Drummer Talk

Prof Troy is back from PASIC15 and has the lowdown on this year’s convention.

Opening Detritus

We have a news guy! Welcome, Ben Andrews!

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Dan

Hey Troy & Dave, I want to thank you and Mrs. What Is Up for taking on the subject of depression, and for doing so in such a vulnerable and loving way. It was such a powerful episode that it prompted me to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now: to go to Patreon and become a contributor.

In the show, you talked about how musicians’ brains may be wired differently, and of the transformative power of playing music. This reminded me of a NOVA documentary called Musical Minds.

One of the people profiled in the documentary is Matt Giordano (time mark 20:35), who has been coping with Tourette syndrome his entire life, and has found that the only thing that can help him quiet his tics is drumming. At the end of the episode (time mark 50:00) we also see how Matt is using drumming to help others with Tourette’s. The whole documentary is fascinating, inspirational, and well worth a watch. Fair warning though: if you’ve ever had someone with special needs close to you in your life, you may just find it impossible to make it through this thing with dry eyes.

As always, God bless you for bringing this show so selflessly to the drumming community.

Your friend, Dan

 

From “Debbie”

Wow – I was completely humbled to see the topic this week. Thank you for addressing this! When Shannon talked about the dread of practice and that sometimes it’s so hard to simply get started I wanted to laugh, cry, and shout all at the same time. Literally the story of my life.

I am sure that there are folks who listened to this podcast who struggle with depression or know someone who does. I believe hearing it talked about as a part of your daily lives (Troy dealing with it in his community, Dave and Shannon dealing with it as a family) WILL help people realize they are not alone and I know that will spread hope. Thank You!

P.S. More of Mrs. What is Up! She’s great!!

News

“Love Me Do” Drummer Dies at 85

In Memoriam: Jacques Delécluse

Bass Drum Head sold for $2.1 million

Amen Break Owner Finally Gets Paid

Sex Pistols’ Paul Cook skeptical of Reunion

Music from this week’s Show:

Douze Études for Snare Drum: Étude 1 – Rob Knopper

It’s Not Unusual – Tom Jones

Amen, Brother – The Winstons

In closing…

Find out when new articles and next episodes hit by following us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/drummertalk) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/drummertalk)

Want to support Drummer Talk and help us to continue to bring news, reviews, articles, transcriptions, and videos to free to you? Please consider becoming a Drummer Talk patron. You can find out more information including patron rewards (like shout-outs, stickers, T-shirts, and more)  at drummertalk.org/support.  Patron levels start at just $1. Remember, every donation helps keep us on the air and ad free!

Have a topic suggestion or question for the show?  Let us know at www.drummertalk.org/contact

Next Week:  Thanksgiving holiday.  12/3 – Self-Publishing 101

Dave and Troy discuss the realities of depression and its impact on musicians. Includes special guest, Mrs. What Is Up.

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Dov:

Great episodes on bearing edges! One note, that might be helpful for someone who’s never operated a router before, is to make sure you’re feeding in the correct direction. I love these how-to episodes, as someone who’s into woodworking but hasn’t ever taken apart a drum. It’s great knowing the future options available to me! (Again, my first name is pronounced like “he dove straight into the bearing project before learning what he was doing”)

From Kevin:

Hey guys, love your podcast. Was wondering if you sell t-shirts?

Answer: You can get one by becoming a Drummer Talk Patron!

News

Phil Collins to Come Out of Retirement

Topic Notes

From Debbie:

In podcast #261 you brought up the story of Travis Barker. I appreciated what you had to say about depression being real and not easy to deal with.

I’m a 44 year old woman and I have loved the drums since I was three years old. My older cousin was in a band and I used to sneak down and play around on his kit when he was in school. I joined 5th grade band but was disappointed to learn only kids who’d taken piano lessons were allowed to sign up for the drums. I ended up playing the trumpet for a semester and that was the end of my music career.

I wanted to play drums but there always seemed to be some barrier and at some point in my life I decided it was too late to try.

