Q+A - Vol. 1

[@b_ryc]

Thanks for the answer, chris! I love that fat offset snare. Look forward to doing this now.

[@Eleutherarch]

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions Chris. Appreciate the recommendations. Love Garibaldi's playing!

[@ColonelClaypool]

Much appreciated. Love your drumming and humbleness.

[@bachdrummer7]

Hi Chris, are you based in Sydney? I would like to ask if you have some availability for private drum lessons. I would love to learn from you! Thank you!

[@user-gm3mj1xu5u]

Hey Chris, Great Q&A, lots of great answers I wouldn't have thought about! I also have a question regarding managing drumming and being a parent (especially with a newborn). Obviously you do this as a full-time job, but when you are not on tour, how do you allow yourself to still play drums without "annoying" (obviously not :) ) your wife and especially child with the volume? Assuming you live in a house, do you have your drums in the basement, and if so, is it soundproofed? Or do you instead just have them in a separate space? Thanks in advance!

[@ChrisAllisonDrums]

Hey there, First off, congrats on the little one! I have my drums in a separate studio about 20mins from home so this wasn't really an issue for me. But if I did have a kit here & didn't have adequate soundproofing, I'd like to either make a small pad kit (kick pad + regular pad at a minimum, adding some low volume cymbals if possible) or I'd add low volume cymbals & the Remo Silent Stroke heads to my kit. Personally, I'd probably lean on the former only because it would be somewhat temporary (a year or two) so playing on a pad kit short term would be better than nothing. It would also be more cost effective than saying buying an e-kit - which would also be another good option if you have the budget. Another spin on the predicament would be to use the time to develop playing insanely quietly & to work on your touch on the instrument; how quietly can you play but still play with conviction?! Hopefully that gives you some things to think about!

[@user-gm3mj1xu5u]

@@ChrisAllisonDrums Thank you very much for your thorough answer! To be clear, I don't have a baby (yet), but taking care of a newborn vs drumming is something I often think about, almost like an either/or thing, even though I'd probably love each of them :) So yeah, if I'd want to be able to play at regular volume and not pay a bunch for soundproofing, a separate space would indeed be the best option. Your idea about trying to play everything I usually do, just as quietly as humanly possible could also work and would be a great exercise, although playing Plini/Tesseract/Periphery/Meshuggah etc. just wouldn't feel the same, if you know what I mean... So some low volume heads/cymbals would probably be the best option to keep the feel if I don't want to get an electronic kit, and then maybe adding some triggers with a drum library like GGD or Superior Drummer. I do already have a practice pad and kick pad, so as a last resort I could just completely stay with that for the time, and then I might even come out better than before! So thank you very much again for taking your time to answer, you've already given me many ideas! And enjoy your time with your family too!

[@dafi723]

Are the guy Plini calls Chris Tofer? :D