My Top 5 Drum Setup Hacks (to Make Any Kit Feel and Sound Good)

[@jc3drums916]

Aside from pedal tension, the big one for me, as someone who is above average height and has proportionally long legs, is the position of the snare and rack tom(s) relative to the bass drum. Having long legs means I sit slightly further away from the bass drum than most people, which necessitates moving the snare and tom(s) so I'm not leaning forward to reach them. Moving the snare isn't an issue, but moving the rack tom can involve multiple adjustments if it's mounted to the bass drum, depending on the mounting system, and the owner of the kit usually doesn't appreciate that.

[@aaronbones4290]

Thisssss!

[@sethsballs8479]

I’m 6’3” with long legs and basically can’t play a kit with bass mounted toms lmao

[@m4drums]

Nate, your channel is getting better and better, obviously more and more useful, these are absolutely great advice! I mean, a lot of us are ending up whether on rehearsal or in the studio or in the concert with a totally strange drum kit, not always the best quality but even if half decent - the adjustment of ergonomics and tuning the whole thing quickly makes a huge change for a good gig/rehearsal/recording! And we don't always have the possibility to bring our own snare, cymbals, and bass drum pedal)) But still - adjustment of that pedal tension, length of the beater or whatever else could be out of wack with that bass drum pedal, or chair height or placement, or rack toms and floor tom, or cymbal stands to your preference - in this video you do awesome examples of all that. Huge thanks to you brother, keep up that great content,. Once again awesome and very useful video! Thank You!

[@tubeguroo]

Nate, beside “sticks and a drum key” I thought a saw a BJJ belt and maybe a gi? oss! Thanks for your all your content…

[@raybbj]

And then the next drummer comes in after you and is pissed off because the kit is all jacked up!! Also, the problem is that sometimes you only have 5 mins to do all this because one band finishes and you only have 5 mins to get your band setup and ready to play. AND, the rest of the band members can't figure out why it's taking you so long to get ready to play when there was a perfectly good kit there, all ready to go!

[@8020drummer]

to be clear, you should be able to play the kit with minimal adjustment. But if you have the luxury of 5 minutes or more, this hopefully should help ;)

[@Stylekingoftheweek]

I went to Europe with a very quiet, sensitive indie band... when we landed, I opened up the rental drum cases and found a kit built for Slayer stadium gigs. Rack tom was bigger than my usual floor tom! Ended up putting towels on everything, Ringo style.

[@ARGBlackCloud]

Interestingly you utlilize the finger in the center of the drum harmonic tuning like I DO !!! , it really is the fastest way to determine which lugs need adjustment . I've seen too many dudes going around hitting the head in front of each lug without the finger in the middle , Like Dudes that doesn't work. Use middle finger to get the point across !! Lmao

[@two-eyesmckay1400]

Mr 20....well done. The value of experience cannot be underestimated.X-sell-ent detail. Thank you.

[@EarthtonesCymbals]

Thanks Beatdown.

[@davidgomersall7185]

Great tips Nate and nice shout out to Rob Brown. That tom tuning video is a must watch, such a simple yet effective method.

[@tezzerii]

Good tips. I absolutely Hate playing other people's kits !! And rehearsal room kits ! But you have to sometimes, so I've got better at sorting them out. Often it's ok to make do with what's there, but I will Absolutely Always take my throne and a pair of pliers.

[@teetomthomas]

All great tips… until…. you run into a ratchet tilter on a snare drum basket. It took me a while, but I found a way around not being able to get the angle just so was actually changing the stool height slightly until the relative angle felt better…

[@drumsNstuff79]

I always carry three things: 1. A drummer's multi tool (if it has a drum key on it which most do that saves an item). 2: Leatherman tool with pliers. (stuck wingbolts and nuts are the bane of my existence!) I have the more basic Sidekick Model, but the Wave is the standard and a great alternative. 3. A medium sized swiss army knife, with knife and scissors. If the leatherman has scissors than I can leave the swiss army knife behind. The screwdriver, pliers, and drumkey can get me through any adjustment nightmares. But if you want to be really smart, get a small plastic tool/tackle box and fill it with essentials. Tuning rods, lug nuts, snare cords and straps, felts, wingnuts, and extra clutch, etc. (The Zildjian drummer's survival kit is great start!) All us drummers accumulate various extra parts and pieces and I always throw them in the box. You never know when you could use something! I'm lucky in that anytime I've used another's kit, it's always been a drummer I knew and liked who I trusted took care of their gear. If I knew the drummer was a newbie, I would offer my kit for the kit share. They always appreciate that. The beginner would then ask me questions about my kit after playing it and I could share tips. Sharing knowledge and passing it on is the best way to be!

[@LoganDameryDrums]

I usually skip KZbin intros, but I can't skip yours. Too good!

