Shallow Drums with a Big Sound | INDe WaFarer Product Feature

[@theBRT1955]

At 65 years, I've been thinking about getting a set that is much lighter than my Tama B/B Starclassic. I've looked at one custom builder's nesting kit and one major brand's "traveling" kit and they both left a lot to be desired. This aluminum kit makes me want to go talk budget with my wife. Thanks for being so supportive of INDe drums - they really have something here!

[@xXxLax4LifexXx]

Want to sell me your b/b?

[@IndependentDrumLab]

We would love to help lighten your load Bruce!

[@theBRT1955]

@@xXxLax4LifexXx Okay, at my age I'm basically a fossil and I don't really "get" how to PM, but if you can contact me on FB, we can talk details. (If it helps, I'm in St Joseph, MO.)

[@davehanley3879]

Picked up an aluminum Kalamazoo kit in a 24/13/16/18 configuration this summer with custom resoarmor hoops, along with a 5.5x14 Kalamazoo snare configured with all brass hardware. Haven’t been able to play much since then due to some pandemic snags (damn you, covid), but let me say this: holy lord. After a lifetime of playing Ludwig and Gretsch, I was definitely a little skeptical of Inde - a skepticism I tested by plunking a couple grand down on some Inde gear - but I was blissfully wrong to harbor any doubt. Folks, these drums are incredible. Seeing my friends and family again when the pandemic ends is somehow still in second place to playing my new drums. They sound amazing, are incredibly responsive, and have the all too overlooked “feel” factor down. There’s really no novelty to the Kalamazoo line, either, the way I’ve always felt that Vistalites, say, are more looks than sound. These drums sound and feel very similar to wood drums, it’s really just the articulation and presence that gets a little bit more kiss from the aluminum (we’ve been revering aluminum snares for decades, so I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise). And you are not going to find better customer service than you get from Josh at Inde. (I put three Supraphonics up on reverb after a week with the new snare). These drums are the real deal.

[@jonathanbormann5077]

Thanks for the info. 👍 How do the aluminum shells compare to wood? I'm thinking of getting a Wayfarer to play at my smaller church

[@porchestra]

An incredibly pleasant surprise as these drums sounded amazing, right out of the box. Also as a sound-man I often tell people to listen with their ears and not their eyes, because that’s often what your heart, naturally hears first.

[@MattMusicianX]

Killer funky drummer style beat at the end!! Also, impressive drums!

[@lelandbobpalmer]

WOW!!! Total dream drums, those aluminums!!! These drums combined with the yamaha crosstown hardware...bye bye back pain! At the moment I own a Sonor Phonic + kit, which has probably the heaviest shells on earth LOL (thankfully it's only a kit who lives in the studio). ....too bad I live in Denmark :-( but, one fine day...

[@Chumpers001]

Very nice. I love the small dimensions of these kits.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Right? Almost magical in a way.

[@rogertarczon1939]

That's exactly how I hear drums !!! Love Those !!!!

[@ericessenberg3591]

They’re going to be busy in Kalamazoo! Great sounding kits.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

For sure! Some fine instruments coming out of Michigan. Cheers!

[@kushking420]

lmfao i was just looking them up

[@handidrummed]

I love INDe. I don't have their drums but I have quite a few BR2 and BR3 tom brackets, their drill and no drill tom mount and have some cymbal arms coming Monday.

[@hoganbentle3582]

Love them! I've always thought that after a BD gets over 16" in depth anyway it only looses sound potential. I went from a 22×18 to 20×14, and I am so happy it's not any deeper than that. You can feel it.

[@barberjeff67]

I love my standard size bass drums! The longer depths feel mushy to me now.

[@IndependentDrumLab]

Absolutely. More depth = more muddiness!

[@musiqsoundsproductions]

I don;t have that with my 16'' deep kick.

