Testing Drum Hacks to See if They Actually Work!

[@rdavidr]

What are some other hacks you want to see tested? 🤔

[@GOOPgaminginc]

coins inside the snare 😅

[@alexflores-gu8zf]

alex

[@alanduncan1980]

If you put some rubber hose / tube into the vent hole on your Floor Thomas, you can change the pitch of the drum by blowing into said tube / hose / pipe, whilst sticking the drum. I've never tried it myself, but apparently it works.

[@ErbieGerbies]

I want to see that pin toy, except mounted so the pins dangle and touch the hat top. I feel like it would add a snare type of effect to the hat when you hit it closed, and a kinda extra sizzley effect when you splash it or hit it open. I think the pins would have to just barely be touching the hat. Might have to just order a pin toy myself to test this theory lol.

[@SlyHikari03]

Coins on bass drum head/beater

[@donaldlahoda8693]

You have to use helium in those balloons. It really elevates the sound.

[@ML-jk3sz]

Ba dum tssss....

[@thiex1412]

I think the drumset would fly away!! 😅

[@Woolmandrums]

Make load-ins easier too.

[@brimans3092]

If they got too high and followed the sun would they be ringo starrs? 😊

[@barblewarble]

I know this is a joke but I was wondering if the difference in the speed of sound in helium would change the tone.

[@DrSushiRolls]

6:17 the nut falling on beat is insane

[@hieronymus1288]

That's standard premium rdavidr editing

[@SamChaneyProductions]

Bucephalus Bouncing Nut

[@funkymichi1696]

I knew someone in the comments was going to mention it.

[@OmarGonzalez-re3jz]

Always the beeeeest freakyn editing

[@rickjohns689]

The balloon idea is great, the same vibe as the old cloth on the drum sound, but you get more attack. Great trick, and the toy on the hi hat stand is killer. These are the best yet.

[@craigstrickland1572]

That horn thingy needs to be incorporated into some Clowncore jams!!!

[@TheJargonKing]

fuck YES I'd love to see Louis doing this

[@kimjunkmoon2298]

The balloons too

[@jhicks8989]

Yes.

[@julianprzybysawski8543]

Every hack in this video fits right in with clowncore. The ballonakick, the honk snare, the wobble hats.. even the soup reverb

[@GabrielMartins-gs6rr]

hell yeahhhh

[@ZappyOh]

The nails-thingy is golden. Someone should market a round one in metal, specifically to do this.

[@bettsdn]

You can bet Meinl is already on it 😅

[@ericstearns170]

​@@bettsdnOr Pearl

[@hoilst265]

Try filling the balloons with argon! Fewer balloons! More balloons! I reckon one highly-inflated balloon could subtly damp the sound - too many underinflated ones would simply add too much rubber mass.

[@mholda]

Fill the balloons with helium! For science

[@SamChaneyProductions]

I don't think it will matter much since as long as you have the baloons touching the drum heads, they are going to deaden the sound so much that there's not going to be any noticeable difference. Maybe if you suspended some balloons inside so they weren't touching the heads it would matter

[@robthompson8285]

David's drum hack videos are like a solar eclipse. They don't come often but when they do, they're magnificent!

[@nafspark]

The groove at 12:08 is one of the tastiest things I've heard in a long time.

[@jamesadamgleason9471]

Same... Def practicing this

[@paradiselost9946]

just sounds like "demonoid phenomenon" to me...

[@Doinstuffman]

That balloon kit sounds perfect to play Come Together😂

[@blujay9191]

I had the same thought.

[@FullOnRhinosaur]

Dude I was thinking the same thing. Like if i ever somehow found myself in a Beatles cover band (with a few thousand dollars for an acrylic kit), this is exactly what I'd do. Dry sound + a fun, psychedelic-ish look

[@driftliketokyo34ftw35]

They need to be all red to play 99 red balloons though

[@ColossusCo]

The balloon bass drum sounds like the perfect metal kick sample 😂

[@TerrorTroveTalesYT]

David: Remember what this snare sounds like. Me: *panics* Later David: *edits in original snare sound at the end of the video* ME: Oh, thank fuck.