I went through a lot of trauma when I was younger and struggled for years with depression and an inability to concentrate. Well meaning people around me told me to look at the bright side, or that others had it worse than me so I should cheer up, or that I just needed to work harder or be more organized. For 43 years I did the best I could but a year ago (October 25, 2014 to be exact) I found myself standing in my brother’s house with his pistol in my hand. Thank God a couple of my friends tracked me down and helped me get to a hospital even though I resisted them for quite a few hours. I didn’t have insurance, I didn’t think it would help, and I was scared.

It turned out to be the best thing I could have done. I got help.  I spent ten days in the hospital and was then discharged to an outpatient program.

My treatment plan was the following:

Go through specialized post-trauma therapy

Take a couple different medications

Learn to play the drums

Yep. Drums were part of my therapy, right there on my discharge sheet.

Learning a new skill can counteract depression and music has all kinds of therapeutic elements. The drums are a physical instrument that requires my whole body to work in harmony. It was also helpful to tackle an activity I had convinced myself I didn’t deserve. I had thought that I wasn’t the right kind of person to be a drummer. By learning drums I was saying to myself and anyone else “I’m going to own my life. I’m going to do what I want to do.”

Walking into the drum shop for my first lesson was really hard. A seven year old boy walked out the door and hopped into his mom’s mini van with his sticks and music folder. I felt really out of place but I gutted it out and entered the store. A young, skinny, “musician type” guy behind the counter looked up. I cringed. When I mumbled something about being there for a lesson he was super encouraging. He told me all about my teacher, how much fun I was going to have, how drums take a lot of work and practice but that it’s worth it, etc. I relaxed. I was accepted even though I had felt like an intruder. I give a lot of credit to Donn Bennett Drums in Bellevue, WA for being so wonderfully encouraging to this unlikely drummer.

A year ago nothing was fun. Nothing held my interest. I wanted to die. Today all I want is a Tama Starclassic Birch/Bubinga kit (in Molten Brown Burst!) My drum [...]

Dave and Troy bring part 2 of our series on bearing edges by focusing on how to cut your own!

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Chris

Dave & Troy,

I loved the episode on bearing edges. Between that and the refinishing podcasts, it’s making me want to dust off my old basswood Sonor Force 2001’s and refinish them. The toms are 12×10, 13×11 and 16×16. That seems really deep compared to the kits I’ve been playing on recently. Can you touch on how tom depth and bearing edge variations work together to produce certain sounds?

Also, the drums have a flat black lacquer finish I’m not crazy about. Would I be able to varnish over that or do anything to bring some life to the physical appearance?

Thanks!

Chris

News

Tendonitis sidelines Tommy Lee for 4th Motley Crue show

Travis Barker opens up about post-crash depression and thoughts of suicide

Topic Notes

Tools

Router Table

Router – Buy what you like but rent or hire a good router if you don’t own one I

Metal Tool Stand

Chamfer Router bits

Freud 45 Bit

Freud 30 Bit

Amana 60 Bit

Freud Roundover Bit

Johnsons Paste Wax

True Table

3/4″ Melamine Board Or Glass Table Top

Sandpaper

120 Grit Paper (20 Pack)

320 Grit Paper (20 Pack)

3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive

J-Roller

Acetone and scraper for taking of 3M glue spray when finished

3M Blue Painters Tape

Flat Hand File (if needed to smooth out wrap finished drums)

Lumber Crayon

Digital Caliper

Eye and Ear protection

6 Part process

Rough cut the shells

Using a caliper measure the thickness of your drum shell ( Use a digital caliper )

Set your router in the routing table and raise the bit height to ? of that measurement from below

Flush the shell against the bit so that it’s touching the blade and measure the distance between the blade and the bearing

repeat steps until you have the gap between the shell and the blade that you want

Lock your router and plug it in. Cut outside edge first: slowly ease on and off the bit using a clockwise motion. Cut inside edge next: slowly ease on and off the bit using counter clockwise motion.

True the shells

Take a lumber crayon, and color the flat part of your edge, all the way around the shell.

Start sanding that edge of the shell until you see no more markings from your crayon.

Do this to both edges of the shell

check the evenness of the shell you may have to sand more or you may have to go back to the router and recut the edges again, then use the truing table to get that consistent flatness.

Cut the inside

Set the height of the router bit to fit the inner edge profile you are trying to attain

Route inside of one drum shell, and determine if you need a bigger cut. to cut more material you must raise your router bit height.)

