A perfect Gibraltar Hardware drum rack addition for yourself or a friend this holiday season is our no-leg hi-hat and boom stands.
If you own a one-of-a-kind Gibraltar rack system, the 6607NL heavy weight no-leg hi-hat stand and the 6609NL medium weight no leg boom stand just makes sense. Why buy a traditional tri-pod base boom or hi-hat stand when, as a rack owner, you no longer need those extra legs? Gibraltar’s chrome SC-GCRMC or the SC-GCSMC clamps make the task of attaching both of these no leg stands to your rack system a breeze. And if your rack is already overfull with gear, investing in either our straight or curved rack stand wing extensions to support your new no leg hi-hat and boom stands will certainly do the trick.
The no leg boom stand features a three-tier height adjustment system (23-58 inches) and a cast hideaway boom. Its extra long height extension also gives drummers plenty of versatility in how low or high to set their rack bar extension adjustments.
The no leg hi-hat stand has similar attributes, giving drummers flexibility with our trademark hinged height adjustment, solid cast frame and step tension adjustment. It is everything you need in a hi-hat stand, but without the legs and extra weight being only 6.5 pounds.
Another reason our no leg stands make sense for drummers is the challenge of fitting three-legged varieties in between other drum gear. For example, if you play a double kick drum pedal, positioning the cymbals of a traditional two or three legged hi-hat stand to your stick sweet spot can be difficult, as can leaving enough room to move your left foot between your hi-hat and left kick pedal. The 6607NL heavy weight no-leg hi-hat stand solves that dilemma.
The same can be said for three legged boom stands. Finding enough floor area for boom stand legs without interfering with your drum rack base legs can be haphazard at best, especially at gigs where quick and efficient set-up is a must. Our 6609NL medium weight no leg boom stand eliminates that challenge.
One reason we designed our innovative rack systems was to reduce the leg clutter around your kit. These two new no leg stands bring our vision to another level.
Happy holidays.
Archive for the 'Accessories' Category
There’s nothing like green corrosion spots on your cymbals, rusted tension rods or cracked drum wraps and shells to ruin a completely good drum kit. But with proper storage methods in mind, those negative results can be avoided.
My new Gretsch Catalina and vintage Rodgers drum kits rest in a dark studio shed and directly next to a warm boiler in a dimly lighted garage. These are not exactly the most ideal storage locations to bring out the best in your shells’ tones or lifespan, but they serve as a beginning point in our discussion.
Exposed long-term to either temperature extremes below 32 degrees Farenheit or above 90 could spell disaster for your drum shells, not to mention chronic problems with tuning. Your comfort zone temperature wise for free standing or stored drums, cymbals and hardware hovers around 65 degrees with low humidity – like the preferred climate inside your own home.
First, don’t stack drums from smallest diameter to largest on top of each other like they do in some music stores. While many drummers use this stacking method as a space saver – and it does work well while breaking down gear on stage – over time the weight of the drums will begin a waterfall of bearing edge and drum head warping issues.
The best accessory product you could ever invest in for your drums are hard or soft cases to help protect them in storage and in transport. They are many different case styles and price ranges – I’ve found success with relatively cheap soft bags – including a whole line of products offered here at Gibraltar Hardware as discussed in this archive blog post last August.
Locations such as unventilated attics or beside campfires, woodstoves, direct sunlight, over heater vents, or other extreme temperature areas are not so good for drum storage and even active set-ups. Notice a trend? Heat causes your shell’s wood to expand, ultimately affecting its ply construction and outer wrap laminate. Attics in particular can reach 110 degrees during the summer so unless you want bubble wrap instead of your beautiful green glitter laminate, it would be best to avoid them. Dry sheds can work well, too, only if they have insulated inner walls with sheetrock like mine does.
When my wife doesn’t hide the extension cord, my studio shed’s space heater is actually the perfect way to regulate temperature, so long as it is set on medium low and actively monitored to avoid potential for fires. And the other kit in my basement works fine, too, because I use a dehumidifier during damp times to avoid excessive mold and mildew build-up.
Use of car and truck tow trailers for your drums and band equipment are wise investments as well, so long as the trailer is not a permanent storage location. The same temperature and humidity tips above apply to trailers. Strive for storage at about 50-60 percent humidity. And if you have to leave drums, hardware and cymbals in either real cold or hot, humid areas, be sure to clean and inspect them regularly.
If you don’t own cases, the best long-term storage location is a dry walk-in closet with your drums wrapped in heavy moving blankets and then sheet plastic. I do not recommend taking the actual wrap covering off of your drum shells before storing them for long period of time, however. The wrap acts as a layer of protection for your shells and in most cases requires a heat gun to remove, which is best left to a professional.
- Tim Kane is a freelance drummer, instructor and writer living in Massachusetts. He writes a regular blog for Gibraltar Hardware.
As a professional drum instructor, I’ve found one of the largest areas of confusion and need for improvement exists with my students’ feet and the techniques they use to power their bass drum pedals.
Younger drummers are playing louder and more intricate kick drum/pedal patterns than ever before in today’s age of speed metal-driven music. Even the older players are rediscovering the wanders of double kick playing versus the traditional bass drum-hi-hat pairings. First, though most of us should already know this, it is imperative that drummers never take their feet off the pedal board while playing. I recommend a heel-up on pedal board approach for younger players, using only the ball and toes of their feet to power pedal strikes. More advanced drummers tend to use both heel down and up methods to achieve a full range of different dynamic stylings. Heel up for younger drummers, at least in my opinion, allows for more volume and ability to develop long-term muscle memory.