[@chrisanderson2368]

The nuts keeping the rods in the hoops is enough of hack itself

[@nickwallette6201]

Yeah, but that's about the only good thing, IMO. That's going to make tuning so much more tedious, and good luck tightening them without changing the tuning of that lug slightly.

[@trashpanda6770]

12:08 is crazy how nice that sounds

[@rong4189]

2:52 I was sure you were gonna say Kip from Napoleon Dynamite. Looks exactly like him!

[@gammadrums]

6:18 the “air vent fill”. 😂😂😂

[@c3h4ohcooh3]

Dude, the balloons look so cool. I don't even care how they sound.

[@holeesheet2021]

I agree. That would make a great wrap if you could visually replicate the look!

[@AfferbeckBeats]

I would love to see them smaller so they can bounce around

[@ChaosPootato]

The balloon thing is definitely an interesting super tight sound. And it makes the drums look fun

[@zacharysmithingell5460]

Next time I want to see the kit full of water balloons

[@emilholmgrenmusic]

The biggest joy with these videos always comes from your playing, David. You always have such creative stickings and patterns, I wish I was half as versatile and varied as you in my playing.

[@davidadrian]

People have been sending me this video all morning, thanks for sharing/trying my nonsense ha... Although the air vent thing I did was a massive fail, the balloon thing I totally like, so much so that I recorded a full track using both (w/wo balloons) in the same track at the same time! ...Anyways awesome video as usual bro! 🤘

[@unclerhombus]

Man…that DW acrylic kit sounds incredible

[@TheModdingWelshman]

You should use helium balloons and use just enough to cover the drum head. When you hit them they should drop from the impact but then float back to the top to mute the head. Could be a cool effect and look sick!

[@francobuzzetti9424]

balloon kick sounded FIRE

[@dawggonevidz9140]

blue monday

[@gregedenfield1080]

you know, if you put a spring on the shaker toy ,you may be able to get some free 8ths and 16ths...maybe 32nds if ya tried.🤔

[@MR-vg7yn]

That toy on the hi-hat works a lot better than I would have expected. The sound, to me, is somewhere between those MIDI claps and a shaker. The groove you play with it at 12:09 is awesome.

[@williamcozart8158]

I'd try the balloon muffling with just slightly fewer balloons so there's a little less dampening on the heads.

[@badwolfsat5]

The dude with the balloon hack looks like a long-haired Sheldon from Big Bang Theory!!🤣 Bazinga!!!

[@CharlesWillisBonsai]

Bro plays a mean doohickey, LOL

[@MPHHarzy]

I believe 💯 percent easier to make cheap drums sound better, than , making cheap cymbals sounding better. (No way) Lesson (wisdom) invest in that zildjian dark & put that 5lb sand weight on your snare Peace ❤

[@vishiboii4427]

rdavidr, im thinking of buying my first drum set and im wondering MAPEX VENUS or TAMA IMPERIALSTAR

[@samuelbenavides7473]

Im not a drummer, im a guitarrist. But 14:03 sounds like california uber allers by Dead Kennedys

[@ZappyOh]

Put a large spring between a drum's top- and bottom heads.

[@tobiaswinter1358]

You just invented DW's absurd new shell recipe they gonna sell for way too much :D

[@JulianFernandez]

the nail thingy was great!

[@AntExe-ey5my]

Out of curiosity, can you take the toy thing from hack 6, remove the clear plastic part and replace it with a sheet of metal? See how that sounds.

[@magicdrummer411]

I can't find the video now, but I saw a guy that altered his snare rim to where he could just lift it off the drum and change to a different head (with different tunings. I imagine the lugs screwed into the rim only somehow to get the tension he needed. but it was a neat idea if you wanted to have different sounds in shows and only have 1 snare, or for electric to acoustic hybrids.

[@tcrmn]

The balloon thing is mainly a great showstopper with the right act. Will be a b*tch of a job getting them out when they start deflating and looking worse tho

[@boristomakic5995]

There's current Pearl Ian Paice (Deep Purple) signature snare with jam nuts included

[@KeitaroTsurugi]

Me: oh it still sounds the same. David: Well it's not the same. Me: It sucks...

