Soundcheck of snare and framedrum

Today I was ready for the first soundcheck. Listen to a simple rhythm with the snare and framedrum. I will experiment with damping to get the right sound from the framedrum. Actually I used a towel.

Foot-operated snare drum

 One of the hardest challenges was to find a hardware-solution for the 10" Gretsch Snare. First I had tried to raise it with a Gretsch Tom-holder, which I wanted to fix to another Meinl PM-1. But the snare became unstable and tended to fall. At last though it's really an expensive piece of hardware I invested in a DW Bassdrum-lifter. But it was all worth it, because this piece of gear is so flexible and stable. I think you can lift anything with it.

In the picture below you can see the DW lifter in action. Even if the snare is so small like mine it's possible to adjust it.

A foot-operated framedrum

While the instruments for my foot-percussion-project all sounded as well as expected and worked properly, the search for the right hardware really has driven me almost mad. I ordered piece by piece of drum-hardware and nothing worked together. At last I have found now a solution and I want to describe it here for people, who want to go the same way like me. First I want to tell, how I use the framedrum and set it up as a bassdrum. As written above I have ordered a Remo 22" Buffalo drum. The drum is equipped with an artificial drum-head unlike usual framedrums, which come mostly with a drum-head made of gault-skin. The advantage of the artificial drum-head is, that it gives more stability and durability compared to a natural one. The Remo framedrum is now slightly damped and I use a very soft beater made normally for mesh-heads to avoid damages. Meanwhile I have added an Evans bassdrum head protection-sticker. 

Now about the hardware: I tried every Percussion-holder for bassdrum-machines, but with all of them it's the same problem. The T-Holder for the connection with the bassdrum-machine is too short. I ended up now with a Meinl Framedrum-holder together with a Meinl PM-1 holder, but to connect it to the machine I have to create something myself to prolong the T-part.

Here you see the Meinl holder together with the Meinl PM-1 ...

... and in this picture you see the extra-soft beater.

The result is a sound close to a bassdrum with less volume. The drum is sounding best, when you hit it not too hard and let it resonate a liitle bit. It's sounding very natural and in my opinion much better than a cajon, which is often used as a bassdrum. Before the framedrum I had thought about to use a 14" or 16" stand-tom, but I gave it up because of the weight and the space of a stand-tom.

The disadvantage of the framedrum might be, that it's not tunabel and possibly not very durable, but the time will tell ... actually I am satisfied with the results. Later I will create some soundexamples.

A possible configuration

Meanwhile everything has arrived and after a few experiments, which caused many frustrations (I will explain that later) I have developed a fully functional set-up. It looks like this:

From the left you see:

Gretsch 10x6" Ash Snare

Meinl 10" Candela Splash

Remo 22" Buffalo drum

Meinl 8" Byzance Jazz Splash


Why I want to play a drumset with my feet? The last month I enjoyed to exercise songs of "The Who" with me playing guitar and singing at the same time. Then I got the idea to accompany myself with my feet. I started first with an electric setup: Epiphone Casino, Fender Princeton Reverb, Strymon El Capistan, TC Helicon Voice Harmonizer (great for singing choir), Roland Midi-Pedal and a Clavia Nord Micromodular. I had created patches on the Micromodular with electronic drum-sounds and some synthesizers for "Baba O'Riley". While everything else worked nicely I was never happy with the drums, because it sounded static and though I programmed the hell out of this little box, it was never possible to create something really dynamic. I was also bored by connecting hundreds of cables every day, because I can not leave the gear build up. I have to remove everything every day.
So during our last vacation I exercised with the little and cheap Yamaha Guitalele, a really funny and great guitar, which sounds a Fourth higher than a normal guitar. It's pretty small and leight-weight and I had lots of fun playing it. After this experience I thought about, how I could accompany this little gem with some acoustic percussion. And I wanted something close to a drumset. The only acoustic foot-percussion on the market, which emulates a drum-set, is offered by Farmer footdrums, an american little company. Though the examples at youtube are sounding very impressive and it looks like a really professional instrument I resisted, because it's too expensive for me. Additionally I would have to order it from Germany. I have found no alternative for the Farmer product, so then I thought how to realise something close to this with "normal" drum-parts.

The idea

Actually I am working on a foot-percussion set-up. I would like to have a snare, a bassdrum and two Crashes, which I can control with my feet. Few days ago I emailed with my favourite local musicstore and after a long discussion with the drums-department I ordered some parts. The most special idea of myself is to use a framedrum as a pedal-operated bassdrum. I expect two advantages: A framedrum is very leight-weight and easy to set-up. But it's just a suggestion, so I am curious, what will happen, when the parts arrive.