My studio is on the second floor of my house. Most of the work I do is with a bands who use real drums. Every time a band comes in, they have had to bring their own kit, cymbals, hardware, etc. and lug it all up the stairs and back down again. Sometimes, the same drummer would have to come back in for another session or two, so the process would double or even triple! I record drums so often that I thought it was time to make the plunge and get a studio kit.
I have been recording and intensely listening to drums so much in the last few years that I knew the exact sound I wanted: punchy, loud and aggressive. The only kit that fit this bill for me within my budget was the
Crush Chameleon Ash.
Configuration
The configuration consists of the following drums:
Kick ........22" x 18"
Snare .....14" x 6"
Toms .....10" x 7" 12" x 8" 16" x 14"
I chose this configuration for a few reasons. The 22" kick drum is a very versatile size and can be tuned to work well with many different styles. I mostly do metal and rock, but occasionally, I record a funk project or a jazz song or two. The size of the snare was also appealing. My personal taste in a wooden snare drum is big and fat with some bright attack. This wood type with these dimensions are perfect. This also gives me the ability to add a smaller metal snare from Crush later on for a snappier sound that cuts well.
Unlike many drum kits, the toms rack toms have no way of being held up other than cymbal stands. This is a good thing in the studio as it prevents crosstalk between the drums. It also keeps the toms from ringing when the kick is hit.
How does it sound?
We did two tests for a sound check. The first was with the stock heads that are included with the kit. These are Remo UT heads made in Thailand. In short, they are very low quality heads that are sent with most new drum kits that are meant to get you going. The second test was with brand new
Evans heads. Below is a list of the heads used:
Kick: EMAD Clear (Batter), EQ3 (Reso)
Snare: Genera HD Dry (Batter), Clear 300 (Reso)
Toms: G2 Clear (Batter), G1 Clear (Reso)
Before you listen to the sound samples, I should note that one modification was made to the original heads. A hole was traced from the EQ3 and then cut onto the original kick reso head. This gave them the same point of resonance. We also put a pillow in the kick drum for both tests that was lightly touching each head. No other modifications were made. All other drums were wide open with no dampening. No processing was done on these samples.
Take a listen!
Original Remo UT heads:
New Evans Heads:
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