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Category Archives: Drum Hardware
Snare wire
The underside of a snare drum has a number of wire coils stretched across it.
These snare wires vibrate and snap against the resonant head in response to the batter head being struck and give the snare its distinct sound
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Tagged snare wire
Snare drum stand
The snare stand is a passive piece of hardware that supports the snare drum in a position of an appropriate height and angle for the drummer to play it comfortably.
The snare stand typically is squat, has three legs and three arms. These arms comprise the 'snare basket' in which the drum is cradled. This snare basket is tightened securely around the lower drum hoop in a manner that allows the bottom head and snare mechanism to operate without hindrance.
Do not overtighten the basket as this will adversely affect the ability of the drum to resonate freely.
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Tagged Snare Drum Stand
Straight cymbal stand
As the name suggests, cymbal stands are used solely for the holding of cymbals at a position, height and angle desired by the drummer. There are several different types of cymbal stand
Straight stand
As the name suggests, this is a vertical stand with adjustability for height and cymbal angle. The cymbal is always directly above the base
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Tagged Straight cymbal stand
Boom cymbal stand
As the name suggests, cymbal stands are used solely for the holding of cymbals at a position, height and angle desired by the drummer. There are several different types of cymbal stand
Boom Stand
A boom stand provides height and angle adjustability but also allows for the cymbal to be suspended at a distance from the base as if on top of a crane. This type of stand is most popular in that it provides maximum flexibility for the drummer to incorporate the cymbals within their setup.
Boom Arm
This is a boom stand without a base, This is attached to an existing stand or bass drum using a [clamp]. This saves the drummer from carrying bases for each stand that makes setting up a drumset more rapid and easier . These boom arms also often have 'memory locks', small adjustable rings that ensure a stand can be placed in the same position every time the drumset is set up.
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Tagged Boom Arm, Boom cymbal stand
Hi hat stand
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The Hi-Hat Stand is an active piece of mechanical hardware. See also Remote HiHat and X hat
For a right handed drummer the hi-hat sits to the left of the snare drum and the drummer's left foot is placed on top of the pedal.
The hi-hat cymbals are placed on top of the hi-hat. The lower cymbal rests on a felt pad. A thin metal rod extends from the pedal, through the centre of the lower cymbal rest and continues upward. The upper cymbal is attached to this thin rod using a hi-hat 'clutch'.
The rod passes through the clutch which has a locking mechanism to hold
it in place on the rod. The cymbal is held in place between two felt
pads.
With the foot off the pedal, the cymbals are separated by a spring mechanism within the stand. When the pedal is depressed this rod goes downward which brings the cymbals together with a 'chick' sound. The sound depends on the speed that the pedal is pressed.
The Hi-hats are played closed to produce the 'ticking' sound you hear from a drumset and when opened the ring more freely. The combination of ticking and ringing give the hi-hat its distinctive sound and provide many rhythmic variations.
The hi-hats can also be used for all kinds of effects and may be struck in a number of ways. Occasionally bells or a small tambourine can be attached to the top of the rod.
Posted in Drum Hardware
Tagged hardware, Hi hat stand
Cymbal stacker
Cymbal Stacker
This is a small fitting that fits on top of another stand allowing several cymbals to be stacked one on top of the other, this saves space and set up time however each cymbal apart from the upper one can only be accessed at the edge.
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Tagged Cymbal Stacker
Remote HiHat
Remote Hi Hat
This is a development of the Hihat for a specific range of applications. In this case, the connection between the foot pedal and the cymbals is made through a sheathed flexible steel cable that allows the upper unit to be placed with great flexibility anywhere within 1.5-2 metres of the pedal. The upper part of the Remote hat is similar to the traditional hihat in that it uses a moving rod; it is the connection between the pedal and the rod that is made flexible.
The drummer performs the same foot and hand movements but the hat cymbals do not require to be placed directly above the pedal.
Many drummers use a combination of remote, traditional and X-Hats in their drumsets
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Posted in Drum Hardware
Tagged remote hats, remote hi hat, remote hihat
Kick Drum Pedal
The kick pedal, also known as the bass drum pedal sits under the right foot of a right handed drummer or vice versa with a left handed player.
The drummer presses their foot downwards and through a system of straps or chains, this motion is converted to the forward motion of a [beater]. The beater impacts upon the vertical face of the kick drum batter head to make the sound.
