He just wants to work on the drums all day

To commemorate four centuries in business, the Zildjian cymbal company commissioned Aaron Latos to build 400 snare drums from the same alloy that goes into their rides, crashes and high hats - staple elements of a jazz or rock drum set.

Recipients include Sheila E., drummer's drummer Steve Gadd (Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover") and tatted celebrity Travis Barker of Blink 182 (who survived a plane crash and dated Kim Kardashian).

The anniversary passed in 2023 and Latos, who moved last year to Beacon with his wife and two young children, is 10 units shy of fulfilling the order. In the meantime, he's trying to perfect the manufacturing process for his own line of snares, tom-toms and bass drums crafted from nickel silver, which he assembles nearly from scratch in his Newburgh shop. Only the washers and tension rods clamping down the hoops that tune and tighten the drumheads are machined off-premises.

By year's end, he plans to move the lathes, drills and rollers to a space in Beacon double the size of his current spot.

Latos, 36, hails from West Virginia and made a living drumming in recording sessions and touring with country singer Margo Price. He performs around town with the Stephen Clair Band and takes on select students and studio projects.

Drummers are notoriously picky about their gear and setup. Drum and cymbal angles must hit every time. Some prefer wood over metal snares. Others argue over tuning techniques. Every cymbal sounds different and comes in myriad shapes and sizes.

Latos is so detail-oriented that he patented a snare drum throw-off system, the mechanism that lifts and holds down the coiled snare wires that add snap to the two and four beat of nearly every pop and rock song. His patent for the butt plate, which anchors the snares, is pending.

"I'd have more patents, but they're expensive," he says.

As far as he knows, Latos is the first to make nickel steel drums. He digs the sound, but the manufacturing process is like wrestling an alligator and presents "the most annoying and frustrating fabrication characteristics" that are "difficult to cut and work."

The raw material arrives in long, flat sheets, like the plies of wood used in most drums. Labor consists of rolling, shearing and brazing them together. His loud, hefty snare drums pay homage to models used by big band jazz drummers in the 1920s and '30s designed to cut through 17-piece outfits in the days before specialized microphones.

Weighty shells for his floor and rack toms are capped by silvery stainless steel and solid brass copper-colored hoops. Bass drums come with brown wood hoops. The end results are so striking that each piece looks like a sculpture.

A basic snare costs $2,000 and a full drum kit starts at $10,000. Customers range from doctors and lawyers to pros, including Bob Meyer, a jazz cat and early adopter, Jeremiah Green of Modest Mouse (who died in 2023) and Harvey Sorgen, who has played with Hot Tuna, Derek Trucks and Paul Simon.

Latos' workshop is relatively tidy, although gold and silver shavings litter the floor, including the rug in the cozy corner with a couch, turntable and pile of vinyl records capped by Mel Torme, Chuck Mangione and Haitian group Bossa Combo discs.

"Every 22 minutes or so, I come over and flip the record," he says. "It helps me focus on what I am doing and what I should be doing."

Latos Drums is located at 11 Spring St. in Newburgh and at latosdrums.com.