SOUND ON SOUND

[Watchmaker]

I've tried every short cut to avoid recording real drums, mainly due to neighbors. Now that I don't have that problem anymore, I'm working on learning my room and starting to get a decent drum sound from my meager surroundings.

Electronic kits do fine for boring backbeat blah blah blah that will never interest anyone, but where they utterly die is on the hi-hat. Yes, I can make it sound good enough to fool bass players, but the feel sucks. I'm with Arpangel on this completely. A drumset is a collection of sounds most people aren't familiar with...an arsenal of misdirection in the best hands, and pure chaos in mine :D

And volume wise, drums were never intended to be quiet. Get better gear, turn up and play. If all you want is a time keeper then you're really missing out!

btw, new pedal of the week is the EHX Deluxe Memory Man

[N i g e l]

Im mainly synths so I use pads & electronics but my cymbols are real, as are strikeable every day objects.

I have an assortment of sticks, mallets, brushes and also a violin bow (which is like an EBow for percussion!).

I used to have comlpaints about my keyboard mechanical noise (when using headphones) and this was solved by simply putting suitable padding between the synth & stand or desk.

[Arpangel]

I've tried every short cut to avoid recording real drums, mainly due to neighbors. Now that I don't have that problem anymore, I'm working on learning my room and starting to get a decent drum sound from my meager surroundings.

Electronic kits do fine for boring backbeat blah blah blah that will never interest anyone, but where they utterly die is on the hi-hat. Yes, I can make it sound good enough to fool bass players, but the feel sucks. I'm with Arpangel on this completely. A drumset is a collection of sounds most people aren't familiar with...an arsenal of misdirection in the best hands, and pure chaos in mine :D

And volume wise, drums were never intended to be quiet. Get better gear, turn up and play. If all you want is a time keeper then you're really missing out!

btw, new pedal of the week is the EHX Deluxe Memory Man

You’re right about electronic kits and basic backbeats, totally.
Yes, the way a hi-hat can sometimes be positioned so it’s gently touching, or at a skew, you can’t replicate that degree of subtlety with any E kit.
Yes, I’ve got various percussion too, I love it all, but acoustic drums are a physical experience, and they do need volume.

[The Elf]

I can make a convincingly 'real' drum part from drum samples, but hats and cymbals really are the toughest part of the job - it requires a lot of subtelty. If I could play the parts (and had the required space here) I would. The job would be better and quicker.

But you do what you have to do.

(Of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with the Wavedrum, which is a completely different animal to an electronic kit.)

[Hewesy]

Always like the Wavedrum idea, I've got a Roland SPD One (kick) to use with acoustic guitar as a stomp box but the Roland demo does show it in use alongside a Cajon. I wonder if an electronic version of that rig would be the Wavedrum in lieu of a cajon?

Back to pedals, just picked up a Marshall Guv'nor 2 (GV2). I am seriously impressed, I always dismissed the reissued Marshal pedals for some stupid snobby reason but this little thing is fantastic.

Scratches the MIAB want rather well.

Hewesy

[ManFromGlass]

I started as a conga player and have always lusted after a Wavedrum. Still do.
Back to pedals -
I’m rediscovering the Digitech Freqout. I like the ability to choose which harmonics the unit will jump to. I don’t use a guitar amp and to be able to get feedback harmonics on demand at low volume levels is a joy.

[Hewesy]

The Freqout is massively popular with loads of players who have done the same (using modeled instead of amps). I used to do it with a Route66 compressor, crack I the comp and instant feedback.

Hewesy

[SecretSam]

Very cheap pedal of the week: the Tone City Fuxx.

It's supposed to be a clone of the Foxx Tone Machine, which is a vintage fuzz with switchable octave.

It sounds good and seems robust. No idea whether it sounds like the original. Do I look bovverd?

It is a bit noisy, but most fuzzes are. You need a power supply (standard Boss type is fine).

Less than twenty quid: if you don't like it, just throw it at a politician.

[Arpangel]

I’m still lusting after a Memory Toy, but somehow can’t justify it, I’ve already got pedals laying around doing nothing, this is really bad.

[al_diablo]

Very cheap pedal of the week: the Tone City Fuxx.

It's supposed to be a clone of the Foxx Tone Machine, which is a vintage fuzz with switchable octave.

It sounds good and seems robust. No idea whether it sounds like the original. Do I look bovverd?

It is a bit noisy, but most fuzzes are. You need a power supply (standard Boss type is fine).

Less than twenty quid: if you don't like it, just throw it at a politician.

Yes, I have one of these. Sounds absolutely evil on drop tuned guitars with high output humbuckers. Instant doom metal

[ManFromGlass]

See? You don’t pay attention for a few days and poof, there is a new genre - doom metal.
Teenage angst summed up in 2 words
Love it!

[SecretSam]

It's like death metal, but with a sense of foreboding instead of actual death. Probably.

I can get a sense of foreboding all by myself, so I am free to listen to other stuff.

[Dynamic Mike]

It's like death metal, but with a sense of foreboding instead of actual death. Probably.

Brilliant. Impending Death Metal.

[SecretSam]

:clap:

[Arpangel]

It's like death metal, but with a sense of foreboding instead of actual death. Probably.

I can get a sense of foreboding all by myself, so I am free to listen to other stuff.

A "near death" Metal experience.