When the drummer leaves the pedal pressed down, the beater will remain in contact with the drum head. When the drumer lifts their foot they release the pressure on the beater and the springs in the pedal make the beater come back off the head in preparation for the next stroke.
Double Bass Drum Pedal
Occasionally we see a drummer using a bass drum and pedal for each foot, this was very common in the 1970s and 80s. The difficulties with this approach are in the drummer having to carry a second bass drum but also in physically positioning the rest of the drumset appropriately. A secondary issue is one of consistency in tuning.
In the 1990s the double pedal was created which allowed the drummer to have a second beater on a single bass drum and the second, auxiliary pedal to be placed under the left foot for a right handed player. This way the drummer could have the function of two bass drums but with only one drum. It also meant that there was a consistent sound between the two drum strokes.
The auxiliary pedal is joined to the double beater unit by a metal bar that has an articulated joint at either end, These joints allow for great flexibility in the positioning of the pedals and ultimately are responsible for the success of this pedal type.
Duallist
In the 1990s a Scottish inventor came up with the duallist pedal, this pedal acts like a normal pedal on the downstroke, however when the foot is removed the beater makes a second strike on the drum skin, this doubles the stroke rate and gives the sound of two bass drums from one pedal and one drum. It is also available as a double unit which provides the equivalent of 4 bass drums
Posted in Drum Hardware
Tagged bass drum pedal, bass pedal, double pedal, dualist, duallist, kick drum pedal, kick pedal, single pedal
Isolation Mounts
These are methods of mounting the drums of a drumset so that the mounting does not interfere with the ability of the drum to resonate freely. Essentially we want the drum to behave and sound as if it is simply floating in mid air
It used to be the case that
all toms had a mount attached directly to the shell. Worse still, many manufacturers cut a hole in the shell and had a suspension arm entering the body of the drum itself as well as having a mounting bracket on the shell. If you have spent a long time searching for your drum kit and evaluating shell woods and thicknesses, depths, head selection and assuming that you want your drums to deliver the tones that you have tuned them to generate, then you will want the drums to resonate as freely as possible.
For rack toms there are essentially two variations that do this, both are based on the same principle.
RIMS
Suspension mounts that fit around the drum shell and attached to about half of a drum's tension rods. This kind of mount sits under the hoop so that there is no contact with the shell.
ISS
These fit to the hoop
itself. There is some discussion about the pressure of the drum on the hoop and how that may affect the sound.
My personal preference primarily for the sake of concenience, is to use the ISS mount as it is smaller and more easily changed. Loosen two or three lugs and the unit can be adjusted or removed. whereas with RIMS you are obliged to de-tune the drum and remove the tension rods to take the mount off. I have one set of ISS mounts that I exchange between my two primary kits.
Floor toms should also be freely mounted. Instead of having leg mounts attached to the shell, there are solutions which attach to the tuning lugs, RIMS again do this, but this time they fit to the bottom of the drum between the hoop and the lugs and floor tom legs fit to the rim.
One word about the RIMS floor tom mounts though, you will need to buy a case about 2" bigger than the diameter of the drum as they increase the physical diameter of the drum's footprint, I have my 14" tom in a 16" case.
About isolating drums
There are important decisions to be made regarding the way that a drummer mounts the various elements of their drum kit. A snare drum stand for example normally has a snare sitting in and on rubber in a cradle or basket; drummers tend to tighten the basket around the bottom hoop of the snare in such a manner that the snare and stand can be lifted as one unit by just lifting the snare.
Doing this can easily 'choke' the bottom head of the snare and the shell itself, making the drum less responsive and not representing the snare sound that you tuned it to deliver. A snare should rest on the protective rubber and the basket claws tightened sufficiently
so that it will not fall out of the cradle but enough that it will still be held in place.
If bringing out the full sound of a well presented drum kit is a priority then the kick drum should not be used as a holder for the rack toms, instead they can be mounted using the isolation mounts above on a rack or on stands. The front of the bass drum should be angled off the floor slightly (1"-2"), thus raising the whole base of the kick off the floor so that it is not being muffled by the carpet or other floor surface on which the drum is placed.
Posted in Drum Hardware
Tagged drum isolation mount, isolation mount, pearl iss, RIMS