[@MonoSuerte]

12:26 be interesting to see if having those pins contacting the around bell does something funky in a good way

[@marclewism]

That balloon hack is best in a music video shoot😂

[@pul53gh]

The balloon drums are very dry and thumpy, I actually really like the idea and might end up using it lol

[@MrMystery666]

The balloon filled drums make me think of the hot for teacher drum sound

[@S4B3R117]

Love the way that acrylic set looked full of balloons, makes me wish for a wrap that looked like that

[@holeesheet2021]

SAME here! I love it too. I had the same idea! Wrap it baby!

[@squidskunk]

mount a pin toy inside of a snare with the pins barley touching the bottom head.

[@johnnystaccata]

The pin toy has potential, although I would want to minimize it's weight so it won't effect high hat pedal action. It is easily removed. The balloons are labor intensive and elaborate for muffling, but they may be effective for show. There must be a better way. Personally, I felt the drums sounded better without the balloons.

[@catmobile20]

Honestly I would just use the balloon hack for the looks…😂

[@ogtrutru]

Urban Discipline intro fill by Biohazard @ 14:02

[@patrickfouhy9102]

I've used lug locks before, but I typically only put them on the lug(s) closest to where my stick hits the rim for rim shots since that seem to be the main lug(s) that comes loose. But only with triple flange hoops, don't really notice the issue on diecast hoops. The Balloon trick was cool, I might do some experimenting with that as well.

[@therealfakecaptain7978]

Yeah, on a triple-flanged hoop the lug closest to me always loosen very quickly.

[@gray.wesley]

David uploaded a drum hack video and suddenly I'm happy

[@jefftegenkamp8939]

One or two balloons maybe like using a couple of cotton balls.

[@lajollascott]

I really liked the balloon hack. And I love the dead tom sound of "Come Together" and so many 70s recordings. But if it were me--and I surely do wish I had a DW acrylic kit--I'd use the balloons on the kick and snare but generally keep the toms open.

[@baileyrahn266]

try different density gasses in the balloons like argon.

[@trendin_brendan]

Man, the balloon kick drum lowkey sounded pretty good!

[@ZappyOh]

Make a drum air-tight, and fill it with different gasses, for different effects. No balloons.

[@snickpickle]

I cannot for the life of me imagine how much time it would take to get any drum airtight! Ugh!

[@StandleyParableIs2Good]

Bro does look like his uncle i can confirm.

[@jimmybjurebrant8934]

Pin toy hi-hat shaker hack, the drum sound on that kit sound amazing, you HAVE to make sample packs of your sound, they sound sooo freaking good man 😊😊💪🤘

[@Spagz]

I love the shaker! Call it a Shnare? I've never used lug locks. I could aee the best use if them if you tune low, and your lugs tend to loosen up. I've had floor tom tension rods fall out. But they aren't going to keep the tuning the same. Maybe close, but not the same. They cant account for the humidity, temperature or just stretching from playing. Mylar is going to change density and flexibility as temp and humidity change. More so temperature. And hitting them for an hour although maybe minor changes, will stretch it out. Especially if you hit like say Danny Carey.

[@DeadKoby]

Lug-Locks: There's some 80's era Sonor Phonic series drums that have a "grip" inside of them that help prevent vibration based de-tuning. That works OK.

[@adorodrums]

He speaking of drum sound, do you also do videos on, like, new kind of drum heads or are you (as many major drum channels) sold to evans for a silver dollar? Just asking bc we would not get any channel to have our new synthetic calf heads tested bc, as mentioned, they have contracts with a head supplier… If you do not mind, I’d send you some of our heritage heads for testing. Warning ahead: they have LESS attack, not more, and while taking bashing pretty well they are designed to sound great when playing less loud, acoustic. Yes, that also is a thing!

[@ILikeWafflz]

15:43 I'm not a fan of lug locks either but I'm less of a fan of snare rimshot lugs rattling loose in 3 minutes of playing; and I don't even hit that hard. I found I like tama lug locks, the ones that are something like $1.40 each. Pretty expensive, but it's one purchase and most people only need a few anyway, so I think $14 to solve the annoying problem is worth it.

[@BeardDuder]

well if nothing else the balloon kit looks fun.

[@jerrystatic256]

I love your tuning. Need to do an updated video on tuning.