Once you have a desirable inside edge on your first shell, cut all the inside edges on all your drums

Adjust router bit slightly higher for thicker shells ( bass drums ) and cut the inside edge.

Cut the outside

If your shells are finished or have a wrap – use ¾ inch blue painters tape around the outside of the shells ( clean your router bit with tweezers after each shell – make sure your router is turned off when you do it )

Set the height of the router bit for the outside edge profile you are trying to attain. In most cases, this will either be a very small cut (since we rough cut the outside edge already), or just slightly bigger than the rough cut edge.

Route outside of one drum shell, and determine if you need a bigger cut

Once you have a desirable outside edge on your first shell, cut all the outside edges on all of your drums including thick shells.

Adjust router bit slightly higher for thicker shells, and cut comparable outside edge to complete the bearing edge profile you desire.

Match bass drum hoops

Cut inner edge of one side of both of your bass drum hoops.

Determine whether your bass drum claws have a rounded hook, or a flat style hook on them.

If flat is needed, leav[...]

Professor Troy drops the knowledge in part 1 of our two-part series on bearing edges.

Opening Detritus

Shout out to our newest DT Patrons, Craig Parton, Samuel di Prete, Jonathan Winfrey, Brady Ponton, and Eric Ahern

We’re getting caught up on Patreon rewards!

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Eric:

Hi Dave-

I’ve been an on and off listener to the podcast for the last two years or so, and I have to tell you that the last episode, featuring Mrs. What Is Up speaking about music theory, was probably my all-time favorite so far. It spurred me to finally donate to support the podcast.

I’m a 38 year old teacher of French and Spanish, and have been a (sometimes frustrated) life-long music learner. I could completely relate to that feeling of giving up on music when hitting a wall in learning music theory (and in my case notation). Growing up taking music classes in school, I was a failed saxophone player, then a failed guitarist, and finally a mediocre snare drummer. Later in life I finally got my hands on a drum kit and felt like I had found my instrument. I progressed and starting playing in bands, loving every minute of it. But the music theory cloud loomed over me like a fowl reminder of my inadequacy. As you so rightly said, it was like the other members of the band were speaking in a foreign tongue that I longed to understand. That spurred me to pick up a ukulele and learn some easy three-chord pop songs. Ukulele got me back into guitar, and the more I learned the more I wanted to learn. Now I still play drums, but I am also learning more and more music theory just by virtue of playing guitar, learning scales, song structure, keys, chord formation, etc. This knowledge has greatly benefited my drumming. Plus now I can shred on guitar in a Strokes cover band.

As a language teacher, the entire podcast I kept waiting for someone to make the analogy to language learning. In fact, I only ever made any progress in music once I started thinking about the steps I took in learning languages, which for some reason was always easier for me. When you made the comparison to learning German, I actually yelled out “Hell yes!”.

Sorry for the long-winded email; I just wanted to say thank you so much for this inspirational conversation, and for the resources that you, Shannon and Troy shared. It would be so great to hear another episode getting more into the details of theory with your lovely wife.

Best,

Eric

News

Phil Rudd loses appeal because judge figured AC/DC don’t want him

Topic Notes

Drummertalk Bearing Edges PDF

Music from this week’s Show:

AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long

AC/DC – Back in Black

In closing…

Find out when new articles and next episodes hit by following us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/drummertalk) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/drummertalk)

Want to support Drummer Talk and help us to continue to bring news, reviews, articles, transcriptions, and videos to free to you? Please consider becoming a Drummer Talk patron. You can find out more information including patron rewards (like shout-outs, stickers, T-shirts, and more)  at drummertalk.org/support.  Patron levels start at just $1. Remember, every donation helps keep us on the air and ad free!

Have a topic suggestion or question for the show?  Let us know at www.drummertalk.org/contact

Next Week:  All About Bearing Edges (Part 2)

Mrs. What Is Up, Shannon Kropf, joins us to help demystify music theory and why we drummers should care about it!