[@bigkickleo]

So... basically a modern Gretsch Broadkaster, 50s vintage Gretsch, or say a C&C Player I/II style Reverse Roundover bearing edge? Cool! I loved my Broadkaster, and the C&Cs I've heard sound great too! Thanks for the great videos guys! You rock! 🤘🏻🦁

[@Eurodrummer666]

I never suspected the alu kit to be able to produce lower tones than the maple one (a wood that is famous for its ability to tune low). Very interesting.

[@RecordingDrumsWithBrad]

Both kits sound fantastic and look great too! Especially love the way the maple kit sounds tuned up high!

[@StevesRykerAdventures]

Thanks for showcasing Inde! Great innovations. That aluminum kit is really catching my eye, and ears. I own an Inde maple snare and it’s great.

[@IndependentDrumLab]

Glad you like your snare Steve!

[@bazaanahanzstan7417]

wow! i’ve been eyeballing some of the aluminum kits by Love Custom and Oriollo for awhile now but these seem to take the cake for affordability. and not at the cost of craftsmanship! very impressed. also all in on the shallow kick thing. had my 16x22 cut down to 12” and am in the process of building an 8x20 like the newest yamaha hip gigs they rolled out. can no longer justify anything much longer than that with the response and portability i get from them

[@handidrummed]

An update to my comment a year ago, I now have a 10/12/14/20 kit, a 5x14 maple, 5.5x14 aluminum, 6.5x14 bronze, and 8x14 maple. I'm a diehard fan. I had 24/13/16 to go along with it but it's going up for sale. Equally as phenomenal sounding drums but smaller sizes sound huge too and are more my thing.

[@pablofunpeople89]

As always, great job guys! First time I hear from INDe and both kits look and sound great! Especially the aluminum kit with the riveted joints, shallower depths, lightweight, super cool combination. I'm really diggin' this metal kits trend that's going on for the last couple of years. Whether it's aluminum, copper, steel, or brass, most sound massive tuned low, which is my thing. Great content. Keep'em coming!

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it. Be sure to watch the Snare Spotlight we did with the INDe Kalamazoo series oxidized bronze snare a few months back!

[@samgreen8865]

Wow, those are gorgeous!

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

And with a sound to match!

[@TheAnalogRebellion]

I really appreciate your dedication to explaining the philosophy behind how you tune the kits. Thank you, and subscribed!

[@franciscobenitez9364]

Those drums sound awesome!

[@johnbertasius2612]

Really enjoyed that great review. Thanks.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Thanks for watching, John! Which kit was your favorite?

[@johnbertasius2612]

@@SoundsLikeADrum The aluminium kit stood out for me, but they both sound great.

[@davidsuprenant893]

Ok I'm hooked ,that set of maple tunned both ways are magic.love this company,keep it up folks.

[@keyframer.]

Great review! Been very curious about these drums and finally, someone did a demo video proper. Thank you!

[@coryhalewilliams]

I really appreciate these videos!

[@MirkkoDeMaio]

The Aluminium kit is the one that I personally prefer, fuller and round tone.

[@ianisaacs2340]

Aluminum is an incredible material for drums IMO. My favorite snares are my 64 & 68 Ludwig acrolites

[@johannjohann6523]

Aluminum makes a surprisingly good material for drums. Surprisingly good sound, full, deep and rich. Excellent drums. I'm generally a purist and will forgo the weight for traditional wood drums for their generally better sound. Because if the drums don't sound good, why bother? Might as well get a drum machine or use some samples. I could easily see, or hear this drum kit being used in the studio providing very good results. May not be playing alot of double bass metal music, but for everything else they should work well. Aluminum drums Sounds surprisingly great. The wood drums sound good, but not as good as the Aluminum. Thanks for the video. My first to hear about Inde drums.

