I get asked a lot about where’s the best place to put your drums and your cymbals. I think the assumption is that I feel comfortable behind my kit – which is actually rarely the case.
Over the configuration of my kit has changed again and again. I’m fairly traditional in that my set up is usually pretty basic. I’ve done the thing of copying set ups in drum catalogs and magazines. I’ve had my ride cymbal almost vertical and in my face like my favourite drummers did in the 90s. I’ve had my toms high, had them low, had them angled had them flat.
When playing a 2 hour show night after night I’ve found a few things to be important to me. The ideal situation is that after a month on the road I’m not walking around like a hunchback with one hugely built up shoulder. There are a lot of songs in the set I play that involve a lot of playing on the ride bell. My ride cymbal is 22″ so having the bell reachable means there’s 11″ of cymbal coming towards me. This always seems to end up in a fight for space between the ride and the 2nd rack tom.
The 2nd rack tom is my other nemesis. I’ve always found it to be an awkward drum to reach with my left hand. I’ve checked out bird’s eye views of Vinnie’s kit and he always seems to set his rack toms squarely on the kick drum, but for me that makes it hard to reach and pushes my ride too far away for comfort.
On some previous tours I tried mounting the 10″ tom on my crash cymbal stand so I could move the 12″ further to my left. That allowed me to bring the ride cymbal in closer and was a good solution, but for some reason I stopped doing it.
It allows me to have the 12″ tom almost central above the kick drum, but I found that it wasn’t always easy to get it exactly where I wanted since that mount isn’t really designed to hold a drum in that position.
On this tour I started out with the regular configuration, but my preference is always to turn the rack tom mount so the toms look as close to the above as possible. That is, I’ll have the 12″ as close to the middle as I can and the 10″ extended out further.
I seemed to be having a problem with the resonance of the 12″ tom when I did this. It sounded fine when I was holding it, but once I’d mounted it on the holder it became very choked. I couldn’t figure out if it was to do with the holder, or the fact that its bottom head was in very close proximity to the kick drum and it didn’t have space to ‘breathe’. The 10″ on the other hand had lots of space underneath and was very resonant.
I tried switching the positions of the two toms and it helped a little. I also thought it might be fun to try out this new arrangement.
Weirdly, it made my 10″ tom look like an 8″ and my 12″ tom look like a 14″. I guess it’s because I’m so used to seeing them the other way around.
I’d actually considered doing this before for other reasons. 10″ toms aren’t really suited to Wishbone Ash music. I particularly like it for certain fills and I want to have it there, but the 12″, 14″,16″ are the most appropriate drums to use for fills. The trouble is that the 12″ was always the most difficult to get to. Setting up this way meant that it was more easily accessible and I could treat it as my main rack tom.
Also, the 10″ is a shallower drum. Since the 12″ is now to the side of the kick drum I can actually lower the toms more without the kick getting in the way. Since the 10″ is also narrower it’s easier to bring the ride in closer. All good results! It also made for some interesting fills and made me think more about what I actually wanted to hear.
Whether or not I’ll still set up like this on future tours – who knows. The point is that there isn’t a “right way”. If you’re uncomfortable with something, then try changing it.
I always wanted to see what it felt like to sit behind Dave Weckl’s kit, or Vinnie’s kit. The thing is, they’re not me. A 1/2 inch difference in height or reach makes a big difference in how things feel. Plus, if you check out their set-ups over the years they’ve also changed drastically. I haven’t asked them, but I bet they suffer from the same issues as the rest of us.
On closer examination I realised the reason for this was that in order to play these notes my leg would tense a bit and I’d lift it higher and try and play the notes as my heel descended. If you try this you’ll find that it’s nearly impossible to retain the point of contact as the ball of the foot (under the big toe) if your heel is too high. In order to do that you’d need to flex your toes back a long way. Perhaps female (or transvestite) drummers, used to wearing high heels, could manage this, but for me it’s definitely a strain.
esult of trying to play specifically with the ball under my big toe I’ve modified my technique to lift my heel less in preparation for multiple strokes. Instead, I’m pulling my foot back (as if I were playing heel down) while keeping my heel off the ground but only by an inch or so. I’ve found that this makes the multiple strokes more even and less ‘panicky’. So far, so good.
