Make Your Own Drum Kit

Studio Drum Tones With Aaron Harris of ISIS

By John Dutra | September 4, 2009

Photo By Erik Moholdt

I’m gonna skip the introduction and cut to the chase.

Below is a bad ass interview with Aaron Harris of the glacial, progressive rock band Isis. Isis’ newest Album “Wavering Radiant” is a journey through seven songs that will more than wet your appetite and get you sitting behind your drum kit with some newly inspired ideas.

Aaron and I got a chance to talk about the record, studio drum tones, and more.

John: Wavering Radiant has the hugest drum tones ISIS has ever had. What drum set up did you record with? ?????? ???? ?????????????

Thanks. I’m really happy with the drum sounds on Wavering Radiant. Joe Barresi has a great ear for drums and knew exactly what I was looking for, and what would fit my playing style. Also this is the first session that I had a drum tech, which was at the request of Joe. At first I wasn’t too hip to the idea, only because I like to tune my drums and I had a hard time picturing someone else doing it.

Jerry Johnson, the drum tech, was amazing! Again he knew exactly what I wanted and worked hard at getting it. Both Joe and Jerry are very pleasant people to be around, but also very pro and hard working.

The kit I used is a Sonor Designer Series. The toms are all square sizes: 10X10 rack, 14X14 floor, and 16X16 floor. 22 kick. The shell are maple and the finish is a natural birdseye maple. The rims are triple flanged. I used to use die cast on the toms, but I find that toms can be fussy and I get a better feel for the drum with a more sensitive rim. I still us die cast on the snare however.

My main snare is a 14X5.5 Tama hammered bronze snare. I’ve used this snare on every record, and at every show. I did however use a few snares that Jerry brought along. I don’t recall what they were exactly. I know one that I really liked was a wood Pearl with the free floating mount system. It was a 14″. That’s all I remember about that snare. Sounded great though!

John: Working with Joe, did he bring anything to the table that drastically changed the way you will record drums in the future? Any head preferences from him… tips, microphone placements that you’ve never done or recording techniques that have forever changed you? Any tips to pass on to drummers?

I can’t say enough good things about Joe. He’s a killer guy and a killer musician/ engineer. He’s got a great ear and feel for creating music. He’s very practical, yet entirely open to try new things. He’s kinda the best of both worlds I’d say. He’s a big fan of Neve mic pre’s. I’ve used them before, but had better luck with API mic pre’s. Neve’s are typically very warm and round, API’s are very punchy, and have a nice clarity to them.

With all the low tuning and heaviness of this band, I’ve always found API’s to give my drums what they need to cut. Joe proved me wrong with the Neve’s. I think the drums on “WR” cut better than I’ve ever heard them. Joe has a lot of experience making great records, and that experience is really valuable these days. A lot of engineers aren’t coming from the same background that a guy like Joe has, where they know vintage gear and recording techniques.

John: What drum shell wood type do you prefer when in the studio, and what type in a live situation?

I honestly don’t pay much attention to the drum materials except when it comes to the snare. I’ve never had much luck with wood snares. I’ve always used Bronze. It cuts very nicely, but also has warmth to it, where most other metals are too harsh. Like I said before, the shells on my new kit are maple, and I think most of my other kits are also maple, so I’ll stick with that. I don’t see myself getting any other kits now that I have the Sonor that I love. So yeah, I’d recommend maple when it comes to wood.

John: Lets say you were going to make your own, completely customized drum set. What would it be… what would it look like…. what size drums….?

Hmmm that’s a tough one. I’ve always thought a carbon fiber kit would be cool. Not the regular “tight weave” carbon that you see everyday, but the “chunky” sheets of carbon that you see on some bike wheels.
And it would have to be a raw finish, so no gloss. Just matte finish chunks of carbon. I think that would look pretty cool. Not sure how it would sound though….

John: In a live situation, ISIS tours like crazy and those drums of yours get some wear and tear. For the drummer thats gearing up for tour life, what’s one tip you can give them for drum set maintenance on the road?

