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You should concentrate on playing the kick only instead of playing some groove.

They actually sound like metal snares...which is surprise for me because all my acrylic snares were pretty much dry sounding...I think you have found right parts, hoops and heads that not muffle the drum so much

The 1966 and 1970 High tuning. Everything else, I'd pass on. The mid and low tuning, reminded me of those El Cheapo Japanese Snares, made of that Luan Mahogany. The toms and bassdrum, you could get a decent sound out of them, but those snares were dead, like those Acrolites.

Thank you for the comparison!! It’s very interesting and helpful in choosing one of the acrolites!!

Unless you’re tuning drums to a specific note, it really doesn’t matter of course you wanna tune the drum to itself, and get the tensions right but the most important thing is the heads. Let’s face it most can’t tell the difference anyway. It’s not rocket science.

Yooo someone actually talking about how important drum tuning is with mic setups like this! Great video mate. Cheers.

Thank you for the upload, got to the end! 😊 Own a DW Collectors with a 22x16” bass drum. Sounds great! Bought a vintage Ludwig last year in green sparkle from 1971. 💚 22x14” bass drum and couldn’t agree more - man, what a sound. And the feel too! So, now I’m about to order a Gretsch USA Custom to add as a studio kit and I will definitely go for a 22x14” bass drum on that kit. Great post btw. 😁

Lectio magistralis, Joel! Question: which is the loudest shells in term of db? Stainless steel / fiberglass / carbon fiber / walnut / maple? I'm looking for a drums with this characteristic 🙏

Thank you so much Master 🙏

this is so interesting, thanks! I currently have a 10" Imperialstar tom that matches that wrap you showed. Was that the metallic layer type where its a stip of foil, then clear, and then the red transparent outer layer?

Someone just sent me a video of a live show they went to last night, a blues band. Small stage and the drums were (as I often think) too boomy with way too many overtones. They sound too raw. Unless it's a specific boomy, big rock sound you're going for, the whole tea towel idea thing gives the drums a much more melodic / compositional sense without the overtones. The towels almost feel like a bit of EQ and compression / gate is added. Everyone else in a band usually tweaks their sound through some basic EQ and maybe compression, to me the drums often sound out of place, not quite blending in enough. The towels really help the drums and the overall sound much more cohesive.

The first one sounded airy, and you can hear the depth with a bit of boom. The 14" version sounded tighter and punchier. What an opportune time to watch this as I'm gonna be building my first drum room next year, and will definitely get a new drum kit as well.

QUESTION, can you still play fast singles and Bonham triplets as efficiently on a giant bass drum, and also burry the beater? I’ve only played 22” my whole life? (Guessing it’s how you tune/tension it, and if you put a blanket\ muffling on the batter, inside the drum, while also putting a hole in the front. ) But hey, I ain’t no expert.

Shorter is better , yes

Well for studio since everyone now samples drums anyway I go for feel. Loose batter. Tight or no front head. And slight dampening. Works every time.

Thx for the info man. I never knew the Acrolite and the Supraphonic were basically the same drum shell, just with a different cover/ finish. I also love the vintage nostalgic Ludwig commercial in the intro. Good Stuff. Thx Again!!

Awesome video. Super helpful to hear. Great playing too.

