VC on the cover of next month MD.

[Julián Fernández]

Jajaj, I love when someone uploads a vid tuning a drum for X mins to then hit it and sound like /%#&ç... Gatzen?

[Phil T.]

So back on topic ......I hope this next MD will have some tasty VC transcriptions.

The transcriptions are always great to work on.

Went down to the local bookstore and the VC issue was gone, replaced by a Buddy issue. So, did it have transcriptions? There are a couple of other places I could try to track down a copy if so.

Back off topic:

Hmmm, interesting. I haven't played any DW kits in years. The ones I did play were back in the Keller shell days. They all sounded great. Just like my Ayottes which are probably Keller shells which sound as good as my Yamaha MCA kit. I have two 14x16" toms and with the same heads and tuning they sound almost identical.

Long ago I had a Keller shelled DW set and agree with the above. Nice drums: long sustain, good tone, nothing "boxy" or "thuddy" about them. Haven't played any of the newer ones and can't comment.

[thewikiman]

I think Buddy is this month, Vinnie the upcoming month.

[druid13]

Vinnie issue is after Buddy...Vinnie not on shelves yet.

2nd tuning...and who is playing...

say it 3 times...
tuning...and who is playing...
tuning...and who is playing...
tuning...and who is playing...

Matter so much more than drum company make...saying DW sounds bad is absurd....I've played kits of every make that "sounded like ass" yes including Yamaha....( Tama, Pearl, Ludwig...especially Ludwig actually in the 80s)

if players can get a Kent snare drum ( my 1st snare BTW) to sound good...and I believe Dave Weckl did just that at one point in his career...its the tuning...its the player.

And no amount of comparing Neil Peart videos from 25 years ago versus now is gonna change that. Differnt venue, different mics, different recordings...different everything.

Probably my fav 3 drum companies are DW Yamaha and Sonor...but frankly Pearl, Tama, and a whole host of others make great drums.

Ludwig has been frankly... out of it ....for years till lately....glad to see them back for sure...bit if Vinnie played Rogers next week I would not be crowning them...because honestly their comeback has been mid level student drums at best...a far cry from old Rogers drums.

[bstocky]

I would also say that any drum will sound good if the guy can play and tune and put whatever heads he likes on the drum.

but just a week ago I saw a Sonor Phil Rudd signature drum in our store. It's a nice chrome over brass drum. I figured that should sound good. It was crap! Garbage. I put on an Emperor and it was bad tuned high, low, medium... I was shocked how completely average it was.

[groober]

Vinnie issue is after Buddy...Vinnie not on shelves yet.

2nd tuning...and who is playing...

say it 3 times...
tuning...and who is playing...
tuning...and who is playing...
tuning...and who is playing...

Matter so much more than drum company make...saying DW sounds bad is absurd....I've played kits of every make that "sounded like ass" yes including Yamaha....( Tama, Pearl, Ludwig...especially Ludwig actually in the 80s)

if players can get a Kent snare drum ( my 1st snare BTW) to sound good...and I believe Dave Weckl did just that at one point in his career...its the tuning...its the player.

And no amount of comparing Neil Peart videos from 25 years ago versus now is gonna change that. Differnt venue, different mics, different recordings...different everything.

Probably my fav 3 drum companies are DW Yamaha and Sonor...but frankly Pearl, Tama, and a whole host of others make great drums.

Ludwig has been frankly... out of it ....for years till lately....glad to see them back for sure...bit if Vinnie played Rogers next week I would not be crowning them...because honestly their comeback has been mid level student drums at best...a far cry from old Rogers drums.

Yeah, yeah ...
The point is a good craftsman can make many good things but given great tools can really go to town
I would recommend working in Drum shops and spending a lot of time listening to customers (Pros and amateurs) speak and play.
Dw have probably geared their drums towards the LA studio scene and big touring bands. When you go outside of their zone (think mic and drummer's ear zone) they don't project their tone very well. If you are in the studio or are miked up to the hilt then no problem. But if you do a lot of live work in places where the sound gear is less grand and you have to rely more on natural projection .... forget it.
I am fussy, but I believe if you play with dynamics and love coaching the sound out of a drum then you'll need a slightly different tool. A lot of gear today is geared towards rock, and pop musics where incidentally slammin a heavy backbeat is crucial. I am not talking about that kind of gear. I think of other makes if I want a more versatile, musical, well projected sound.
You mention Dave Weckl with his old snare drum and that's true, but try asking Dave why he schleps around with all those drums, cymbals, sound gear and the kitchen sink (and not his old snare drum).

[Jim Richman]

Someone tell me that Chad Wackerman has a bad tom sound. I have heard it with no tom mikes in the early 90's as well as the early 00's. Sounded killer. Maybe they have geared their drums for amazing drummers. lol Doesn't JR play DW now? He always sounds killer.

[groober]

Someone tell me that Chad Wackerman has a bad tom sound. I have heard it with no tom mikes in the early 90's as well as the early 00's. Sounded killer. Maybe they have geared their drums for amazing drummers. lol Doesn't JR play DW now? He always sounds killer.

Depends on what you define as "Killer"
Chad seems to go for open tuning but as I've heard his toms always sound gated. That is cool if that's what you're looking for, but I personally am not. Not any more any ways. Actually DW is a cool company, I just don't like their particular sound when it comes to their popular series. JR sounded better and more comfortable on other drums to me, like Alex Acuna. What I am mostly talking about though is projection. I believe DW is getting better and following trends in technology that will allow it to make a very fine shell. There seems to be a lot of trend following from drummers which doesn't help.

[druid13]

I think alot of people get turned off by DW because they see them everywhere now....I guess I understand that on some level or another...

I am glad Wackerman was brought up....he was playing DW looooonnnnngggg before the popularity boom occured and yep his drums always sounded good...in fact I preferred his drum sound to Vinnie on the Holdsworth stuff while at the same time, I preferred Vinnie's actual playing to Chads. Both are monsters though.

It seems the more serious players playing DW sound good...while maybe the flavor of the week folks who don't tune really well to begin with but play DW....don't.

Another guy who plays DW and had a great sounding set was Joe Travers with Zappa plays Zappa....his set sounded completely different than Bozzio but both still sounded good. Apples and Oranges in drum sizes though.

But the most important thing is playing all the makes yourself and as I said I've played really good sounding drums in every make and really bad sounding ones and the bad ones usually (unless damaged) came down to poor tuning and cluelessness from their owner.

Its interesting that some think the DWs don't have sustain...Neil Peart himself commented in his Work In Progress video how much mores sustain he was getting while recording on his 1st DW kit...in fact claimed he was damping heads with his hands like you would a cymbal at the end of a take.

[groober]

Its interesting that some think the DWs don't have sustain...Neil Peart himself commented in his Work In Progress video how much mores sustain he was getting while recording on his 1st DW kit...in fact claimed he was damping heads with his hands like you would a cymbal at the end of a take.

Projection is mostly what I was talking about ... And not drummers like N P