[@derek5168]

The luxury of time to make adjustments is the key because sometimes others won't give you time

[@nelsonrodriguez2085]

Great tips! Specially those around feet adjustment. As a drummer that mainly moves around the city by taking the bus, using what I'm given has become an important trade to learn, one day you are playing a DW with K customs, then the next you are playing a CB Drums with a Planet Z ride and some no name hi hats and to be honest, most of the time the public doesn't care about what kit you are playing, so you should just focus on being the most comfortable you can behind any drumset you are given, the worst gigs i have had, are those in which i have felt uncomfortable around the kit. So, check the tension of the pedal (personally i prefer taking my own pedal in my backpack) and the positioning of the ride and the hihats, you can adjust to having the crash in almost any position, but if the ride is in a bad spot, your back will hate you after a while.

Good video, congrats!!!

[@BrianH020]

One of the vids I missed while away.. Two things - I've seen a video here on KZbin where Vinnie's roadie described Vinnie saying he likes his kit in range, like if he were a dealer dealing cards. I find this approach to work pretty well. Second, I think it might have been Steve Smith that said he bases his snare drum height off of his belly button because that's close to if not the, center of gravity of your body. So I take a stick directly off of my belly button and raise the snare until it gets there. It's almost always dead on, requiring very little adjustment. This is of course after seat and pedal adjustment as you said. Even after 35 plus years of serious playing, I still find myself tweaking setup. And like most guys getting into their mid-50s, even though I've been playing the same setup more or less for most of those 30 years, things have definitely lowered. Less reach and stress on your shoulders. Almost all of the greats have adjusted as time goes on as well, including Vinnie, Steve, And most of the guys from the '80s who had their cymbals up at absurdly high positions lol. I'm done.. 👍😗

[@ivanbajovic3476]

Steve's snare height method works if you are traditional grip player like himself.

[@BrianH020]

@@ivanbajovic3476 I use the same method, and I'm primarily a matched player, though I do use traditional for certain things. Only thing I don't do is the tilting away from my body as Steve does. I tried a slight tilt for a while, and yes it works wonderful for traditional, but I found it a little uncomfortable playing matched, so now I'm back to almost flat, maybe a hair slightly away from me..

[@JoeyvanLeeuwen]

Pretty much all this can be boiled down into making your drums easy to play. Pretty much every student I've ever had has suddenly advanced monumentally more or less instantly after adjusting their kit, seat height, and posture, especially with regards to independence. It's a completely overlooked aspect of the drums. As to tuning, I'm honestly shocked at how few drummers tune the drums when they play. I think they don't realize how much of a difference it makes in your sound. Playing an out of tune drum kit well is impressive, but when the drums sound great, it's like a transcendental experience. I would also add to this that bringing your own bass drum beater and moongel can also help. I use a fuzzy beater and it seriously does wonders.

[@videogalore]

So I'm not sure if this is on or off topic, but it seems as good of a place as any to ask - have you seen 'Whiplash' and if so, what did you make of it?

[@ashmonkey2572]

If i remember correctly He has a Video on it

[@videogalore]

@@ashmonkey2572 Ah, I'll go digging then, I haven't seen that one yet! Thank you :)

[@donnieolaughlin1758]

Smash that like button

[@MikeMastropierro]

Hey Rob what’s the link to the original kick pedal video? Thanks man!

[@dEadERest]

coming from drum corps as a lead baritone, most of my pro career was as a lead vocalist|bass player, hard rock. and i would often throw out, 'hey can I tune your set?', as I always had my Slingerland ratchet in my gear. with a couple of minutes and relatively minor changes, I could go blow guys minds. I wouldn't play the kit, that wasn't the exercise.

[@zikandgroovefr]

Thank you for this great video! 👍 It helps to know as a professional drummer.

[@jonashellborg8320]

As someone who gigs in a large city with similar driving and parking problems to New York, I appreciate the tips! Throne and pedal yes! Unless like at. recent gig where I was given a regular restaurant chair to sit on.

[@CounterRhythms]

Great advice there. I remember the days of playing on strange gear. The changeover would have me more nervous than the show itself. The snare angle thing is huge. It happened to me more than once that my first backbeat was all rim. Check it!

[@pumpdumpster]

Thanks, really great advice! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@sethsballs8479]

Horror story: my high school band played a competition and the fucking THRONE PIPE was too loose and started to drop mid song. Basically ruined my performance

[@sweatter9214]

You should’ve made a double bass video with that double bass kit!

[@drummermomcjs]

Great stuff, thanks for the useful tips. :-)

[@muenchhausenmusic]

That was helpful, thanks a lot! :)

[@Doublebasist]

Great show Nate. Thank you.

[@impulseproman]

good stuff i subs

[@skipperry63]

Excellent tips!

[@gabrielphillips9989]

Great video!

[@coopercooper8406]

🔥😁🔥

[@pablosanfilippo9629]

Jeje

[@TempoDrift1480]

Under no circumstances would I play someone else's drums. If it's not possible to use mine I'll politely decline the gig. The whole point of paying 5-6 grand for a set of drums is to have something nice to play.

[@8020drummer]

That was my attitude too when I moved to New York. I lasted maybe 3 weeks.

[@sethsballs8479]

Also tuning with 2 keys at once works wonders. Tune em opposite sides a quarter turn at a time it really makes it easier to achieve even tension