[@matthewotremba9230]

That would be "Damping" Not "Muffling" HAAAAAAACUUGHCOUGHCOUGHWEEEEEEEEZZ

[@bundleboxstudio]

Balloon hack is like using a de-reverb plugin then putting a drum bus Compressor. "Metal snare" I think your snare is too big for the hack, his was a little more tight and close to the top skin 😊

[@IndyAustin]

"Now, for the moment, you probably already forgot about." Hahahah

[@MaxisaBandKid]

Hey, David, you should check out a PDP set. On their website, they say they're "PDP drums with the innovation of DW." Even on the bottom of the bass drum reso side head, it has a DW Logo on it. However, I didn't even think it was a DW until I saw that, so i was wondering if you could make a review on one, and compare it to your collectors series.

[@HipNerd]

If you use helium balloons, would the drums sound higher pitched (like when you inhale helium and you sound like Mickey Mouse)? Would SF6 make them sound lower pitched?

[@Grease-Goblin]

That first guy talking about having a bandmate sticking stuff to the drums is perfect. I taped a copy of Avatar on each of our drummer's bass drums about 5 months ago. They're still there.

[@myREALnameISiAM]

If you could make vacuum balloons, that would be interesting. You could get some K'NEX and build cubes in the balloons. Use a vacuum to suck out the air and tie them while they are depressurised. This would introduce so much unneeded complexity but would be legendary. THE LEGEND OF THE DRUMMER WHO BUILT NEGATIVE PRESSURE BALLOONS TO SEE WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE IN ACRYLIC DRUMS (PART 2: THE ORDER OF THE CHAMBER OF STONES)

[@johnnystaccata]

FYI, no end screen with the links you spoke of.

[@liveChef]

Those DWs are monster dude !!

[@houseofdyer]

Dude, I love your videos so much. Absolutely not to lock bots on lug bolts. Please do a tuning video. Also, now I’m going to check to see if you’ve ever done a tuning video. 😅

[@JordanNaylor]

14:03 I knew I recognised that beat… whether intentional or not, check out Yellowcard - Miles Apart… the intro is almost identical 👍 Great vid as usual

[@666dreamboat]

Okay the balloon hack would be so good as a trigger layer, it's a little too gated sounding alone but layered in with some round Robins you could make a very interesting drum sound, with some parallel compression bringing the tail up you could likely get some magic sounds.

[@nickwallette6201]

Well, with that balloon "hack".... I'm not a huge fan of the muffled sound, but it sure looks fun! haha Alright, the kick sounds pretty good. But that's not really a surprise.

[@adorodrums]

If you want to worsen your drum sound, yeah, use balloons inside. Gosh, how many drummers love their drums to sound awful.

[@SamHarrisonMusic]

Balloons in the drums is the perfect Fleetwood Mac tusk sound - to the point I wonder if that's what they did!

[@HR2635]

favorite lug lock: purecussion made som many years ago in black plastik.. no rattle, fingertigtning (because there was a rubber seal inside). Now adays I either use an insert or Pearl metal locks. my own favorite "invensions".. well there are quite a few but my 2 favorites: small rubber o-rings (3-5 mmm) on each tension rod (never loose a screw again! and dirt cheap); Velcro dampeners (a bit like evans mini emad but just a lot better (more dampening options... might do a video on that some day) and way cheaper!)

[@wjspade]

4:36 I think the nylon rope was muffling the sheet metal. My high school had a similar “effect symbol” set up on a hi hat stand. We used 550 cord to go under the pedal, but it was connected to the sheet with metal rings. If done right, it’ll make some crazy effects.

[@xojware]

your drums filled with balloons sounded exactly like a 70s psychedelic kit

[@JamesMcCormickIV]

The pin hat is cool

[@GarageBandSuperheros]

I'd start using lug locks just to keep the rods attached to the rim. Rather than using a ziploc bag to keep em all from getting lost.

[@koalanectar9382]

Haha how are the balloons a "hack"? It would be way more complicated to do that than just using any normal form of dampening, and would also sound better. That kit sounds like a bunch of phonebooks with the balloons.