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Dan,

Hey guys, Just finished watching the companion video for episode 257 (drum programming) — great stuff! Would you consider doing an episode where you would break down the sonic elements of some classic drum sounds, and show how you would model those in your DAW? A possible format could be to play a snippet of an iconic tune from a genre, and then show how you would set up your DAW to achieve that sound. While I don’t have a DAW myself, I do have a Roland V kit, with its own dizzying array of settings. If I could see how you do this in your DAW, I think I could transfer that knowledge to my Roland module. Similarly, I’m guessing that an acoustic kit player could transfer that knowledge to figure out how to tune, mic, mix and apply effects to their kit. As always, thanks so much for what you do!

News

Transcription – “Who Are You” by The Who

RATT ownership battle goes round and round as drummer “hijacks” band name

Avenged Sevenfold has a new drummer, but they’re not telling who it is

Topic Notes

Resources

MusicTheory.net

Coursera

Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory/Music Theory for Dummies

Rising Software

Four stages of competence

Unconsciously unknowing

Consciously unknowing

Consciously knowing

Unconsciously knowing

Music from this week’s Show:

Who Are You – The Who

Welcome to the Family – Avenged Sevenfold

In closing…

Find out when new articles and next episodes hit by following us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/drummertalk) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/drummertalk)

Want to support Drummer Talk and help us to continue to bring news, reviews, articles, transcriptions, and videos to free to you? Please consider becoming a Drummer Talk patron. You can find out more information including patron rewards (like shout-outs, stickers, T-shirts, and more)  at drummertalk.org/support.  Patron levels start at just $1. Remember, every donation helps keep us on the air and ad free!

Have a topic suggestion or question for the show?  Let us know at www.drummertalk.org/contact

Next Week:  All About Bearing Edges (Part 1)

Dave and Troy share tips for gigging attire.

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Dan

Hey Troy & Dave, It’s so great to hear have you guys back on the air after your hiatus — I was anticipating the show’s return all summer long.

At the beginning of episode 257, Troy mentioned that he’s been into acapella lately and is amazed by what beatboxers are doing today. I wanted to share with you that I recently discovered a professional acapella group named Home Free — these are the guys that won the 2013 season of the show ‘The Sing Off’.  As it happened, my wife and I were lucky enough to catch them in concert earlier this week. By far the biggest surprise was the beatboxer, Adam Rupp. While I’m certainly no expert, to my ears his abilities sound other-worldly.

It would be a hoot if someday you could have a beatboxer do a guest spot on the show and explain a little of how they do what they do. As always, thanks so much for what you do, and know that I get a happy ‘bump’ every Thursday knowing that a new episode of Drummer Talk is waiting for me on my podcast player. Dan

Blake Lewis Beatboxing

News

Bobby Boltzer wins rights to continue on as RATT

Is Steven Adler getting boxed out of Guns N Roses reunion?

A weekend of events celebrating Al Jackson, Jr. to be held in the Memphis area

Music from this week’s Show:

RATT – Round and Round

RATT – Lay It Down

In closing…

Find out when new articles and next episodes hit by following us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/drummertalk) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/drummertalk)

Want to support Drummer Talk and help us to continue to bring news, reviews, articles, transcriptions, and videos to free to you? Please consider becoming a Drummer Talk patron. You can find out more information including patron rewards (like shout-outs, stickers, T-shirts, and more)  at drummertalk.org/support.  Patron levels start at just $1. Remember, every donation helps keep us on the air and ad free!

Have a topic suggestion or question for the show?  Let us know at www.drummertalk.org/contact

We continue our examination of drum programming with a demonstration on how to craft convincing drum patterns in a DAW. Be sure to watch the supplemental video!

Opening Detritus

Composer Quest

Interested in writing for Drummer Talk? Let us know!

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Max,

Hey! I just subscribed to your podcast but I was wondering if there’s any easy way to download and access older podcasts!

From Dov,

Great episode on drum programming! I’d like to share a few comments from my experience. I was in film school from 2004 to 2008, and used Pro Tools for all of my sound design and Foley/ADR work. I can attest that they have always been behind major OS releases, since long before Avid bought them. It is definitely annoying, but that one specific thing is not Avid’s fault. You would hope that they cared enough to test and certify against the betas and release an update to coincide with the public release. Betas have always been available to developers, and are now available even to the public, but alas, they care not. It’s an inconvenience to wait on the major OS updates, but even more problematic with the minor point releases, which you’re more likely to install without a second thought.