Bring lots of backup hardware stuff, like tension rods, nipples (what the tension rod goes into), kick drum beaters (they wear out and I’ve even broken them), back up kick pedal (I’ve broken them too), stuff like that. Anything you think you might loose, break or wear out. It sucks to loose a fitting on a tom or snare and not be able to tune properly, or loose a tension rod etc. Drums you just have to be careful with. Get some good hard plastic cases to keep them safe. Bring a rag to wipe your kit down every so often. Pack your hardware nicely so that it doesn’t break. Loosely tighten mounting hardware when toms and things like that go into cases. The bouncing around during travel will cause them to un-thread and you may get some dings in your toms, or worse, loose the parts. Also clean your cymbals regularly. You’ll be surprised how much better they’ll sound even if they’re a little dirty.

Topics: Drum Building Interviews

Jojo Mayer Interview – A conversation about drum tone, birch drum shells and the drum industry.

By John Dutra | August 27, 2009

© Bernhard Castiglioni - drummerworld.com

Drum building has a ton of benefits. The biggest one being that you have the choice and ability to select drum parts that fit your musical needs like a glove.

I got a chance to interview drumming legend Jojo Mayer… the drummer and key songwriter for NERVE and an all around drumming god around the world and especially in the NYC music scene.

Jojo released one of the worlds best instructional drum videos ever, “The Secret Weapons For The Modern Drummer,” which is like an encyclopedia of drumming philosophies that you can soak in and apply to your playing.

So…what does Jojo Mayer have to do with drum building?

As I found out, Jojo walks the walk. He’s not just a incredible artist, he’s also a drum tone enthusiast… knowing about shells and drum shell construction, just as I had imagined he would. And with all of Jojo’s knowledge about drum shells, tuning, studio playing, bearing edges and the whole works…. it all comes down to a simple solution and simple needs for Jojo.

Perfect… excactly in line with Guerrilla Drum Making philosophy that less is more… and simpler is better.

Without further ado… Welcome Jojo Mayer.

John Dutra: Jojo, what drum shell sizes are you leaning toward lately?

Jojo Mayer: At this point I’m really tending toward the classical sizes. Because I feel that for the impact of the drum shell, and the response, it is better than deep shells. In deep shells you have certain amount of low end, which is not as versatile as the classic shell sizes. With EQ’ ing, I see that the classic depth shell can sound heavy but delicate at the same time. With the deeper shells, or the longer shells, its hard to get a delicate, sensitive sound with it.

As far as tuning range, the classical sizes give me a broader range. If i tune them up high, they don’t choke. Ya know like with a deeper shell when you tune them up high towards a jazz tuning, the sound doesn’t really work as well.

JD: And this goes for the bass drum as well? ??????? ???????????

JM: Even with the bass drum… right now I’m considering when ordering my next kit, that I’m probably gonna go back to a 14″ depth like they used to have. As opposed to a 16″ depth. Cause I’ve played in the studio, on a couple of tracks with a 14″… and I usually use a 20″ x 16″, and with a 22″ x 14″ its just really in your face with a lot of attack. The response is just much much faster.

JD: What is your preferred drum shell construction around the drum set: solid shells, stave, ply, metal, etc.? Or do you stick with Maple Shells?

JM: Basically there’s good shells and there’s not so good shells. If the balance is good with the shell, it doesn’t matter what type of shell it is. I’ll challenge the most proficient people in the business to tell me the difference between a maple drum set and a birch drum set. The sound depends on so many other factors besides the material of the drum shell.

However, I personally have been playing birch drums more than maple. Maple is a nice, round, polite sound. It has a lot of fundamental tone, and it has a very pretty sound. However the birch gives me more attitude. It’s a little fiercer, a little more in your face with low end and also attack.

JD: So you’re looking looking for attack.

JM: I’m looking for two things: one is tunability. A good tuning range… it sounds really good when it is low and it sounds good high. The good drum shell doesnt have any bad spots. You can tune it low and high and higher and higher and it just keeps singing. Theres a lot of drums where you just cant do that with. They have certain sweet spots and then you tune them a little but higher and they start to choke. Then you have to go lower than that range for it to sound good. A good drum shell… it doesnt matter what wood it is… when the construction has balance… it sounds good in any pitch you take it to.

