SOMNAMBULANT RAMBLINGS

SOMNAMBULANT RAMBLINGS

:: 2010 23 March :: 10.17 pm

just in case you were looking to buy some beginner drums:

i figure a 5 piece set (snare, bass, and three toms) is standard rock drums. 4 piece (only 2 toms) is more of a jazz thing. but if you get the 5, you can always just pull one off, and bam, 4 piece. so i'd recommend 5.

now that an arrangement is settled upon, there are only a few key factors that make one set different from (better than) another:
-shells (wood type, number of plies, construction methods)
-hardware (lugs, rims, pedals, stands, and mounting brackets)
-heads
-cymbals

as far as shells go, most starter kits are a mixture of birch and whatever else they have lying around in the factory. for your purposes, i doubt it will matter. but if you want something that will be durable, stay reasonably tuned, and sound good enough for a practice set, i would go with no less than 6-ply, regardless of what kind of wood it is. preferably 8 or more, especially on the bass and snare drums (unless it's a steel snare, which is fine too. wood sounds nicer, but steel is usually a little cheaper).

hardware. now, this one here is a bitch. because it's hard to tell online how sturdy or rattly or user-friendly the hardware is. as a general rule, you get what you pay for. which means, in the $400-500 range, it's probably gonna be pretty chinsy. there's pretty much no way around that, other than spending more money, which is obviously not an option. you're just gonna have to deal. my personal opinion: pearl, gretsch and ludwig are going to have the best hardware. i would stick to those. i don't have enough experience with ddrums to know for sure, but i'll give them the benefit of the doubt. they're probably right there with tama or pacific/PDP, which is also fine. but i would stick to the main brands. they are tried and true, and have enough experience to make decent drums on the cheap.

factory heads are always crap. i say let the boy beat the hell out of 'em until they are dead. at which point i can help you pick out some better quality replacements.

the story is similar on cymbals. if it's an entry-level set that includes cymbals in the package, it'll likely be near to banging on trash can lids. again, just beat 'em up, and when it comes time for new ones, i can help you shop around. the only problem is that some of these sets do not come with cymbals. i would almost prefer this, just so you could pick out something a little better from a company that does cymbals specifically (it's more art than science), but this will add on to the overall expense, as it is above and beyond the cost of the set itself.

here's what i found:
Ludwig Accent - http://www.zzounds.com/item--LUDLC125
this guy is pretty solid. the measurements are average: 22" bass, 14" snare, 12" 13" and 16" toms. sometimes they'll have a 14" instead of 13", but that's less common. i like that the stands are double-braced. the other hardware is decent. it doesn't tell you how thick the shells are, but i'm guessing 6 ply all around. all in all it's $400 for absolutely everything you need other than sticks and cymbals. and on the side they have a feature that says for $560 you can get some beginner zildjian cymbals to go along with it. yeah, it's $160 for a pair of hats and a crash/ride, but that's really not too bad, considering. paiste also makes some good cymbals at reasonable prices, but they won't be any better or cheaper than this package deal.

DDrums D2 - http://www.zzounds.com/item--DEPD2
this one will probably be the most attractive to you, as it is a self-contained setup, including cymbals, for $400. i don't have any personal experience with this brand, and can pretty much guarantee the cymbals are garbage, but hey. it's drums, it's cheap. i think it would serve your purposes plenty well enough, although i would consider it a step down from the ludwig. cymbals and heads can always be upgraded later, and this at least is a decent foundation to start from. Note: 9 ply mahogany is an interesting choice. definitely durable, maybe not as resonant. also, this has a 10-12-16 tom arrangement, instead of the 12-13-16 mentioned earlier. nothing wrong with that, just different. the more i look at this set, the more i like it.

