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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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...

[@robthompson8285]

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

[@ColossusCo]

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

[@trashpanda6770]

12:08 is crazy how nice that sounds

[@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

[@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.

[@ChaosPootato]

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

[@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.

[@gammadrums]

6:18 the “air vent fill”. 😂😂😂

[@francobuzzetti9424]

balloon kick sounded FIRE

[@dawggonevidz9140]

blue monday

[@zacharysmithingell5460]

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

[@ghostboy4115]

I really like the sound of the kid’s toy thing! I wish more kits had something similar :0!

[@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 😂

[@trendin_brendan]

Man, the balloon kick drum lowkey sounded pretty good!

[@stevenbahena5956]

that bending hi-hat was genius!!!!

[@quanderingband]

This guy answers all the questions us drummer ask ourselves in day appreciate you!

[@MonoSuerte]

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

[@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.

[@badwolfsat5]

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

[@pixll9045]

The Ballon set sounds really neat 🔥

[@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.

[@JamesMcCormickIV]

The pin hat is cool

[@DadBodDrumming]

The balloons sounded great and add a nice visual to the kit. I can see some great things for theme shows with that idea. Red white blue balloons for 4 of July. Orange and black for Halloween. Red and green for Christmas etc.

[@VON_RHEDBEARD]

Brass thumb jams are my fave lock, but haven’t used them in awhile, usually it’s my ludwig snares that loosen far more than any others

[@boutrosboutrosboutrosboutros]

the hi hat hack was cool. I agree, different metal sheets would have different sound qualities. Nice job

[@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.

[@ohmtronseedling]

that metal shelled kit sounds so nice. great vid once again, David!

[@carson.strong_]

I can attest to the Jam Nuts. They do WONDERS. I slam my snare, but those nuts have helped a ton.

[@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.

[@Projacked1]

Man those balloons sound cool, almost like dry electronic drums.

[@boristomakic5995]

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

[@DashingGinger]

For the balloon hack, Sulfur Hexafluoride and helium comparison might be worth a check!!

[@Durwood71]

The balloon kit would be perfect for the next children's birthday party gig.

[@krusher74]

Sonor started with very similar luglocks in the 70's that are very similar to the ones you showed on the ludwig, then in the 80's/90's they went to a snap ring in the lug that put pressure on the tension/friction on the rod and stopped it backing off and you do not have to loosen or tighten it to tune. Then in the late 90's on the flag ship designer they added a rubber outer with captive nut finger tighten luglock called tune safe. And now they have a plastic instert in the lug threads that apply extra friction to the rod thread to stop it backing out. (this mean to cant spin rods in/out with your fingers. So basically sonor have had a luglock of some design on there higher end kits sing the 70's.

[@dantemachado6553]

BABE WAKE UP DAVID DROPPED A NEW HACK VIDEO

[@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!

[@markitux]

that "ballooned" dw kit looks amazing 😍

[@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.

[@juanziegler1471]

The shake hat reminded me of an old typewriter sound . was cool

[@ZappyOh]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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. 😅

[@drewgibson16]

Honestly… the balloon hack would be great for achieving that dry drum tone you hear in a lot of music from the 70s.

[@groadybones]

I fucking LOVE the sound of the needle matrix on the hihat

[@BreAsop]

The sheet metal hi-hat guy that looks like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite (and your uncle) appeared to have a small cymbal, bell up, under the sheet. You can see the convex flex at center when the metal stretches over.

[@the6ig6adwolf]

For the snare and kick, the balloon muffling was fantastic.

[@coryshannon3815]

On the "trombone air vent" hack, I was just wating for his stick to fully break.😂

[@CornerStoreDrums]

Drum Hacks, we READY!! 💯💯

[@IndyAustin]

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

[@BeardDuder]

well if nothing else the balloon kit looks fun.

[@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.

[@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.🤔

[@stardustie]

the balloon kick sounded so much better.

[@ryangroom2959]

I’ve only had one reason to use a lug lock and it was on a Ludwig drum that the lugs spun wayyyy too freely so it was more of an issue of the drum than a hack. I find it’s best when drums just have a little resistance between the lugs and tension rods in the first place that way they don’t back out but that’s kind of up to the manufacturer

[@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.

