit and an acoustic kit. The electric kit is superior in all of these aspects: - you can get 1,000 different sounds out of it - you can turn the drums down or up in the mix - the load in and out is an absolute piece of cake My heart always drops when he turns up with his acoustic kit and I know that we're going to have to crank everything to keep up with him, that's only after he's taken 45 minutes to set the flaming thing up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='Galilee' post='292546' date='Sep 26 2008, 11:00 AM']The electric kit is superior in all of these aspects: - you can get 1,000 different sounds out of it - you can turn the drums down or up in the mix - the load in and out is an absolute piece of cake[/quote] I prefer acoustic kits by a long way. But all of what was said above is true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 My brother has a TD12 and we love it to bits. The thing never goes out of tune and is a dream to record with. A bit +1 from me! We have it set up in the lounge and my bass the other side of the room, all going in to a mixer and headphone box with independent volume controls - because the drum heads are mesh they are very quiet (the rubber ones are quite loud so you have to turn up the vol to compensate) so it works like a dream. Live it goes through the PA and sounds brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelk27 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Totally agree. My drummer uses Roland V-Drums, with a mixture of "real" cymbals and percussion. Never had a problem with him doing that. But, like many people, I do prefer the sound of an acoustic kit for recording purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 I am not sure if I DO prefer acoustic kits for recording, to be honest. Unless the kit is tuned and kept in a stable atmosphere and looked after, miced up and set up for recording, they can be a complete pain in the arse to work with! I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages with electric kits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 We gigged with a drummer who uses a Roland kit earlier on this year for a few gigs. Im not really sure what to make of it. On the one hand it makes stage volume a lot quieter and the kick drum, out front sounded fantastic. The down sides (to me) were not really hearing it on stage. We have small monitors but they aren't good enough and as i don't sing i don't normally get a monitor facing me. And we felt that while its a nice, solid sound it sounded a bit like a drum machine. Nothing wrong with that but as we are more a live sounding band it just didn't fit as well as an acoustic kit. Possibly though the biggest downside was our PA , being more a vocal PA, couldn't handle it at high volume. If we had him full time then we would have to invest more money in the PA and much better monitors (he had his own so he was ok) But im happy ot work with an electronic kit if i had to, it just takes some getting used to i guess. All IME of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Yeah you do need good equipment to transmit the full potential of the kit live. I am coming from an IEM live perspective and recording studio usage so don't have these issues to face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOD2 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 There are no problems with a good electronic drum kit. The drummer in my last band used Roland V-drums for 5 years with barely a hiccup. It's best if you can put them through the PA, though. Also, you'll need to be able to hear the kit yourself so some kind of monitoring is required. Our drummer used in-ear monitoring and the rest of use had wedge monitors somewhere to hear the kit. Excellent drum sounds, no hassles with mic'ing up the kit, and no deafness for the bass player from being too near that loud snare drum ! Not everyone likes them but they definitely have their place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 +1 on the V drums . However your PA and especially monitoring has to be able to cope. It also takes a bit of getting used to seeing the movement (snare and B D hits) where it always is but having the sound come out of the FoH and monitors ... When our guy brings his rather than his acoustic set, it takes a few numbers to get used to it then it's perfectly fine. + you can turn it down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='ped' post='292564' date='Sep 26 2008, 11:17 AM']I am not sure if I DO prefer acoustic kits for recording, to be honest. Unless the kit is tuned and kept in a stable atmosphere and looked after, miced up and set up for recording, they can be a complete pain in the arse to work with! I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages with electric kits.[/quote] + 1.... the drummer I play with is a Roland endorsee..... check out his video here of him going through the V-Drums - [url="ftp://ftp.roland.co.uk/Videos/TD-9KX/videos.html"]Craig Blundell[/url] I think there are a lot of advantages to electric kits over acoustic... the sounds are getting better all the time and more and more players are incorporating them into their traditional kit. I've got one I use for recording purposes... it's fantastic!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Having heard and seen a few in action, the idea makes my blood run cold - not a suprise coming from me, I know. Our drummer is extremely dynamic - he can play at talking volume if need be - and his kit is beeeeeeyoootiful. It records like a dream. It's no bother to carry it, or mic it up. And it comes with free ambience! *skulks back into cave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='wateroftyne' post='292578' date='Sep 26 2008, 11:29 AM']Having heard and seen a few in action, the idea makes my blood run cold - not a suprise coming from me, I know. Our drummer is extremely dynamic - he can play at talking volume if need be - and his kit is beeeeeeyoootiful. It records like a dream. It's no bother to carry it, or mic it up. And it comes with free ambience! *skulks back into cave*[/quote] That reminds me, we also thought the sound of the kit lacked dynamics. Could be the drummer not being used to the kit (he sounded great on an acoustic kit and certainly can play well) but there was something too "drum machine" about the snare, it just didnt seem have the dynamics of a real snare live, even though it sounded very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galilee Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 luddite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 It's the same with any electronic piece of music equipment... unless it's set up right it will probably sound mediocre.... I know Craig spent a while playing around with tunings, velocity settings and such to make it sound and feel as realistic as possible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggy Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 There is no soul in an electric drum kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='crez5150' post='292582' date='Sep 26 2008, 11:41 AM']It's the same with any electronic piece of music equipment... unless it's set up right it will probably sound mediocre.... I know Craig spent a while playing around with tunings, velocity settings and such to make it sound and feel as realistic as possible...[/quote] Yeah, i understand that. I guess its liek anything really, the more time you put in the greater the benefits. we used to spend hours programming drum patters with many different velocities etc in the old days, all to good effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='Raggy' post='292585' date='Sep 26 2008, 11:44 AM']There is no soul in an electric drum kit.[/quote] Apart from the our soul behind it ha ha Sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggy Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='OldGit' post='292606' date='Sep 26 2008, 11:57 AM']Apart from the our soul behind it ha ha Sorry[/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 I think it depends on the gig. A great drummer on a great sounding acoustic kit would probably out do an electric kit in most situations but a great drummer on an electric kit is likely to do the job perfectly satisifactorily in many situations and, more importantly, will probably out perform a weak player n a great kit If your drummer friend can play, move past the prejudice and go for it. I lose jazz gigs to weak acoutsic bass players all of the time. When its aesthetics vs musiciality, the musicality should win everytime. Try it, You might like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirky Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='Raggy' post='292585' date='Sep 26 2008, 11:44 AM']There is no soul in an electric drum kit.[/quote] This reminds me of a journalist friend of mine who wrote, many years ago, that "no-one will ever be able to coax soul out of a drum machine". Three weeks later "Sexual healing" was released... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='Raggy' post='292585' date='Sep 26 2008, 11:44 AM']There is no soul in an electric drum kit.[/quote] Absolutely. Like those new fangled electric basses. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='alexclaber' post='292623' date='Sep 26 2008, 12:05 PM']Absolutely. Like those new fangled electric basses. Alex[/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='Kirky' post='292622' date='Sep 26 2008, 12:04 PM']This reminds me of a journalist friend of mine who wrote, many years ago, that "no-one will ever be able to coax soul out of a drum machine". Three weeks later "Sexual healing" was released...[/quote] That song would sound so much better with a real kit for a backbone. IMO. Just sayin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='wateroftyne' post='292637' date='Sep 26 2008, 12:10 PM']That song would sound so much better with a real kit for a backbone. IMO. Just sayin'.[/quote] Sure, on a recording ... I like both on recordings, and together - Phil Collins for example The Op is talking about playing live .. Live I think only two people in the room are going to notice - you and the drummer .. three if you count the sound person ... 99% of the audience certainly won't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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