About drums
Drums are an often misunderstood musical instrument. Everybody knows the phenomenon, the loud cylinders with plastic sheets on them, and the metal discs. And of course a neanderthal whacking it with sticks. Too bad that’s how many people see a drum kit: nothing more than just a bunch of cylinders with plastic sheets, and metal discs. This view is correct, yet so untrue that it makes me feel sick to my stomach. I confess: a drum is a pretty straightforward instrument, yet the manufacturing of a quality drum kit takes a lot of precision work. For starters, a drum needs to be perfectly cylindrical. Sounds easy, right? Until you try to bend a piece of plywood to a prefectly round shape. This takes craftmanship, and good equipment. And it gets worse: the edges of the cylinder must not be flat, but either cut in a somewhat sharp edge or sanded round. The contact point with the drum head (or drum skin) must also be a perfect circle. Here is a close-up picture of the bearing edge of one of my drums:
As you can see, this requires some precision cutting. And don’t forget that wood has the unfortunate tendency to splinter when it’s being cut…
Some of you will think: “huh, what, wood? Drums are made of wood?” Well yeah. Not all drum kits, but most. Wood species and quality has an influence on the sound characteristics of the drum. A harder wood will usually sound more agressive, and heavier woods will give lower pitches. Some drums are made of poplar (usually the cheap-ish kits), others are made of maple and yet others are made of birch, or bubinga. A hybrid shell is also possible.
Next is the “plastic sheets”, or drum heads. Look at professional drummers whailing at their drums and ask yourself if any random plastic film could withstand this kind of violence. The answer is no. Most drum heads are made of Mylar, a very tough polymer. The main sound characteristics come from the heads the drummer chooses to use; some heads are thicker and produce a heavier sound, while others are thin and bright sounding. Some have multiple layers, or mechanical constructions to isolate certain “modes” of the drum head.
A last part of a drum kit that is often underestimated is the cymbals. These are not made of steel or iron, but bronze (usually), and they are not cast into their definitive form. Depending on the quality of the cymbal, it is a round bronze disc that is pressed under a hydraulic press and then lathed, or a fully hand-hammered and hand lathed piece of art. Look at the cymbal in the picture below, you will see the hammer markings.
Factors that influence the sound of a cymbal are the type of alloy, the size and thickness, and the method and pattern of hammering. The hammering creates a certain amount of physical tension in the material, causing the cymbal to vibrate at a certain pitch. An experienced cymbal maker can control the sound characteristics of a cymbal by his hammering “strategies”.
Well I hope this was informative. Think of this article the next time you sit down behind a friendly drummer’s drum kit, and realize that you are probably dealing with a precision instrument.
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