That's not a kick drum!

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moresound

Loud Sun Studios
Been experimenting with an American tourist suitcase as a kick drum (had a few on a live stage) and they sounded real good on stage ....and hope to try this in the studio.
Any comments from any ones experience in the studio on this would be helpful.






:cool:
 
On Jackson Browne's "Running On Empty," his drummer, Russ Kunkel used a cardboard box as a kick, and it made it on the recording of "Nothing But Time."

Also, I once called a jam/rehersal, and asked a friend to play drums. He asked me if I could provide a 3-piece drum set (he's bring his metal,) which I promptly forgot. He had his snare and pedal, which he set up to beat against the suit case he carried his stuff in. Worked just fine.

So, there you go: it works, and can be recorded well. All you need is Greg Ladanyi at the console...
 
Greg_L said:
Here's an idea:


Use a kick drum.
Click to expand...

^^THIS^^

or you could try using pots and pans as cymbals, a pedal operated garbage can as hi-hats and wooden spoons for drumsticks, and it would leave me to ask................. why?
 
Playing suitcases with brushes is something drummers have done for a long time. It probably comes from the era where bands travelled forever on buses.

I've done tracks playing brushes on an old suitcase doing rockabilly songs, and I could see it working as a kick although I'm with everybody else with the question "why?".

If the answer is that you can get something you can get no other way I'm all for it. :)
 
Why?....Why?....Why?..... just for the novelty of using a suitcase and the challenges that would come with it.......just board I guess. And it does have a bit of an unique quality to it.






:cool:
 
There was a one-man-band that played during a local songwriting contest a couple years ago...

He had a suitcase that he stood up the long-way to use as his chair. Then he had two kick pedals. One with a mallet and one with a brush. He would stomp his heels on the pedals so they would bang against the suitcase to get a pretty decent kick/snare sound.

Then he would switch out instruments throughout the show. Guitar, harmonica, banjo, uke... I remember he made his lips bleed from playing jaw harp so much.

It was the best act of the night :D


Heh.. not sure how it would sound in the studio, but that night it sounded great!
 
d.bop said:
There was a one-man-band that played during a local songwriting contest a couple years ago...

He had a suitcase that he stood up the long-way to use as his chair. Then he had two kick pedals. One with a mallet and one with a brush. He would stomp his heels on the pedals so they would bang against the suitcase to get a pretty decent kick/snare sound.

Then he would switch out instruments throughout the show. Guitar, harmonica, banjo, uke... I remember he made his lips bleed from playing jaw harp so much.

It was the best act of the night :D


Heh.. not sure how it would sound in the studio, but that night it sounded great!
Click to expand...

The simple are so easily amused. :p
 
I think weird al's drummer used the accordion case for his entire kit in the early days. Another One Rides the bus might have actually been recorded that way.

Rimshot said:
or you could try using pots and pans as cymbals,
Click to expand...

I'm actually trying to convince my drummer to do just that. Conventional cymbals create too much noise per hit to sit well with our current mix of instruments. Pots and pans would take up less space in a different part of the audio spectrum.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
I'm actually trying to convince my drummer to do just that. Conventional cymbals create too much noise per hit to sit well with our current mix of instruments. Pots and pans would take up less space in a different part of the audio spectrum.
Click to expand...

Then this should be right up your alley! :p
4.gif


 
stevieb said:
I LOVE it! I was captivated, watched the whole thing. Say what you want, man, that's TALENT!
Click to expand...

I really like it also, I think these guys are a lot of fun. but I won't be substituting any of those items for my drums, sorry. :p
 
I recorded a swamp blues band once and the drummer used a hat box kick drum, comes from the tradition of using the hat box as a snare case, unpacking the snare and using the box as a kick.

Alan.
 
For every ten misguided, nonsensical, crazy ideas I've tried, at least one has lead to something worth keeping. And the other nine? You can always learn something from failure. I honestly feel sorry for folks dead set against straying even an inch off the beaten path.
 
I was doing cajun stuff some years ago. We were messing around playing some cajun tunes at a folk festival, when this guy rolls up with a suitcase and asks to join in. We said sure. He unpacked the suitcase, pulled out a stool and a snare and a hit hat, stuck a beater on the suitcase, and he was firing in about 30 seconds.

His playing was impressive, his sound was impressive, and a most enjoyable time was had by all. It's hard to beat the suitcase for portability and ease of setting up.
 
I dunno if you guys have street drummers where you live, but in DC we frequently have guys outside the Metro stops with big plastic tubs for drums. I've always thought they sounded really cool (and the drummers are usually pretty good, which helps). One day I'll try to get them into a song...

Now that I think about it, wasn't there a musical where they did that?
 
thebigcheese said:
I dunno if you guys have street drummers where you live, but in DC we frequently have guys outside the Metro stops with big plastic tubs for drums. I've always thought they sounded really cool (and the drummers are usually pretty good, which helps). One day I'll try to get them into a song...

Now that I think about it, wasn't there a musical where they did that?
Click to expand...

It's called STOMP and it's still running on the lower east side of NYC.
Sure, you can do percussion on anything that you can hit, tap or make a noise (including those plastic buckets). The guys that play those plastic buckets on the street, do so because they can't afford drums and it makes them look more pathetic and it gets them more tips ( Oh poor talented drummer that only has sticks and a plastic bucket to play on......... ) but it still sounds like crap. It only sounds good because the guys playing usually have pretty good chops, not because the bucket sounds good.

As for me, thank you, but I own a whole lot of really nice drums that I keep in good tune and they sound good. I don't want to play on crap.
 
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