kick size and rock snare

[rdfuze]

Can any one tell me what the ideal kick size is for heavy rock music and what type of snare drum i should be looking at for the same

[ez_willis]

Recording or live?

[gumplunger]

Are you looking for a more modern rock sound or a more vintage Zepp-esque sound?

[donkeystyle]

Originally Posted by rdfuze

Can any one tell me what the ideal kick size is for heavy rock music and what type of snare drum i should be looking at for the same

i asked farview a while back what snare he thought i should get for heavy rock. He told me he thought i should try a ludwig supraphonic, and then if i want a wood snare still(I had told him i thought i would prefer a maple snare), He suggested a pearl maple free floater.

apparently the ludwig supraphonic is the most recorded snare ever. You can get them new or used. I think they go for just above 200 bucks used and i can't remember new.

I personally would get a 24" bass drum, but I have a thing for big drums.

[Farview]

Donkeystyle speaks the truth. The supraphonic is one of the most versital snares out there. I also like the free floaters. It really depends what you think of when you say rock.
Same thing goes for the kick. A 22 will be punchy and certainly do the trick, a 24 will tend to be deaper sounding, but not as punchy. A 26 inch kick is really cool because you can have the head pretty tight but it will still be tuned to a low note.

[Commander]

It really depends on what you want to do. The ideal kick size for studio use is 22" since it is very easy to mic up and record. Personally I love the sound of a 26" (Ian Paice, John Bonham etc) but they can be a bit of a handful if you get a novice or lazy engineer who might even (God forbid) ask you to take the front head off! Often I split the difference and go for a 24", but the best studio sound I have achieved (I think) is with a Gretsch 22" kick. Nice and fat and with lots of attack.

As for snares, the deeper the drum the higher you can tune it. 6 or 6 1/2" is great for studio use though. Ludwig 'Black Beauty' snares record wonderfully. I have a Ludwig Supraphonic and it does sound fabulous recorded. Bell Brass snares are quite harsh sounding, Steel snares are very bright and 'cracky', and wooden snares tend to sound warmer and fatter. If you are going the whole 'new metal' route though you might want to try a Piccolo snare, usually 12 or 13" and around 2 or 3" deep. Listen to System of a Down for a perfect example of this sound sound.

Check out some beautiful snare drums here.

Hope this helps!

[RecordingMaster]

Well if you want a good kick and a good snare for 'heavy' rock drums...As most drummers know Tama is the King of durable, heavy drums.
For live...
The bigger the kick, the better. When you find yourself in live rock situations, it tends to be hard to hear the kick usually because you don't have access to mic yourself, or the kick and/or drums are miced poorly. In high school, I was once so fed up with not being able to hear my kick when I played live, I tried to steal my school's 28" marching bass drum. You can imagine how successful I was.
As for snare, again if you're not miced or miced poorly, the deeper the better. You can tune deep like Metallica or Pantera and still be loud, or you can bring it up high and cut through the music.
For studio...
Tama's still sound good in the studio...They have that natural rock sound before you do anything to them- A good default or starting point for heavy rock. Like someone already said, 22" is a good default kick size for recording. You can go deeper like 22/22" if you want a bass heavy kick with more boom/less attack, or a shallower kick (22/14) would be vise versa. I use a Yamaha 6"/14 birch custom absolute snare in the studio for heavy rock and it sounds great.

A kick drum head that every drummer should be aware of though are the EQ3's and EQ4's by Evans. They feature a muffle ring (made out of what the drum head is, not foam) on the inside. I have a clear EQ4 on the beater side of my kick, and a black EQ3 with a small hole on the front side of my kick. It's the first time I've never used blankets of any muffling in my bass drum, and it sounds marvellous! so over ring what so ever, sounds really bass heavy, but with an amazing attack. If you kick it really hard, people will be shocked at how loud your bass drum is, but it's easy controllable.

[Graham2017]

Originally Posted by Commander

It really depends on what you want to do. The ideal kick size for studio use is 22" since it is very easy to mic up and record. Personally I love the sound of a 26" (Ian Paice, John Bonham etc) but they can be a bit of a handful if you get a novice or lazy engineer who might even (God forbid) ask you to take the front head off! Often I split the difference and go for a 24", but the best studio sound I have achieved (I think) is with a Gretsch 22" kick. Nice and fat and with lots of attack.

As for snares, the deeper the drum the higher you can tune it. 6 or 6 1/2" is great for studio use though. Ludwig 'Black Beauty' snares record wonderfully. I have a Ludwig Supraphonic and it does sound fabulous recorded. Bell Brass snares are quite harsh sounding, Steel snares are very bright and 'cracky', and wooden snares tend to sound warmer and fatter. If you are going the whole 'new metal' route though you might want to try a Piccolo snare, usually 12 or 13" and around 2 or 3" deep. Listen to System of a Down for a perfect example of this sound sound.

Check out some beautiful snare drums here.

Hope this helps!

Dunnet makes nice drums. My favorite of all time I have used in a studio down in orlando for fun was this big ol' Noble Cooley set. They are the Taj Mahal of all drums, in my opinion. They make a line of snares that has a sort of brass bell to them, it is great if you want that rock sound. However, if you are going the metal route, I agree with commander. High pitched steel drums / aluminum drums are exellent and sound really cool with good ol' metal.
I'll also agree, Black Beauty snares are the greatest snares ever made. They are perfect for the rock scene. They have a very fat sound and can be manipulated to sound like anything you could want.

Jamey