I have a ton of old Sonor kits. They used to make them out of Scandanavian birch, which is very light and flexible and dense at the same time. It’s a really incredible wood… however its gotten very expensive. Its now considered a boutique. But those drums sound really really great. I use that kit in the studio and the newer shells I get from Sonor are built in that similar fashion. Its a thin birch shell, about 6 plys with no re-rings. It explodes when you hit it. And it sounds great..you can tune it up ROCK hard and it doesnt sound like a bongo… ya know? But as well when you tune it low it sounds great.

So tunability is one thing and the other thing I look for is charecter. See you might get a really really nice, balanced sounding drum set that just sounds boring. Ya know, it’s just too bland. I’m almost looking for something in the sound that has some personality… a little flavor. It’s like a good wine. Some have a strong berry taste, or a licorice… or something about it…. and it’s one of those things with drum shells. Of corse it also depends on what drum heads you use.

I use single ply heads most of the time… sometimes I use double ply heads. I use the tuning of the top and the bottom pretty much the same. Because I’m going for more of a short attack type of sound, a nice short resonate sound and note a long drawn out sound. So that works very well with the birch kit.

But I’ve played maple kits that sound very well also… so it really isnt that much of a difference.

JD: And people often choose maple because it’s industry standard. They can choose from a ton of different wood types.

JM: Yeah, and certain opportunities to use certain woods that sound great… I just wouldn’t use those drum shells because of political reasons. I would never choose Bubinga… because it isn’t right. And not because bubinga is an endangered species but because Bubinga comes out of a territory that is war torn. Usually the people that deal with their woods are enslaved.

“But our bubinga is regulated and we get it from this supplier, and that dealer..” but that dealer gets it from another dealer who is buying the wood from the same gangsters. Ya know?!!

So it’s a good idea, as a consumer, to educate yourself as to where the wood is coming from. There are local woods, like in Germany for example, they have beechwood…. and for some reason people dont use that wood because they think that American hard rock maple is the way to go because American companies push that wood so hard.

I heard a mahogany kit, which is sort of inferior in the drum building world, that sounded really great. And ive heard maple that doenst sound good at all. So… the wood is the wood.

I think another thing also, is that I am trying to choose a wood that is aged long enough so the sound isn’t changing over the years.

JD: I’ve never been so disappointed in a drum set than when I bought an all maple DW drum set years ago…. I started making drums and found out just what you said: Wood is wood. If its a good shell than its a good shell.

JM: With the drum industry…. its all about marketing. I mean wood is so temperamental! You get two pieces of wood from the same trunk where one was in the shade and the other was in sunlight and these two woods will behave differently. I have heard very high end, expensive, boutique kits that didn’t sound good because they were not balanced. And then you go open up a brochure that promises you all sorts of features…. but… ya know… its wood!! It all comes down to marketing.

Of corse you can get a snare drum made from a solid piece from lake Superior and it might sound great but I just dont think a snare drum should cost $2,000… A dentist might buy that, but I wouldn’t do that.

JD: What’s your take on drum finishes?

JM: It doesn’t matter what the finish is. If a wrap is glued on to the shell in the right way it will resonate with the shell. I think its much more about the bearing edge. And its bean very neglected by the industry.

There is just so many ways you can cut a bearing edge.. and everyone just surrendered to a 45 degree angle because of the plastic heads. Most corporate drum companies make drums today not necessarily because its the best way to do it but because it caters to the lowest common denominator. Like a double ply bass drum head, it sounds like plastic to me. But it works great for someone who cant tune their bass drum!

But I have a 45 degree cut like most of the stuff but some of the snares I have a slight counter cut that gives a little more air in the drum. But I also have vintage kits that have round edges that sound great. But its hard to determine if its the bearing edge or if it is the way that the shell is made. Ya know?

I’ll tell you one thing with drum making and what you guys do.. is that a person should have more insight into “where does this wood come from?” Someone may pay more for a better drum shell that is better for them…. that is made by someone who has health insurance but at-least it is not from some place where 800 people are using the same bathroom, ya know? Those types of things are great considerations before buying drum shells.

Topics: Drum Building Interviews

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Studio Drum Tones With Aaron Harris of ISIS

Jojo Mayer Interview – A conversation about drum tone, birch drum shells and the drum industry.

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