I primarily play flat-footed, and go heel up for speed. But there are subtle differences to the heel up style that drummers should also understand. Heel up with leg thrust strikes creates maximum sound while pedal pivots powered by your ankles are more reserved for faster patterns. Generally, the after strike goal is to get a good bounce off of the bass drum head as the beater positions back to its original resting place – unless of course when you are going for that extra punch enabled by pushing the beater into the head with no initial rebound. A good tip I give my students is to play paradiddles with both their feet. They don’t like it because it’s hard to do RLRR-LRLL with only two feet for five minutes straight at 110 BPM tempo, but the reward is quicker development of bass drum pedal skills.
The main three problems I see with bass drum pedal spring tensioning is my students want to position the beater too close to the head for some odd reason; turn the beater sideways for a heavier punch; and don’t have the beater’s height set in the most efficient location to realize the full tone and resonance of their bass drum. Here’s what I recommend as do most professionals: your beater should be about halfway between your leg shin and the bass drum head when the pedal is not pressed down; use only the front felt side of the beater or its back hard plastic end to strike the drum head – not the sides; and beaters when pressed against the bass drum should hit the exact center of the batter side head. Your pedal board also requires adjusting. Too low a height off the floor and you will lack agility; too high a setting and your beater will be too far back for any type of solid foot control.
A good trick to use when it comes to learning and further developing your bass drum technique is to use a pillow, blanket or damper system inside your shell or head so it is not too boomy and loud. That way, you can closely analyze all the above-mentioned tips on technique.
- Tim Kane is a freelance drummer, instructor and writer living in Massachusetts. He writes a regular blog for Gibraltar Hardware.
Gibraltar Hardware is continuously innovating new products and upgrading current ones. These short videos highlight some of the products that can help drummers customize their set ups to achieve their own unique sound and style.
The challenge with drummers and bands managing stage volume at live shows all begins during practice with the fine art of setting proper levels, using your PA system as it was designed, living by decibel metering, and understanding song dynamics. But in the end, good, consistent sound levels all start and end with the drummer.
LEARN STICK CONTROL
If you as a drummer play your skins too loudly or softly, there are some practice techniques you can use to begin mastering stick control. First, the legendary instructional book “Stick Control” by George Lawrence Stone is a must-have for any serious drummer. I still practice from that book 30 years after hitting my first head. If teaching books don’t float your snare wires, try learning – or re-learning – traditional rudiments and paradiddles from a plethora of online resources until you can consistently accent each stick strike with both your left and right hands and feet fluently. Once mastered, you will be able to easily control your sound levels and become a much better drummer in the process.
RUN DIRECT INTO YOUR PA
If your guitarist and bassist are still cranking the volume, stick control mastery is a mute point. If you don’t have a sound guy hired to keep levels consistent without blowing eardrums, there are some techniques you can employ to get a good EQ. If your PA system allows, try miking all guitar and bass amps and running those signals through a pre-amp direct into your board. You will still use your on-stage amps at lower levels, but they will serve more as monitors than the only amplification devices for your stringed instruments. At larger venue gigs, the same theory really applies to miking at least your kick and snare drum – and one or two ambient overhead mics – if you are lucky. I know many bands that run everything through the PA – even at rehearsals – and “hide” their own amps on stage by pointing them inward or at different angles toward the band to reduce overall stage volume.
The PA system is your friend if you use it correctly and purchase one with at least 8 channels and proper wattage for your musical needs. If your guitar amp isn’t able to run directly into the PA, I have been in bands where the guitarist will use a smaller wattage amp, mic it through the PA and then run it at lower volume.
It all starts and ends with the amp’s volume knobs, however. More often than not, there is not enough PA gear to go around at gigs, so it usually results in a mix of amps running direct in and ones that are self amplified. My advice: Guitarists and bassists who play the loudest should run direct in and use on-stage monitors to control sound output.
Another option is to both mic and line out your amp into the PA. Beware of running too many things into on stage floor monitors, however, as they tend to muddy up the entire sound and confuse the overall leveling process. Another option is to try using in-ear monitors or headphones to beat the floor monitor balancing challenges. Bass carries more than any other instrument in a band so if you continue to have issues with volume, try EQing the bass amp so it is more mid-range highlighting attack and punch than its low end.
VOCALISTS SHOULD EAT THE MIC
Vocal levels also play a crucial role in your band’s overall sound integration. Whether your singer screams or whispers, vocals should have the low end rolled off quite a bit on the board. And technique plays a vital role, too. Vocalists should almost be eating the microphone while singing, thus reducing how much gain you apply to that channel and prevent leakage from other instruments to reduce feedback problems.
GET SOFTER
The other tip bands regularly employ is just to not play so darn loud all the time. Dynamics are a fundamental ingredient of overall musicality and composition. You should talk regularly about dynamics as they apply to each song. Levels should rise and fall several times in any given tune to express and accentuate the different parts. If you find your ears ringing at the end of rehearsals or gigs, your band played too loudly all night.
Drum and guitar Plexiglas shields, which Gibraltar Hardware just released new products for, are also another good tool to use live to control on stage volume and capture the true essence of your drum shell and guitar amp sounds.
If all else fails, buy a decibel meter if your stage – and practice – volume continues to be an issue, and live by your desired settings – preferably 10db lower than your current maximum levels. Mount the meter so all bandmates can see it while playing.
Ultimately, if you as a drummer can’t hear the vocals or other instruments clearly, YOU are the one playing too loudly.
- Tim Kane is an independent drummer, instructor and writer living in Massachusetts. He writes a regular blog for Gibraltar Hardware.
Recent Comments