Steve Smith on sound and volume - drumtalk [single strokes 17] 

Thomas Lang, Steve Smith, Dave Weckel are my top three

Gavin Harrison and Sonny Emory round out top 5

Correct

Drummers know. The general public have no idea. They know three or four big name drummers, and think they have no peers -Bonham, Peart, Rich. Where guys like Smith, Jojo Mayer, Dave Weckl, Virgil Donati, Vinnie Colaiuta, Thomas Lang, Marco Minnemann, Billy Cobham, Dennis Chambers, etc...etc...are complete masters, and a shame that nobody outside of the drumming world knows of them.

@@Tonyr0206 Yes you nailed it! That's the Top Tier and there are actually many up there, glad you mentioned those names lol those cats are all mind boggling! Millions of people are not in the drum community like you and I, so they only know "songs," which is the vehicle for many drummers to get noticed. There are a LOT of drummers that if it weren't for they're bands and songs, I highly doubt they would have got noticed. The thing at least for me about Steve S is that when he puts on a clinic and/or teaches I walk away learning more than some of the names you mentioned. I have been and seen clinics from the names you mentioned, bottom line Steve has the gift of teaching, not to mention you really really learn something even in his interviews, and to me that's what separates him from a lot of Top Tier drummers. Peace

​@@Tonyr0206 TRUTH... Well said !!

Yep. I first saw Steve play live in NYC at a Buddy Rich Big Band concert in. 97. I think he was a last minute fill in for Omar Hakim or someone who couldn’t make it at the last minute. It was a straight ahead / bop small group and I was TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY. In fact I haven’t had that “blown away” experience since. He was just such a technical force. Been a fan ever since

Drummer for 37 years.. MY SINGLE BIGGEST INFLUENCE.. THERE ARE MANY.. I have My own signature style .. BUT - he opened up the door of possibilities for ME .. and I’m sure MANY OTHER YOUNG DRUMMERS.. INSANE TECHNICAL ABILITIES AND CHOPS AS WELL AS CREATIVE EXQUISITELY CRAFTED PARTS WHILE SHOWING US HOW DRUMMERS COULD BE VERY MUSICAL- ALL OVER TOP IMPECCABLE METER AND FEEL WITH THE SOLID AS GRANITE GROOVES . Took ROCK DRUMMING TO NEXT LEVEL ALONG WITH JOURNEY .. totally agree- HES ONE OF THEEEE ABSOLUTE ICONS .. never got his deserved acknowledgment- except with us real drummers .. TO HELL WITH NEAL SCHON AND Jonathan CandyCAINE.. criminals.. ANYWAY.. THANK YOU MR SMITH .. 🍻🎼💥

Adding another perspective! When you are looking at selling it to the audience you really stepping into the role of a PERFORMER / ENTERTAINER. Very visual. Your snare can only be reinforced by a P.A. no matter how hard you hit a snare even if it's a TAMA bell brass. You can't compete with a stack of a Marshall Amps. That's a lost battle. As a ramification of playing it with the loud visual choice, one ends up with diminishing returns because now the entire balance and tonality of the kit has gone for a toss. Coming to Metal, even when you watch say a guy like Nolly program a metal kit. He is like the best sound is not the loudest one. He goes for the lower velocity for the tone then compress it to make it sound 'louder'. Ultimately it's a choice, do you want a better tone or do you want to look the part while playing :)

I couldn't believe he pressed Steve on that. The interviewer really exposed himself as an amatuer.

but usually only the bad ones and many of the medium ones. the good ones know this. it's quite easy to find the sweet spot though - just record yourself hitting the same piece with increasing power. at some point you will feel the sound not getting any better even though you hit harder. that's exactly the sweet spot for metal or intense playing. it's as much sound as you gonna get out of the drum with the minimum necessary force applied. you will find it without listening to the recording but i never hurts to record anway. if you do that with all your drums regularly (i do it before i starting to play usually) you're basicall calibrating your sound and, as steve says, just make sure that you balance them all out vs each other in a way that makes sense for your music. if you do this for a couple of weeks, it becomes second nature. if good sound is not enough, as additional side benefits it will also enably you to play faster (because you use less force) and also for a longer time (as less force means more stamina).

bit of a stretch these days

@@hazardeur For old british heavy metal not that much of a stretch.

@@The_Other_Ghost fair enough. it works for the old school i reckon

@@hazardeur Separate Ways (Worlds Apart: Heavy guitars, singing in a higher range, tapping in the guitar solo...

@@The_Other_Ghost while that is all true, this song is a completely different spirit than metal. take for example early sabbath or even zeppelin. much more metal spirit even though they didn't have an yof the listed things

You know what the real problem here is, Steve? That you don't have your very own drumshow! And you know how amazing it would be, don't you? Don't be shy, you know it! So please, Steve, just do it -- people deserve it!!!

@drumtalk ha, thanks for More Data. Obviously, when you have a drum show, you start to believe that YOU are the center of the universe. Other peoples drums are wrong, experts are wrong, and everyone wants to have a youtube channel like you. Wow! It must be great to be you. Oddly, it was Steve Smiths thumbnail on the video, not yours. And your intro video is a boy playing by himself - make complete sense now...

most DM bands that are slower actually use a natural sound. once you go past 200bpm it is kinda required to use triggers though if you still want definition