[@royschwaben9646]

Did I just watch a 20 minute commercial and love every second? Yes. Yes I did. Really like the shallower shell depth. I love coated heads but I bet that aluminum kit would freaking rock with some clear Remo CS (or similar head from other manufacturers) so long as that metallic ringiness doesn't get too outta control. Little more punch and focus and brightness, might cut through a mix better in a hard rock / metal scenario. But the demo as-is sounds *damn* good. I assumed I would dislike the sound of aluminum toms and kick. I was wrong. That sounds awesome.

[@simonbarth3181]

Man this company looks so cool, the aluminum kit sounds absolutly phenomenal. My dream kit right there, hopefully i can affordbit some day!

[@maluorno]

what a sales pitch!... Both kits sounded awesome

[@jasperjenkins7729]

I currently own 15 kits from 10 different company's. I'm selling 10-12 kits. Keeping Birch Sonor SQ1 Pearl Crystal Beats And gonna Purchase the INDe Aluminum. I LOVE Loose Tuning. Won't Need Anything Else. Excellent Video. New Sub🤘

[@artcorvolet]

Just picked up an aluminum! ❤

[@magicmark3309]

Damn. Those short shells really have the perfect amount of sustain. Reminds me of Eric Valentines custom Sugar kit. Edit: On hearing the super low tuning. Sounds amazing, except the kick drum...I think it’d be better as a 22”-24” to fit more with the toms. Just didn’t quite have that upmh that the toms had.

[@shannonedens7854]

Nice! Definitely prefer the maple.

[@elijahfaith7480]

great sounding drums great price!😁👍

[@wolfgangjohnnywinter.9386]

This is the best knowledge ever..thanks cody

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Glad you enjoyed the video! -Ben

[@mouldeck]

that aluminum rack tom is crazy!!! damn

[@mist1066]

man i need this kit

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Take your pick while they’re still available! Quite the deal and you could get one of the ones we featured here.

[@mist1066]

Sounds Like A Drum Im split between the two sets shown, theyre both so versatile

[@IndependentDrumLab]

I can help you with that!

[@andrewlockett863]

The Ali kit is my favourite......

[@ianisaacs2340]

As a Ludwig club date lover, I’m all about the center mounted lugs!!! I also love how fat the shallow drums look! 🤘

[@eddieeddieoo]

Could you do another video with the aluminum in the high bop tuning

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Any extra content with these will be up on our Patreon in the next week or so but I may have some additional demos coming out on my personal KZbin... -Ben

[@jlm19792611]

Those sound amazing

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Agreed! We were stunned- these really do extends far beyond the expectations of a compact kit.

[@devjani]

What a sound man🤩

[@WalterBlomquist]

Maple snare was great 👍🏻

[@mikewithrow2271]

Love the maple snare. Call me crazy,but I'd rather have the wood snare in combo with the aluminum kit. Also,I think it would be freaking awesome if they ever go with an anodized color on the aluminum kit. Sorta like the looks of those old aluminum drinking glasses that came in different colors in the early 1960's.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Not at all crazy and definitely something INDe can make happen! As for the color anodizing, that would be quite cool. Need to check in with INDe and see if they’d be into this as it would be super custom. Definitely hit them up!

[@ChaseOfBass_]

Check out Oriollo drums. They do some anodized finishes and their shells are seamless.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

@@ChaseOfBass_ We'd love to. Haven't heard back from them 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@Assimilator702]

The first thing I do whenever I pick up a new metal snare is finger tight the batter head. If it’s playable, it’s manufactured to a very high standard. It’s a good way of gauging a companies QC.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Ah, but some much of the low tuning capability of a snare is in the setup of the snare reso and wires! Definitely a good thing to check out if you like your drums tuned low but I wouldn't recommend using this as a measurement for QC- you really have to inspect the fine detials of multiple drums from a manufacturer in order to judge. That being said, we've now had a total of 9 drums here in the studio from INDe and can say that they're really nailing it on the quality control front!

[@Assimilator702]

Sounds Like A Drum I obviously tightened the reso head to a normal tension which is very tight tuned to around an A. Drum Dial #’s can be different depending on the shell. Somewhere in the 80 to 90 range but sometimes lower if I feel the head is tight enough. As the head stretches out it might go up from there. I also make sure the snare wires are centered and tightened enough to get a snare sound but not anywhere near choking the reso head.