I'd like to play devil's advocate and mention cuple things which can be viewed from a different angle. 1. Sound is devided into two categories: tones and noise. Tones are pitched sounds which have a distinct, concrete pitch. An example would be a tone played on a string of a guitar, or on a piano, or flute. Noise is an unpitched sound, which doesn't have a distinct, concrete pitch. Examples of noise would be a crash cymbal being struck with a stick accross it's edge, or a watterfall, or saying SSSSS with your voice, or a hand clap... 2. Tone is not a note. Tone is a thing, that thing has a name, and that name has a symbol which we can write on paper. Tone is a sound which we have named (a, b, c, d...), and we have asigned symbols to those names so we can write them on paper, we call those symbols notes. So a tone is a thing which has a name, which has a symbol, and that symbol is called a note. It's important to understand this connection because it's the same as learning any language. You see a chair for example, in your mind you are thinking of it's name, and visualizing the object, and you are writing that name down as a word CHAIR. So when you read, or say the word chair, you understand what it means, and which thing it refers to. Same with tones. If you sing a tone, (if you had a perfect pitch), you'd recognize which one was it, and you could write it down as a note, or see the note in your head. It works the other way around same as with language. You see a note which is written on the first line in the violin cleff, you recognize that it's a note E, and you sing the tone which corresponds to that note. So, notes aren't tones, and tones aren't notes. If the article was written in German language, it means exactly what it means. And it doesn't matter if it were written by a native English speaker. That would still be the correct terminology. 3. If you're going to call a tone note, than you should call overtones overnotes as well. Because those are also concrete tones which have their own pitches, and can be written as notes. :) 4. What you're refering to as tone is called timbre which describes a "color" of sound (In lack of better term. Not to be confused with synesthesia!). So when you say tone, you are thinking about the timbre of a sound. How a sound seems to you (open/closed, sharp/dull, dark/bright, cold/warm, wide/narow, thick/thin...) what's the color of a sound. It's bright, but not harsh. Or it's dull, but not muffeled... Timbre is a better term, but color can be used as well. Again, it's not synesthesia where a person see's real colors when being exposed to sound! It's a term being used for describing how something sounds, not which tone is it (note). 5. The term tone, regardless of how wrong it is, it is defacto the word being used for describing timbre as well. But it's also being used to describe the intention of a message delivery in a conversation with your significant other. For example, if your wife or a girlfriend says:"I don't like your tone!" when you're trying to explain what you mean, than I'd be careful and say I'm sorry in order to avoid having a blue eye, or something worse. I don't know, eating laxatives in a sandwich she made you without knowing. So, mind your tone whoever is reading this. :) 6. The "scientiffic" findings of the paper aren't clear to us, at leest from the things you have rellayed to us. We don't know the methods being used during the research, the position of the microphone, what they were aiming to test, environment they were testing in, etc. This is important because there's a difference between playing a drum and listening to it's sound from the position of a player, or listening from somewhere further from the drum kit in the room. So when we're talking about sound projection from a drum piece, which way is the sound being projected? Purpundicular from the head being struck? Paralel to it, further down in the room? Was the environment an anechoic chamber? Which way did the sound disperse (project) if it was an anechoic chamber and there weren't any walls the sound could be reflected off and travel to that further point in the room, away from the kit. 7. Resonance in case of drums wouldn't mean the vibration of drum membranes. Nor would it mean a resonance as with electronic filters. It would simply mean how much would other drum pieces resonate while playing some other drum piece. Sympathetic resonance of a snare wires, and the snare drum as a whole while playing on the toms for example. Or sympathetic resonance of toms while playing the snare drum, or a kick drum... Those resonances give the fuller sound picture of an overall kit. The kit "sings", and isn't "dull", or "mute", or "sterile", or "dead". It's "alive", because it resonates. I think that's what they meant by resonance. That characteristic is especialy important to room microphones. But like you said, not so much to close mics. I'd argue that it's actualy a problem for the close mics. Because you'd have to gate the individual mics a bit more if the sound projection is in a horizontal plane rather than purpendicular to the membranes as the sound would "bleed" more into other close mics. Anyway, I enjoyed watching the video, lots of great information, and lots of things you mentioned which are on point, and can be viewed from the perspective you have provided. I think people should watch this video! It's great content! Cheers.

Joel, how many snare drums do you own, sir?

Great! Thank you

Thanks so much! One thing I don't understand is that if all vertical systems sag in the middle why do my wires go away from the head at the ends? About a half inch to an inch don't don't actually the drum at both ends. Great content!

I think the most popular modern equivalent of the deadringer would probably be the Roots EQ ring. Has a heavy wire edge for rigidity and weight, but leaves the center of the head open for that quality you described of still hitting Mylar. Easy to slap on and easy to use in conjunction with other damping if desired. Also, Ed Soph always had fun bit where if someone asked him how he “dampens” his drums, he always said “with a sponge”, lol. Great video!