From Brady,

I recently got back into drumming after a 5 year hiatus and finding this podcast was an absolute blessing. I listened to every episode on iTunes in just a couple of weeks and was ecstatic to see a new episode up!

I have been kicking around the idea of diving into a DAW and trying to record some stuff from my Roland kit and the ‘DAWs in a nutshell’ was really helpful-as I was completely lost when looking at them online. Thanks for breaking it down from a drummer’s perspective.

Just wanted to drop you guys a line and tell you how much I appreciate this podcast and the wisdom, knowledge and advice that I have taken from it. Thanks, Brady P

PS- I bought a Tama Starclassic B/B a couple of weeks before I started to listen to the podcast and I love all the positive things I hear you guys say about it, and that Troy just bought one himself. I love that thing!

From Craig

Huge thanks to you guys for the refinishing drums episodes. It was truly the inspiration behind vision drum wrap. It all started with this show inspiring me to fix up my daughters old drums. I wanted something custom that was all her and started looking at the other wrap companies and just didn’t like what I was seeing. So I remembered a friend of mine had a really large flatbed printer that will print on anything up to 4″ thick. So we discussed many material options for strength and durability and came up with a new type of wrap. Here are some of the kits that have already been done just for locals that have really loved the product.

From Tom

Loved your Restoration show. Any recommendations for chrome paint on metal? Most of the highest rated ones I found on the Internet are for plastics. Thanks

From Pacemaker

Hey guys! welcome back, you’ve been missed this summer. I just came across this and it goes against everything i’ve seen about drum tuning. What’s your take?

News

Jones Big Ass Truck Rental – on DRUMS!

Rockin’ & Roastin’ makes it to Texas!

Topic Notes

Drum Programing Plugins

Logic Pro X stock

NI Studio Drummer

Superior Drummer

BFD

Akai MPD18

Question: Could you make a complex track sound convincingly realistic if you imagine them being played by two separate drummers (as in a band like The Grateful Dead) as you compose? Thanks, and I can’t wait for the next part(s) in this series!

Music from this week’s Show:

Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen

Daft Punk – Pentatonix

In closing…

Find out when new articles and next episodes hit by following us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/drummertalk) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/drummertalk)

Want to support Drummer Talk and help us to continue to bring news, reviews, articles, transcriptions, and vid[...]

We’re back from Summer break with a fresh show talking about why we drummers should look at learning to program drums.

Opening Detritus

What have we been up to all Summer long??

We have a huge queue of transcriptions!

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Jonas:

Hi, i’m a finnish guy and i just discovered your podcast and now it is all i listen to at work. Anyway, i am using a birch kit which i heard Dave also uses. Could you give me some tips on how to remove the ringing around the kit? Thanks:)

From Nicole

Hi Dave and Troy, Longtime listener and fan of the podcast – first time writer. While you are on your 2015 summer hiatus, I thought I would take a moment to suggest a future topic for the show. I would really enjoy a podcast dedicated to female drummers or women in percussion. Your show has mentioned and sometimes featured female voices (i.e. February 2015 interview with Staff Sergeant Jackie Jones), but there are definitely more male voices heard on the podcast.

This comes as no a surprise, turn on the TV and drummers in mainstream popular music are overwhelmingly male. Previous generations of girls and women were explicitly told they could not play drums because “it was an instrument for boys.” Thankfully, today more girls and women are picking up drum sticks than ever before AND organizations exist to help encourage women and girls to explore drumming. If as male hosts you feel apprehensive to tackle this topic, perhaps hosting a panel discussion that includes women with knowledge about female drummers can shed light on the exciting initiatives to “raise awareness about women percussionists” and “inspire women and girls of all ages to drum.”

I am a female percussionist and have been teaching drum set for 13 years. I currently teach at the Women’s Drum Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. My experience at the Women’s Drum Center has demonstrated that after being told drumming is not for them — girls and women are thankful for a safe space to explore their dream of drumming. My suggestion for this topic is not meant to divide the drumming community by gender, but simply to shine a brief spotlight on female drummers. Such insight might help the drumming community think about ways to be inclusive to all of it’s members…or at least see things from other drummers’ perspectives. Thanks for your all of your hard work on the podcast. It’s a tremendous resource that covers such a wide range of topics. I will continue to be an avid listener.