[@bogartsandoval]

You looking leaner, great tuning ideas too.

[@Drumguy48]

I just attended the 2023 Chicago Vintage Drum Show and INDe Drums had a booth at this show. Everyone that tried these Wayfarer kits were amazed at the sound coming out of these drums. The bass drums sound far bigger than they appear and the toms really project. They are incredibly lightweight. The ideal drum set for the working drummer. They have a very small footprint for those tight stages. You could get Fred Beato at Beato Bags to make a Combo bag to hold all three drums . It would still be very manageable to carry.

[@cydeveas]

That aluminum snare has some serious crack

[@bacobill]

The 20x10" bass drum has the sound that sealed the deal on becoming a drummer.. It was while watching a Revolutionary War marching band as they punched with wooden beaters and the sound hit my solar plexis and heart at the same time and that was that.. 1964 (the aluminum bass drum is much closer to the sound I remember.. go figure)

[@forgettable8365]

Could you do a drum depth comparison?

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Hey there! We’ve got a whole slew of ideas for a new comparison series (fresh format, single variable of change, LOTS of playing) but we need more support to make it possible. Please consider joining our Patreon to help us expand the channel!

[@rfknaus]

Thank you for making this demo. Those drums sound amazing. Were there any tuning adjustments that needed to be made to accommodate the shallower depths i.e. different batter and reso intervals?

[@cgdrum]

Great video. Is the the Kalamazoo snare drum with the Aluminum Wafarer kit a Bronze or Aluminum shell model ?

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Thanks! That’s a matching aluminum Kalamazoo snare and the maple snare is the same 5-ply maple with identical bearing edges to the kit

[@LuppeAL]

Hey, nice video and review as usual. Really liked the sound of both, despite being used to big kits. Due to lack of space now, i'm building a smaller set and I'm considering a shallow bass, but i'm a litle concerned because it's an acrylic kit. Have you ever heard or had any experience with shallow acrylic bass drums? Greatings from Rio de Janeiro. Thanks for the awesome content of the channel.

[@artcorvolet]

I now own 2 aluminum kits!

[@randywiedmer4656]

Hey Cody, the rack tom is SIIINGGGGGING. Normally on a snare stand it kills the tom. Do you have some type of suspension rubber where the bottom rim sits on the stand that is part of the snare stand? IF so, if it is a product, what is the brand name (i.e. Booty Shakers). Thanks

[@psjones1961]

Nice job, guys! Your content is as well-produced and enjoyable as can be. I'm proud to support you on Patreon! Question for you: My "small kit" that I use in a guitar/vocal/drum trio is the Ludwig Questlove breakbeats kit (in red - that's the best sounding color :-) ). These seem similarly portable, maybe lighter, and probably louder (with the aluminum perhaps more so). Could you please comment on how either or both of these might compare to my QLBB kit? (I'm pretty happy with it, btw - just curious.) Thanks again! Hope you are happy and well!

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Totally, I hear ya - I’ve played the QLBB as well as other similarly sized drums (and totally dig them). Basically these deliver big-drum sounds while still being super portable and possibly lighter than the breakbeat/jungle kits too. These are louder for sure but also project a lot more tone and power (not just volume). I personally dug the aluminum for the fatness but the maple can totally crush that too. Hope that helps! -Cody

[@GUSCRAWF0RD]

Man that wood kit, i don’t think I’ve ever liked an out of the box bass drum sound as much as that. Id still love to to jam a few throw pillows in there and a sand bag and a dumbell

[@probabvieh]

Very nice, but can I make a suggestion? Maybe also do solo room mics? BC if a tom is not muffled in person, it can sound a bit choked. They sound compressed. Maybe also do room mics so we can hear what they sound like in person.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

This was mixed to sound like they sound in person from the kit. We also capture a room mic about 10ft away (even though the rest of the room isn’t treated) and these alternate mixes will be made available on our Patreon. No compression or EQ was used on these drum demos.

