The Big M sets sight on this irreplaceable instrument to help you find the one that suits you best..

Out of all the modern day instruments, none has a longer history than the drum. Drums are found throughout the world, in practically every culture, and are known to have existed since at least 6000 BC and have always fascinated their audiences. Almost everywhere they have strong ceremonial, sacred, or symbolic associations. Taking into account, all of the musical instruments that we see in our society today and use on a regular basis, this is one instrument that stands out in musical history.

THE EARLY DRUM KITS

Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player’s hands, or with a drumstick, to produce sound.

In the early 1930′s, musicians slowly discovered that with proper drum placement and a lot of practice, one musician could handle a set of drums, and an entire band of drum players was not required anymore. Thus, a basic kit evolved and took place. Cymbals and Tom tom drums were brought in from China and the size was adjusted to allow for ease of play when played with drumsticks.

A Standard Drum Set

The early drum kits were simple in their design and consisted of a bass drum and foot pedal, a snare drum, Tom toms, a hi hat cymbal and one or two sets of hanging cymbals.

In the 1930′s the drum set was heavily influenced by the sounds of the time, and the early forms of Rock and Roll music. The sounds had a strong basic beat backing them.

By the 1950’s when Rock music had started to develop, sounds became more complex and likewise, the drum sets became more evolved, with new additions made to them. Drummers kept adding cymbals and Tom toms to their set up. As time went by, Electronic drum kits came in as an addition. All of these additions allowed the musicians to expand their sounds and diversify their music.

Modern Drum-affair :

Mapex Saturn - Green Apple Burst

Today, drummers have the option of creating their own unique config to suit their comfort, defining the sound they hear themselves playing and also the brilliant finish to show off a little more than their talent to the world. The best drum companies in the world spend every second mastering new techniques to create even better sounding drums that can last a lifetime.

Let’s start with a basic config of a standard drum kit.

The most Common set up is a Single 22” inch Bass Drum, two suspended Tom toms, 12” inch Left and 13” inch right, one 16” inch Floor tom, one 14” inch Snare drum, a Pair of Hi-Hats, Crash Cymbal on the left and a Crash Ride on the right.

Over this standard set up, drummers grow their kits to suit their style and interests. Most common add on is a 10 inch tom to the left of the drum kit.

Factors that contribute to a brilliant drum sound

• Wood selection
• Number of ply
• Proprietary developments to ensure undisturbed flow of vibrations

Wood selection:

There are 3 commonly used wood types. Namely

Maple:

North American Maple is handpicked to meet stringent requirements for proper density, age and consistency of grain and colour. Maple offers a smooth, warm, well rounded tone, with equal amounts of hi-end attack and mid-range body, plus its excellent low-end punch. Most drum companies offer some form of 100% maple drums today as it has taken its place as the standard of the industry for hi-end drum kits.

Birch:

Birch gives a “naturally EQ’ed” tone that is the perfect alternative to the overall smoothness of the maple. Many professionals today prefer Birch to Maple as it offers a boosted hi-end cut, mellow mid-range and a deep low-end presence. The more popular Birch drum kits have found their way to recording studios where they are a favorite for both the artists and the engineer.

African Mahogany:

African Mahogany offers extremely rich low-end frequencies, with beautiful smooth mids and a slight roll-off in the higher register. Mahogany drum kits are set aside from all other kits. Few companies today offer this excellent wood, simply because its porous exterior is extremely difficult to finish and it costs more than Maple.

Number of Ply:

‘Ply’ simply means the number of Layers. A 4 Ply Maple drum shell means, there are 4 different layers of Maple shells stuck together under high pressure to form one Brilliant drum shell.

The output of the drum depends entirely on the number of ply. Here is how it affects the sound.

Thin: 4 Ply (5mm Shell)

Best “near field’ or player’s experience. Easy transfer of energy from heads to shell, causing the shell to fully vibrate.