[@hasanmichael4966]

Pin toy: I had a things that was like a type of shaker but it was plastic with metal beads around the outside and sounded the same and did the same thing attached to the high hat. Store bought a long time ago. Don't remember the brand. Lock nuts: good luck tuning on the fly. And one more tool to carry around. I wouldn't use in that fashion for those reasons. However, I did like how it held the tuning lug in place when swapping heads. Maybe put a nylon insert lock nut on the lug but keep it just below the rim. That way it doesn't prevent you from tuning on the fly but when you change the head the lugs stay on the rim. Maybe put 2 together to make sure they don't walk, or just 1 and use blue thread locker. You would still need the nylon washer between the rim and lug since using the lock nut that way doesn't serve the purpose of preventing the lug from backing out.

[@hoozerob]

Yes! I've added jam nuts to my tension rods last year. They help, somewhat. Not 100% solution. When there is temperature, pressure, any humidity change, something has to give. So, this only seems to go so far.

[@kingmatthewa]

I like the balloon hack. You are creating barriers for the internal pressure wave to have to deal with, which slows it down. I've never been a fan of moongel, tape, wallet, or any other method of muting the head. This way, it allows the heads to still do their thing. I would probably do that for the kick and snare (but with less balloons, maybe). Love the channel, David. Cheers from Hillsdale, Kansas (KC area)!

[@DamnedEyez]

I kinda want to see a progression on those balloons. None. 1 each. 2 each. etc. Kinda seems like a Party kit, and having movement inside could add a fun bit to the set. (Different gases, maybe) Also...the lug locks seem useful enough just as retainers when changing heads.

[@dreampillet]

I really wasn't expecting the balloons to make such a big difference. It looks amazing, but it could legit be used for some 60s-style super muffled drum sound.

[@dallynsr]

Jam nut? No. Lock nut, yes. Jam nuts are on the shelf at hardware stores and are purposefully squashed a little on the side to squeeze around the bolt and not have any play, and hold itself on from moving. Similar to a nylon “lock” nut but with metal and no plastic for applications with plastic melting heat or where it requires the nut to absolutely not come loose.

[@postvaccologne]

Great Video with cool ideas: The balloons have great potential! Lugnuts: helpful for hard-hitters to come through a gig not having to tune after each song. Although, if you have to: mayhem 😂

[@Vitalik_Sukin]

I know its easy to give a piece of advice, but for the metal sheet trick to work, you need a different sheet, thinner, a bit larger, and if possible, not steel, definitely not alu, but copper or bronze (the same as for any cymbal). Also zinc, silver and gold will be somewhat OK, kinda (gold wont resist the bending as much). You need to stabilize the middle, put it on a more solid holder so it stays as immobilized as possible. For the ends you need the thinnest cord you can get, maybe even a guitar string. Make a notch, a really tiny one for as much as possible, so it stays above the surface of the sheet an blocks the string from sliding off down, and not tighting it with a loop around the edge. Basically - the sheet larger, everything else around it smaller. I'll try to work on it myself.

[@MPCmanNL]

Ha, videos like this is what I subscribed for 😊 How about filling the balloons with helium next time? And what happens when you stack several metal plates? Does it also work with Lego baseplates? Cheers!

[@nomadnomad1214]

Man. You should do like a transcript of your grooves with each video. On Patreon or something. Your grooves are always super cool and i think more reachable to learn and play then a lot of youtube drummers who just show off.

[@standardannonymousguy]

That balloon hack was great. Nice to see how different the sound is, also keeping the tuning the same was important. Thank you for your scientific work. Would you consider renting the sound production from the striker side? I mean using a flat drum stick like a paint stir stick as a way to create more of a bassinet thwap. Cheers!

[@kgamaseg]

I think the balloon hack was a bunch of hot air 🥁...except for the bass drum. Now, if you were to fill the balloons with helium, maybe they might lighten the weight of the drums and would help when loading and unloading the drums. 🤷‍♂

[@raycavazos8927]

Great great grand Pop Pop is a lookin fer his err piece. Caynt herr nothin athout it. On the plus side now your snare drum can hear you! (In Soviet Russia, snare drum hears you!/turns you up In mix)

[@ex0148]

Lug lock no. The humidity, temp of the room can all cause the drum to need a touch. The locks fix a problem that doesn't exists. Great video though, enjoyed it, good fun.

[@pixll9045]

The Ballon set sounds really neat 🔥