[@ghiblinerd6196]

It sounds better than the pearl kit!

[@stephencshapiro]

I hope you guys can do a product spotlight on A&F Drum Co someday. I've never heard them in person but the demos are some of the coolest drums I've heard (not just the novelty ones like the 40" kick drum). I'm curious about your professional opinion on what exactly "is" the "A&F sound". Could we achieve that sound for less money? Thanks

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Let 'em know you'd like to see that happen! A DM or comment via Instagram would be excellent.

[@stephencshapiro]

@@SoundsLikeADrum Done. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@mikehawk9461]

Sounds great , only thing I would say is the hoops on the aluminum kit look terrible. The maple looks great!

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Glad you enjoyed it! We happen to love those hoops but it’s all about personal preference.

[@BurnedDestroyer]

What snare stand did you use for the tom?

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

One of the double braced Pearl stands we use all the time here outfitted with the Little Booty Shakers.

[@MrBeaulieu]

Can you do a vid with the Tama cocktail drum kit ???

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Hey there! We don’t own one of these kits so it would be dependent on Tama wanting to do a video with us.

[@rhythmista7707]

Superb looking and sounding drums. Too bad we can't gig them anywhere..😑

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Right?! Gigs will come back in time. Hang in there!

[@rhythmista7707]

@@SoundsLikeADrum Hope you're right 👍

[@AlexMagni]

Those drums sound great! Thanks for this review... Just wondering, you said it's all aquarian drumheads but are they 1 ply or 2ply heads? Cheers!

[@IndependentDrumLab]

They are all 1 ply heads. Texture Coated top and bottom on the toms, Force 1 clear bass batter, Force 1 coated bass resos.

[@AlexMagni]

@@IndependentDrumLab Thanks!

[@jonathanbormann5077]

I know it's unrealistic with what's going on in the world today but I sure wish these were still priced the same as when this video was made.

[@jonathanbormann5077]

I'd honestly trade my B/W Starclassics for one of these aluminum kits

[@roybeckerman9253]

The snare reminds me of a Sakae Trilogy..

[@bla_blub]

They seem to offer many great products, but I can't find anything of them anywhere in Europe.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Best bet is to contact them directly.

[@jamesberlo4298]

Why do so many people say the Drum sizes backwards?

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

If the majority says it backwards then is it really backwards? 🤔

[@tobiaswinter1358]

Everytime I see or play Inde drums I can't stop wondering how they are not a much bigger company by now. But maybe it is good they aren't.

[@paulbolin7513]

Why a normal sized and deep snare drum? Why not a 13 x 5 for example?

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Those drums aren’t part of the set. INDe doesn’t have a WaFarer snare at this time. Quite happy with these!

[@spencerj]

Iconic combucha girl meme moment @6:02

[@beatleszilla]

You should do a video talking about how to get the sound of famous drummers like Ringo Starr and the like.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

That’s a real can of worms to open up but if you want to check out some great work by professionals who do that on an extreme level, check out Getting the Sound: www.gettingthesound.com

[@chromebull884]

Shallow drums>deep drums

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Certainly for immediacy and depth of tone! The versatility of these little kits is almost unfathomable. Combine that with the aesthetic and price point and we're still pinching ourselves over here, waiting to wake up from the dream 😂

[@af7119]

10 x 20 in bass drum? that's like an air conditioning duct. You guys probably mean 20 x 10.

[@marshallhendricks6842]

I wouldn't put those in the affordable bracket.

[@handidrummed]

Affordable is subjective, but for a hand built kit they absolutely are.

[@betulaobscura]

Interesting but definitely not my cup of tea.

[@drummersinger5324]

Nah they need mic's and eq to sound Phat.

[@drummersinger5324]

Aluminum wins .