Medium: 6 Ply (7.5mm Shell)

Thicker wood, resists some of the energy transferred from the head. Allowing the sound to be slightly thinner than the thin shell, but with greater volume and projection. Offers a warm, full bodied wood tone with great attack, loudness and presence.

Thick: 8 Ply (10mm) – 10 Ply (12.5mm)

Extremely efficient, allowing most of the player’s energy to be focused through the heads directly to the audience. Since the shell provides greater mass, less volume is lost through the shell in the form of resonance. Warm sound and great tone at a lower level, but provides ultimate volume.

Proprietary developments to ensure undisturbed flow of vibrations:

Professional drum companies like Pearl, Mapex etc invest a lot of time into figuring out the best way to keep the drum in place without affecting its sound thus allowing the drum to perform to its maximum capabilities. The Opti-mount System in Pearl and the Isolated Tom Mount System in Mapex are two such examples.

To sum it all up, a tremendous amount of time, energy and brilliance goes into making a drum so perfect for you. Drummers today actually literally have love affairs with their flawless drum kits.

Content : Furtados Music
Images Courtesy: Furtados Music, Mapex

Known as one of the world’s Best drum companies, Pearl has now decided to enter the India market and finally introduce flawless drum kits that are worth every penny.

Perarl's Reference Series

Let’s start with the hardware. Pearl is known for its incredibly sturdy hardware. With an easy design, even a layman can figure out how to set up a Pearl stand. Pearl’s ‘Advanced Hardware Systems’ introduces a line of professional grade equipment that will forever alter the way you look at hardware. Each piece is engineered to function above and beyond traditional hardware. That’s why the term ‘Advanced’.

Pearl’s Superior Shell Technology is a proprietary technique used for achieving the ultimate air chamber. It begins with select woods chosen for their unique acoustic attributes, milled to precise thickness with overlapping scarf joint seams, for a perfect air-tight fit. The wood plies are saturated with Pearl’s proprietary ‘AcoustiGlue’ that permeates every pore and dries to the exact consistency of the wood for optimum resonance. Finally, the plies are formed in high-temperature molds with 1000 PSI of hydraulic pressure to produce perfect drum shells that exhibit superior tone, optimal resonance and extreme strength.

Pearl Drum shells use scarf joints to eliminate all air gaps. Air gaps are used in studios to cut vibrations thereby sound proofing the studio. Pearl Drum shells guaranty no air gaps since the scarf joints provide 800% more surface area than the otherwise used Butt joint.

This combination of the best Hardware and drum shell is what makes Pearl one of the best drum companies in the world and probably the only one to offer a lifetime warranty on their shells.

Article by Keshav Dhanraj, Brand Manager, Pearl, Zildjian & Evans India

Mapex Falcon Pedal

Are you looking for a drum that you take on stage or into the studio with complete confidence that your style and creativity will not only be perfectly reproduced, but enhanced? With your Mapex drum set, your talents and personality will be faithfully delivered to your audience, whether you’re playing to a crowd of twenty or twenty thousand.

Mapex offers Quality beginner kits, mid- range kits and professional level kits at affordable prices, which is what makes it the best selling drum brand in India. The price ranges from Rs 19,400 to 2 lakh. Every Mapex drum, regardless of price, is built to exact specifications.

Endorsers do play a significant role in getting a company’s name out to the public. Here are some of the pros that use Mapex, Chris Adler (Lamb of God), Dom Famularo (Master Clinician), Kevin Miller (Tantric), Will Calhoun (Living colour), Tony Coleman (B.B king) and many more. There are many drummers in India too who have been endorsed by Mapex and play with the biggest bands around here.

Also don’t forget to check out the new Mapex Falcon pedals and the new Mapex replacement kits. The Voyager and the Horizon series have replaced the Q and the QR/VX series respectively.

Article by Ritesh John Dharmaraj, Brand Manager, Mapex & LP India