Sounds Like A Drum

11/30/2025

Pure tone? The true sound of the drum? We’ve gotten a lot of requests for a tom tuning demonstration of octave tuning and today, we’re comparing it to unison tuning.

Pure tone? The true sound of the drum? We’ve gotten a lot of requests for a tom tuning demonstration of octave tuning and today, we’re comparing it to unison...

11/18/2025

Drums are often considered to be the backbone or the anchor of a song. Keep it simple, go for groove, serve the song. But if you’re looking to stretch out a bit, get creative, and draw fresh inspiration, sometimes you need to throw all of that out the window. Who says the drums (and creative approaches to drum sounds) can’t inspire the rest of the composition?

Drums are often considered to be the backbone or the anchor of a song. Keep it simple, go for groove, serve the song. But if you’re looking to stretch out a ...

10/28/2025

Snare Spotlight: https://sladl.ink/RobotDrumCoKumikoSnare
What happens when you combine precision engineering, inspiration from a Japanese art form, and the craftsmanship of drum building? You get the Kumiko series from Robot Drum Co.

What happens when you combine precision engineering, inspiration from a Japanese art form, and the craftsmanship of drum building? You get the Kumiko series ...

10/14/2025

We don’t do that anymore. Some of it is an approach that we’ve phased out. Other aspects are more about the mindset and general philosophy. But we’ve changed…and that’s progress. In this episode, we’ll share a few of the things that have shifted over time.

We don’t do that anymore? Some of it is an approach that we’ve phased out. Other aspects are more about the mindset and general philosophy. But we’ve changed...

10/07/2025

Need a snare installation refresher? Maybe you’re looking for a step-by-step guide for how to put new wires on your drum. This episode covers the process in detail. We won’t be comparing sounds or anything like that here- just a tutorial for how to mount your snare wires.

Need a snare installation refresher? Maybe you’re looking for a step-by-step guide for how to put new wires on your drum. This episode covers the process in ...

09/30/2025

We understand- you want to get right down to playing and dialing in your snare wires isn’t necessarily at the top of the priority list. But if you’re struggling with snare sound, there’s a good chance that snare wire setup is a contributing factor. More and more lately we’ve seen snare wires set up incorrectly on drums sent to us, on display in stores, at trade shows, in ads, and beyond. This isn’t doing anyone any favors so we wanted to point out the most common issues and how to avoid them.

We understand- you want to get right down to playing and dialing in your snare wires isn’t necessarily at the top of the priority list. But if you’re struggl...

09/16/2025

The ease of free access to an abundance of information is a wonderful thing. The fact that we can find the information in chat form is both impressive and a little terrifying. It wouldn’t surprise use if you’ve made use of an artificial intelligence large language model for solving a problem or providing advice. They seem to have all of the answers and are certainly faster than doing research manually. But can they be trusted when it comes to the world of drums and drumming?

The ease of free access to an abundance of information is a wonderful thing. The fact that we can find the information in chat form is both impressive and a ...

09/09/2025

Live now: https://sladl.ink/WaFarerMicroNestFeature
Hauling drums around for rehearsals and gigs can be a real pain. In some cases it's not even practical. But we're lucky to be drummers in a time when there are companies like INDe Drum Lab looking to improve upon what has come before, making our lives just a bit easier with some thoughtfully designed instruments. No gimmicks here- these drums set a new standard for nesting kits.

09/02/2025

Watch now: https://youtu.be/nyymee7jdjg
If you spend any time checking out drum videos online, there’s a strong chance that you’ve seen someone with a collection of bells, a rattle, or some sort of sizzle chain draped across one or more of their cymbals. Today we’re exploring some of our favorites.

08/26/2025

15” hihats have made big waves in drumming throughout the last decade or so and we’re lucky enough to have four pairs between the two of us. We wanted to provide a bit of an overview of what to expect from the larger size as well as the breadth of sounds that can exist even at the same size.

15” hihats have made big waves in drumming throughout the last decade or so and we’re lucky enough to have four pairs between the two of us. We wanted to pro...

08/19/2025

A while back we produced an episode where we demonstrated how drum tone changes as you hit harder. This was a fun experiment for us and something that really blew some minds. We figured it was about time to carry out a similar experiment with cymbals!

A while back we produced an episode where we demonstrated how drum tone changes as you hit harder. This was a fun experiment for us and something that really...

08/12/2025

If there’s one thing that we’ve come to find over decades of drumming it’s that character and style are often found in the subtleties and nuance of the performance as much as (if not more than) the more overt displays of one’s unique approach. With that in mind, we wanted to share the idea of riveted hihat cymbals, or “sizzle hats,” with you, recognizing that some people may not see the point but others will experience a bit of a sonic epiphany. Enjoy!

If there’s one thing that we’ve come to find over decades of drumming it’s that character and style are often found in the subtleties and nuance of the perfo...