Ludwig Pinnacle - http://www.zzounds.com/item--LUDP5K
this is another ludwig set. which means the hardware is exactly the same as the $400 set. why does it cost $450, then? because the shells are slightly beefier, and made out of a different kind of wood. and because this one includes some trashy cymbals. but, once again, it's a good foundation, and you've got the whole shabang, ready to rock for under five benjamins.

my feelings won't be hurt if you choose something else, but those were the strongest contenders i could find. and hopefully you feel comfortable enough now to know what sort of things you need to be looking for in order to find the right match for you.

by the same token, sticks are a very intimate part of the experience, and there's no right or wrong choice. you just have to go into a music store, get your hands dirty, and figure out what feels good to you. lately i've been coming back to the vic firth SD1s, which i hadn't used since i bought my first pair back in middle school. but they're a nice middle of the road stick, with a short taper and a ball tip. and it's what most classically trained drummers would have their students start out on. i like wood tips, as i feel they're less prone to breakage, but nylon tips sound much better on the cymbals. i just have this problem with nylon tips shattering and flying off, rendering an otherwise healthy stick useless, unless you have tomato plants or something to use them in. could just be me though.

Leave a comment

:: 2010 23 March :: 5.14 am

iTunes library

over 5,000 songs; 25 gigs and counting.

this thing is getting out of control.

it's almost easier at this point to have something specific in mind to search for, as opposed to browsing it alphabetically. it's just too overwhelming.

but eventually it will be complete and fully up to date. at which point, i will be a happy boy.

: :

and then the drive will crash.

Leave a comment

:: 2010 12 March :: 10.41 pm

it is a tenuous thread to which we cling.

that thread is the moment. that moment is life. we live in the present tense.

and yet, somehow, none of us is able to quite realize it at the time. you look back and say, "oh yeah, hey - look - we did a thing there just then!" that thing was a moment. a point in time at which you were doing that one thing with those one people. that was a good time. hell, even if it was a bad time, you still remember it. and it is something you share. memories have this unnerving propensity to decay over time. and that decay - that shelf life - is what gives those memories their value. valuable moreso for being unique to the individuals involved, and the lack of likelihood of their passing it on to a second party, and that party's then furthering the cause.

memories die over the ages. it seems sad that we only mourn them post-mortem.

that is why when i die there better be a fuckin' party. because i want the only thing people to be able to remember is that it was a hell of a good time. in homage to a life of good times.

2 Comments | Leave a comment

:: 2010 10 March :: 2.34 pm

why the fuck don't i have a job?

it might have something to do with the current recession.

or it could just be that i live in michigan, and it snows a lot. i didn't realize that our frequent snowstorms were part of the economic turbulence.

then again, if you follow THEIR snowstorms link, it takes you to a page that references monthly surveys of businesses and households. at which point all of the statistics and graphs and bullshit they can muster don't apply to me, simply because i've lived here for two years and not once have gotten asked by any survey whether or not i am gainfully employed.

i always hated stats. calculus just makes so much more sense.

Leave a comment

:: 2010 4 March :: 1.01 am

so yeah. think i have a cold of some sort. that's pretty bitchin'. shan tomorrow, dad friday, kevie-poo early next week. weekend's pretty open, but the neighbors might be having a fire. that'd be fun. i like fire. and stars.

actually, i made a very important (personally) discovery tonight about the stars that i often look at. if you know the constellations cassiopeia and orion, then you can find what i'm talking about. because right in between them, there is this weird curvy group of stars. these are all visible to the naked eye on a clear night. when i first saw it, i was most struck by its resemblance to a parabolic curve. and ever since then i've wanted to figure out what constellation it is, and if i could find a mathematical equation for the curve that would best fit that group of stars (have them all be on or very near it). i'm lazy so it'll probably never happen. and i'm discouraged by the likelihood that someone else has already beat me to the punch. anyway, i discovered tonight (through the use of these programs) that the stars i was looking at belong primarily to the constellation perseus. obviously, there are some stars of perseus that i have omitted from "my" grouping, and may have stolen one or two from somewhere else, but it's still a cool pattern.

but now i'm pissed because the entire time i was trying to watch for perseid meteors, i had no idea where in the sky to look. i guess now i know for the next time. but it's frustrating that i would have been able to, had i known the name of the constellation i've been looking at for the past couple of years already. but now i do, so there.

5 Comments | Leave a comment

:: 2010 29 January :: 10.20 am

winter camp

is better than you.

high of like 20 all weekend up there. should be fun.

: P

2 Comments | Leave a comment

:: 2010 27 January :: 1.01 am

cable television
it's sad that this is what my life has become.

i'm watching a movie on flix. i hit info. this is what comes up.

Snake Island (2002) (a rating of one star is always a good sign):
creepy nonsense about killer reptiles terrorizing clueless tourists.

lmfao.

Leave a comment