[@CharlesWillisBonsai]

Bro plays a mean doohickey, LOL

[@johnknight9150]

The needle thing you put on your hi-hat sounds like an old-school lo-fi electronic snare sound.

[@VarionJimmy]

The clown kit made me happy 😁

[@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.

[@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!)

[@deadheathen2000]

I'd rock the balloon kit just cause that looks fucking awesome

[@poja82]

Love the snaker.

[@searchBLOC941]

The balloon kit reminds me of Crash Bandicoot 😂😂

[@JuanCarlitoMendoza]

Love the pin toy idea!! Might have to call you to make me one! 🔥 🔥

[@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

[@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.

[@Izzy1782]

I really like the balloons in the kick drum, but not any of the others

[@MagnusRohden-db8gy]

Dude that balloon thing would be hilarious to pay for at a party

[@jonhattanrai]

That Acrolite sounds insane!

[@thumperpaul]

The balloon hack sounds like you have Aquarian heads on the kit.

[@brylidan]

kick sound good on the last one

[@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.

[@meeserbaker]

So, the doohickey, aka tge 22ga steel on the hihat stand. Im betting he had the bottom hat on and the clutch tightened with the steel as the top hat. And he just pressed harder with if you look closely, deforms the steel in an upward manner indicating its being pushed down against a cup shaped or cymbal shaped piece. Because it is locked in with the clutch it doesnt swivel and im gussing the string isnt really a part of it or serves some secondary purpose outside of audio function. I also personally do tgis effect with just a normal hihat. You step on a locjed clutch and roll on the hat, then as ur rolling put a TON of weight into ur left leg and the pitch of the hihat goes up. Hopefully you see this cuz i thought it was interesting since its like a warbly exaggerated effect of what i already do sometimes.

[@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.

[@heypapi6969]

14:51 groove was kinda dope, a little Rosanna almost

[@owencook2404]

I think the balloons in the kit is an idea…. Just maybe not as many in each shell to not have the drums completely dead though 😂

[@baileyrahn266]

try different density gasses in the balloons like argon.

[@kendletjules2765]

remo the greatest drum heads

[@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.

[@Joe_Coleman]

Pump helium into the drums w/o the balloons (will need one tube for helium to flow in and another valve to allow the air to flow out. Try different combinations to see what the sound is like. Try sulfur hexaflouride for a deeper sound.

[@jefftegenkamp8939]

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

[@devilononeshoulder]

I just put a little plumbers thread tape on my tension rods, holds them just fine.

[@dnader_liv5h1tz4]

The ballon give me metal drums vibe

[@BattleAxeRX]

Pride drums actually look cool

[@GP-Music.]

Imagine you're a drum tech and the drummers like yeah new heads and new ballons today.

[@evey89]

I would love to see what the effect would be if the balloons were filled with gasses that are less dense or more dense than the surrounding air. I also think if the balloons were just talking up space instead packed tight might do something differe. Just thoughts! Good video.

[@P4Eight]

The clown kit needs a siren whistle connected to the bass drum port.. maybe squeeze some clown horns under the pedals,And tie some streamers on the stands 😂

[@vctrsknt]

Crazy how the horn in the airhole actually sounded good

[@xojware]

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

[@WilsonToyo]

Gostei do resultado das bolas de inflar no interior das peças...para alguns estilos, tem utilidade.

[@mitzo4526]

Can we talk about the bass drum? It sounds amazing

[@eamonahern7495]

While I like the percussive sound of the drums with the balloons in them, I definitely prefer the musical boom from the toms without the ballons.

[@mortalc13]

Did you just blow into the balloons or did you use helium? Might try with different gasses since different densities could potentially affect the sound. You could even try sulfer hexafluoride if you can find a way to obtain some.

[@mikekelly9851]

I've never seen a snare stand that walks around and if you use lock washers on the tension rods, they keep it locked in place.

[@DustyChalk]

I once set a tambourine on a drummer's hi-hat, sounded pretty awesome. Drummer didn't keep it on there, but he enjoyed it while it was there. (Drummer was awesome by the way, don't remember his name, soz.)