News

Passing of Vic Firth

Dave Grohl Breaks Leg in Concert, keeps going!

Blue Devils win 2015 DCI Finals and take top percussion

 

Ringo Starr to auction memorabilia

Topic Notes

Why bother learning drum programming?

This is the future (present?) of modern music production (especially if it’s not 100% rock oriented)

Drummers make the best programmers because we know what real drum patterns should sound like

There is more work to have out there!

Difference between the DAWs

Logic Pro X – $199

Best all-around tool and best bang for your buck.  Huge stock library complete with patches, samples, and loops. Great MIDI editor. Mac only

ProTools – $599

The industry standard for audio recording and editing with broad plugin support. Most widely-supported in studios. AVID is known for spotty customer service and the MIDI editor is lacking

Ableton Live – $449/$749

Best tool for audio manipulation, especially time-stretching and remixing. The interface is unique and colorful, but many of the parameters all look alike. Its unique workflow can make for a steep learning curve if you already know Logic or ProTools

We record DT in Ableton Live!

Reason – $399

2nd best bang for your buck! Solid and extremely stable (due to its enclosed architecture) with great customer support. It’s siloed nature is also its greatest weakness: no outside plugin/library support (although they do have a proprietary plugin called rack extensions)! This really keeps i[...]

We wrap up our multi-part series on drum kit makeovers today by talking about veneers!

Opening Detritus

It’s the mid-season finale. We’ll be revisiting website features like reviews and transcriptions during the summer!

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Sebastian

I’m listening to your podcast over here in Germany. You guys really make my day on the way to work every morning. Thanks for keeping me inspired.

When you said you were spending the whole weekend on improving your mixing and mastering skills I thought: Holy Cow! One weekend for mixing AND mastering is like trying to repaint the Empire State Building AND the Rockefeller Center in two days… with a toothbrush.

So apart from drumming I’m also into recording, mixing and well, maybe a bit of mastering. I’m not a professional but I know how frustrating all that DAW-business (compressors, reverbs, headroom, panning, EQing aso) can be.

I discovered another great podcast that covers a lot of your problems with recording, mixing, producing, composing and mastering. It was very useful for me and I believe it might also be helpful for you. So I would like to share Kenal Osborne’s Recording Lounge Podcast for those interested in the topics mentioned above.

Here is the link to the podcasts on Itunes. It is free.

Kendal has done several shows that could be interesting for drummers. I recommend Episodes: 13,14 ,22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 46, 49, 50 and 51

I absolutely love the idea of making a drummertalk show about composing, producing, mixing and mastering. Maybe you could even contact Kendal and make an interview with him, because I think he has some great knowledge on this subject.

Enjoy your summer break!

PS @Dave: I also have a Tama Starclassic Performer Set.

From Dan

OK, I promise this will be my last comment (rant) on the Ludwig P-85 strainer.

Last week when you read my comment you kinda deviated from the its core message. I, like many, don’t feel that Ludwig needs to deviate from the core look/feel of their strainer. If they would only make it drum key operable instead of phillips screwdriver they would alleviate a major pet peeve. By all means, they can keep the classic look and feel but give us drummers (who shell out a premium for their great sounding shells) a small bit of modernity.

Keep up the great work  guys – your podcasts are “must listens”.

Cheers, Dan

News

Dave Lombardo to Showcase Art Collection

Drummer Takes Pride in Hitting Like a Girl

Ginger Baker to Speak Out in New BBC series

Topic Notes – Veneers

Places To buy Materials

220 and 320 grit sand paper

Tack Cloth

Spray Lacquer

Veneer Razor Knife

3M Blue Painters Tape LOW ADHESIVE

Veneer Tape

Various Wet/Dry Sandpaper

Lacquer Polishing Finish

Preval Spray Unit (Spraying Alcohol Based Dyes)

Sizing

Measure each drum’s circumference and add an additional 3” overlap. You want to work with a veneer piece no shorter than this measurement per drum.

Get the width that your veneer piece should be by measuring the drum’s depth.

Cutting

Just in case you’re working with a piece that isn’t wide enough to cover your entire drums depth.

Lay your veneer out and Pick an edge and set blue tape on both ends of the veneer.