I made a snare drum 14x4 in steel 3mm thick, but I'd like to have it a little bit more sensitive to the snare wires...is there a way I can do that? Thank you

The shells contribute very little to the sound by their own vibrations. The way they support the heads is far more important. My Rototoms sound a lot like my regular toms, and Rototoms DON'T have shells!

I’ve had many Acros. I paint them with Krylon. The big change not mentioned in this video is the move from Chicago to Monroe, NC. They moved the lug molds and made new shell molds that produced smaller diameter shells. That’s why the tension rods don’t line up on Monroe drums and you see them splay. There is also a gap between the head and lug casing. In recent years they’ve started adding a lug gasket to fill the gap at the tension rods which means less ring and muted tone. I’ve had Monroe drums and won’t buy them anymore.

Super helpful dude thanks for sharing your insights.

to my ears the 14" is a perfect 3rd higher in pitch with obviously more punch. The 18" has a deeper thud/punch. Obviously with the same tuning, the size difference has a major effect on pitch, so when you think about what the ear can actually hear and react to in a mix the 14" stands out. I like them both. I would use each one in different situations though. Great video.

Thank you!

14x22 seemed to be a standard magical size offered by all the popular manufactures still to this day.

Yup. Both my kicks are 14” deep. 20” & 22”. Best depth - there’s a reason why it’s been the standard size so long.

Never bought into what note a shell is raw but with everything mounted it can give a good starting point for tuning. For me I tune- bot them as low as possible work my way up to where the sound decent , and keep batter and reso a 3rd apart even if I'm below or past my starting point. Tuning I can be whatever a drummer prefers, I like finding a sweet spot. Great video, Cheers.

There's no difference

14❤ better sound and better to play.

Luwdwig's black oyster wrap sounds best!

IMOP the 14" was more contoled with punch. The difference between the two is minimal. With a board it caa all be made to the tone wanted.

I got to the end Joel!

I've never seen washers used to increase mass like that before. I like the idea. Could you expand on the theory behind that? Is it done on toms as well? I also liked the rotted wood treatment.

I LOVE MY BLACK GALAXY ACRO! But they all sound the same to me lol

Well thats garbage. Stuff like that is for children or to not actually be played. If you were to compare the cheapest brand snare to a high end snare that would be interesting. Remember to allways check everything to a reference cardboard surface😂

For this bass drum you need the split colesium snare

Wow Tommy Lee never got a bass drum to sound like this Even the bullet boyz didn’t get it like this I’m building a 26 x 20 12 lug 4 spur Ludwig virgin I’m going to build a 28 Build a drum riser cut out the bass drum so you can raise the pedal and mount toms on top also bring back the 20 x 20 floor toms Put new skins on the 28 and re record

Acrylic drums . . . I say plastic shells and now all the technology in on the heads use a original quality head = crap sound compared to todays tones and textures Plastic heads on plastic shells = excellent loud tunable drums I tried snares. But compared to cast copper or bronze no comparison and aluminum shells sound better. Acrylic are better than maple but solid walnut or stave shells no

I see your gustification to a 45 45 because you’d have to tighten high to mold head to shell Bongo was known to overtighten head and sit on it to leaving a bowling ball on it to mold the head to the shell What a lot of drum tech do. High EVEN tension then a heat gun evenly to mold it to the shell. You get nice low pitch

Another thing you touched on The best snare in history Tama bell brass snare 80s 90s The outside diameter is super tight to the skin metal rim The only snare (never copied) made like that

Getting my 20x18 cut down tomorrow and not sure on how much to take off and this helped a lot, cheers.

thank you for taking the time to do this important experiment. cheers from Australia - Timmo 🤔

Just cheap

The toms are dead sounding

Is how often you're playing and how much money you make playing. Heads are most Importin and tuning the drums. Remo is my chose. Also coating the shells inside with Poly. improves their sound Espley the snare.

Sounds great! I’ve always liked the bass drum sound at the beginning of Honky Tonk Women 👍