help! just getting started...
help! just getting started...
I don't have a clue about cocktail sets.Can i make one from a floor tom? What do I need? I have played drums for years,can anyone send me in the right direction? thanks
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Guest
Well for one thing, check out the other posts here, and of course John Mettam's excellent web site:
http://www.cocktailangst.com/drum/
A floor tom could work, but most cocktail drums are deeper. Remember, the bottom head has to be close enough to the floor for a pedal to be able to reach it, and the top head needs to be at a comfortable height for standing. The most common depth for a cocktail drum is 24".
You could possibly mount a snare drum on top of a floor tom - Peace drum company does something like that. Search the web and you'll see photos.
KC
http://www.cocktailangst.com/drum/
A floor tom could work, but most cocktail drums are deeper. Remember, the bottom head has to be close enough to the floor for a pedal to be able to reach it, and the top head needs to be at a comfortable height for standing. The most common depth for a cocktail drum is 24".
You could possibly mount a snare drum on top of a floor tom - Peace drum company does something like that. Search the web and you'll see photos.
KC
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famouswilly
What Peace does to stack a snare on the floor tom-ish cocktail drum is to put a rubber drum muffler on the top head of the floor tom. If you have a 14" floor tom, it would be pretty easy to test that out. Converting most pedals to shoot upward is no hard job, but if you use a strap drive pedal with an offset cam, the pedal's action will suck and also launch the drum into space.
A lot of companies throughout the ages have worked with the idea that the cocktail drum doesn't necessarily need snares underneath it. Phattie tends to make the snare an extra attachment, and I've seen old Rogers cocktail sets that have the snare as an attachment as well. In that case, the floor tom works as a tom and the bottom head is a bass. Remo's coffee house drum uses a hand drum type head and a kick bottom head. Some older sets just have a small bass drum played with a traditional pedal with a mount for a snare.
When I was deciding whether or not to build a cocktail drum, I started by setting up a floor tom with an upward shooting bass drum pedal and I experimented with stacking the snare on the floor tom (a 16") and setting the snare to the side. I liked playing that way, so I went for the whole schmear.
Over the years I've accumulated a lot of 15-16" field drums from different high schools. They are easy to come by, free or cheap, and 2 15x12 drums joined together make a great cocktail size. My project is detailed in irritatingly painstaking detail throughout the website (thanks for putting up with me and giving me so much help, everybody). You'll find that this the coolest website in the world for cocktail help.
I've found that in weird ways, the snare sound you get from a traditional cocktail set is more versatile than a lot of regular snares. That is--you can get some really strange snare sounds from a cocktail set. The trick is finding the meat and potatoes sound--the weird ones jump at you from all directions. I've found that cool for doing drum and bass type paterns.
Oh, one other set up idea--The Slingerland Expresso set has a floor tom that doubles as a bass drum (just a 16x16--a really common size), a tom tom, two cymbal mounts, a snare, and a hi hat stand. You play it seated like a four piece set--the floor tom just also serves as your bass drum. I don't think anyone on this list plays one, but that's a safe way to start.
A lot of companies throughout the ages have worked with the idea that the cocktail drum doesn't necessarily need snares underneath it. Phattie tends to make the snare an extra attachment, and I've seen old Rogers cocktail sets that have the snare as an attachment as well. In that case, the floor tom works as a tom and the bottom head is a bass. Remo's coffee house drum uses a hand drum type head and a kick bottom head. Some older sets just have a small bass drum played with a traditional pedal with a mount for a snare.
When I was deciding whether or not to build a cocktail drum, I started by setting up a floor tom with an upward shooting bass drum pedal and I experimented with stacking the snare on the floor tom (a 16") and setting the snare to the side. I liked playing that way, so I went for the whole schmear.
Over the years I've accumulated a lot of 15-16" field drums from different high schools. They are easy to come by, free or cheap, and 2 15x12 drums joined together make a great cocktail size. My project is detailed in irritatingly painstaking detail throughout the website (thanks for putting up with me and giving me so much help, everybody). You'll find that this the coolest website in the world for cocktail help.
I've found that in weird ways, the snare sound you get from a traditional cocktail set is more versatile than a lot of regular snares. That is--you can get some really strange snare sounds from a cocktail set. The trick is finding the meat and potatoes sound--the weird ones jump at you from all directions. I've found that cool for doing drum and bass type paterns.
Oh, one other set up idea--The Slingerland Expresso set has a floor tom that doubles as a bass drum (just a 16x16--a really common size), a tom tom, two cymbal mounts, a snare, and a hi hat stand. You play it seated like a four piece set--the floor tom just also serves as your bass drum. I don't think anyone on this list plays one, but that's a safe way to start.