Extend a square, just shy of the edge of the veneer, and lock it. Make a mark on the tape and mark the other end with the same setting on the square. These are cut marks.

Lay down the base piece of the cutting jig, tape down all four sides of the veneer to the jig but DONT tape over the cut marks we just made. Set the top of the jig over the portion of veneer you’re keeping, and match the straight edge to the two lines made earlier.

At the ends of the jig, Clamp the base and top piece together for added pressure.

Run a razor knife against the straight edge to make a slow…. continuous pass over the veneer.

The absolute key to a clean cut is to Change blades frequently.

Square up the the opposite edge of that veneer piece by repe[...]

We dive into refinishing on part 3 of our series on drum kit makeovers!!

Opening Detritus

Dave’s Soundcloud Page

Drummer Talk Mailbag

From Rich:

Thank you Dave and Troy!

I’m totally geeking out on the refinishing series. I’ve been contemplating building an exotic wood kit from Keller shells so can’t wait for the show on veneering. Recovering my current (cheap Guitar Center Sound Percussion) kit, however, may be more realistic. I’ve replaced everything but the hardware, tung oiled the interior, and cleaned up the bearing edges. While not as punchy as I would like, my drum teacher is amazed at the sound quality. Dave jokes about Wal-mart contact paper, but before these shows I actually considered putting 3M carbon fiber automotive vinyl over the existing wrap. After listening to the re-wrapping show, I found that Bum Wrap Drum Company has some beautiful exotic wood wraps. Re-wrapping my current kit would certainly be easier than veneering new shells, but I don’t think I could ever get over the psychological hurdle of knowing that I’m playing crappy shells. I’d love your thoughts.

Rich

From Chris:

Dave and Troy, I love the podcast. It helps get me through the work week. In the past, Troy has mentioned music companies are always looking for technology specialists. Can you touch on ways to seek out these opportunities and maybe list off top music companies that are out there? From what I have seen, many companies are held by larger organizations and jobs may be posted under a different company than expected. I’d love to do something involving music, but have not been able to find anything in the Missouri area. Any ideas? Thanks! Chris

From Dan:

Greetings gentlemen. First off, if this podcast ever went off the air there’d be a void in my life that would, sadly, remain unfulfilled. So, do me (and drummers worldwide) the favour of keeping on doing what you’re doing! OK, enough butt-kissing… I just finished listening to and thoroughly enjoying episode 252. One thing that made me go “what the heck…” was the comment about how Ludwig replacement parts are so ubiquitous. This may be true with the exception of the P-85 strainer. I’ve called/emailed every drum part company I can find and no one makes a 2.5″ hole spaced aftermarket strainer. All of the P-85 style options won’t fit Ludwig’s spacing. I have an LM402 and an Acrolite and it drives me nuts that it’s not drum key operable. When you said they’ve been using this design for 60 years I believe it. If they would only get with the program every other drum company figured out 30+ years ago I (and many others) quit b****ing about it. I love Ludwig snares, but for the price they charge it’s frankly idiotic that they continue to use Phillips head screws instead of drum key screws. Rant over, thanks for reading.

News

B.B. King’s Drummer Remembers The Legend

Topic Notes

Places To buy Materials

220 and 320 grit sand paper

Flexible Sanding Sponge or –3M Stikit 6″ Disc Hand Pad

Transtint Dyes

Cheap Sponge Applicator

Water or Denatured Alcohol

3M Blue Painters Tape LOW ADHESIVE

#0000 Steel Wool

Tung Oil

Preval Spray Unit (Spraying Alcohol Based Dyes)

Pre production – Remove all hardware, badges and vent holes

Staining your Drums

2 easy types of stain

WATER OR ALCOHOL? -Water based dyes are best when used over a raw shell.. like a keller shell for example. If you are staining a drum shell with an exotic veneer over it… you do not want to use water. Alcohol based dyes work great on unfinished, raw drum shells however they also work great on sealed drum shells and veneered drum shells.

3 stages of staining

1. Prepare the wood

2. Mix the stain

3. Stain the wood

4. Optional seal in the wood

Water based stain – Very easy to mix and apply – Long work time

Alcohol based stain – Very easy to mix and apply- slightly shorter [...]