I love drumming, but hate transporting my whole set around, so I designed a drum kit using a suitcase as the bass drum. The whole set fits inside the suitcase! My suitcase drum set sounds surprisingly good. Audiences love it.
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Click here for a PDF download version for non pro members.
I built my first suitcase set 6 years ago. It was a big hit, and I ended up playing 500+ gigs on it, mostly around the Midwest. Since that first set, I have constantly been figuring out ways to improve it. For example, I've learned how to fix the problems that plague the use of a suitcase as a bass drum. And I'm going to share that knowledge here.
Gig after gig, people asked me how to make their own. This instructable is a culmination of years of development. If you build one, I would love to see a picture or video of your own suitcase, and am glad to answer any questions you have along the way.
Gig after gig, people asked me how to make their own. This instructable is a culmination of years of development. If you build one, I would love to see a picture or video of your own suitcase, and am glad to answer any questions you have along the way.
This video -- made almost four years ago by Poodus --- jokingly explains my case for the suitcase drum set.
Notice the Cadillac logo on the front. The first one I built was a BMW -- so named after I found a BMW hubcap on the sidewalk while biking the suitcase home from a gig. The logo pulled off the hubcap and had enough stickiness left to hold it on the front of the suitcase.
That started a crazy trend of fans attaching things to the suitcase. People would show up to the gig with stickers, car logos, name tags, women's undergarments, service bells, and many other things. I wish I had a picture of that kit, after a couple years it was chock full of character.
To my surprise, I broke through the suitcase at a gig. I turned it around and beat on the other side for a few more years before it broke, too. The durability of the old Samsonite cases is something to behold. I played 3-4 long gigs every week for almost four years before the suitcase gave up, and I am a hard hitter. The suitcase in the video is the one I built after the BMW went to the junk yard, the pale yellow made me think of an old Cadillac. I told a fan and he brought in a logo, so it became the Caddy. I can't remember who gave it to me, but I thank them. ENOUGH REMINISCING! ON WITH THE INSTRUCTABLE.
That started a crazy trend of fans attaching things to the suitcase. People would show up to the gig with stickers, car logos, name tags, women's undergarments, service bells, and many other things. I wish I had a picture of that kit, after a couple years it was chock full of character.
To my surprise, I broke through the suitcase at a gig. I turned it around and beat on the other side for a few more years before it broke, too. The durability of the old Samsonite cases is something to behold. I played 3-4 long gigs every week for almost four years before the suitcase gave up, and I am a hard hitter. The suitcase in the video is the one I built after the BMW went to the junk yard, the pale yellow made me think of an old Cadillac. I told a fan and he brought in a logo, so it became the Caddy. I can't remember who gave it to me, but I thank them. ENOUGH REMINISCING! ON WITH THE INSTRUCTABLE.
Making a drum shell is a time-consuming process that will require the proper tools and a lot of patience. Contrary to popular belief, the construction of a drum shell will have a lot of influence on the overall sound of a drum. Making your own drum shells will allow you to achieve the exact sounds you’re looking for and will give you the satisfaction of making an instrument by hand.
Decide how thick you’d like your drum shell to be. The overall thickness of a drum shell will have a greater influence on its sound than the number of plies involved. Thinner plies will be easier to shape while preventing breakage. A thick shell will have less inherent vibration and produce a louder tone, making it perfect for bass drums, floor toms and snare drums. Other toms should be made with thinner shells for richer tones and lower volume.
Cut the wooden plies into strips. The length of these strips should be equal to the desired circumference of the drum shell. The width of the strips will determine the depth of the drum. Deeper drums will produce a louder, more projected tone at the cost of tonal quality and nuance. Drums with a larger circumference will have a lower pitch.
Soak the wooden plies in warm water to make them more pliable. This won’t make them nearly flexible enough to fit around your round form. Next, heat water to boiling in a pan, and slowly run your plies through the boiling water to soften them further. Wrap the wooden plies around your form, clamp them in place and allow them to dry over night.
Glue the plies together. This will require thousands of square inches of glue for a larger drum, such as a floor tom or bass drum. However, it’s important to use the smallest amount of glue possible while still getting your plies to securely bond together. The more glue you use, the less resonant and “woody” your drum will sound.
Clamp the plies together once more and allow the glue to thoroughly dry. Sand the bearing edges of the drum to fit the desired rim you’d like to affix to it. Your first drum shell will probably be rather rough. The techniques you learn by doing this will progress over time.
Tip
Be sure to soak your plies thoroughly before trying to shape them around a form. Plies are very susceptible to breakage if you’re careless.
Warning
Don’t try to use too many plies for your first drum. Doing so will complicate the procedure and potentially ruin the drum.
Tuning your drums is a complicated affair. After all, you spend all your time behind the kit, so your experience compared to that of your audience differs incredibly. Fear not, though, we've put together 7 fail-safe steps to help you tune your bass drum, to benefit both parties!
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1. Only use one hole (if at all)
Many drummers will debate the whys and wherefores of portholes in the front skin. But while holes certainly do have a place - particularly if you want a sound with emphasis on the beater attack - often drummers use them 'just because'.
With good tuning and the right head choices, it is very possible and often highly desirable to keep the front head completely intact. If you do use a hole, however, do not use more than one preferably kept to a maximum of 5'.
Two ports of this size can look funky, but you might as well remove the front head altogether for all the good they will do for your sound. Secondly, more low end and projection will always be attained with a resonant head without holes.
2. Think about dampening (do you really need it?)
Next we come to the issue of dampening - pillows, cushions, blankets, felt strips, etc. As a general note, try to think about the environment in which you are playing before grabbing the nearest duvet!
In the majority of cases, when playing in a live situation, such heavy dampening just isn't necessary. If you are in recording mode then some extra help (particularly on larger bass drums - 24' or 26') may well be useful but otherwise, do try to keep things to a minimum and allow your bass drum to breathe.
Once again, the issue is one of projection and tone. Dampened bass drums can sound great from the playing side - particularly if you are playing the kit on its own - but out front once the band strikes up, the bass frequencies can become lost in the mix. So give yourself a good chance of being heard with clarity.
3. Choose your head wisely
If you choose the right heads for your drum and sound needs in the first place, it'll be an effective combination regardless of playing situation. You may have to tweak the tuning, but that's what this is all about, right?!
First off, review the seating process. Place the head on the drum and tighten tuning rods to finger tight, in opposite pairs. Then stand in the centre to really stretch the head out. Once you've done this, go back and check that all the rods are still finger tight.
With a new head, you will almost certainly find that one or two have loosened a little. If you do have a hole in your front head, then the standing and stretching might be a little foolish! If the hole is off-centre, leaning on the skin while pressing in the centre with your hands will suffice. If you have the hole in the centre (which you shouldn't have), then you will have to forego this part.
4. Start tuning (finally!)
Ideally you should tune the batter head first, with the resonant head off the drum (unless tuning mid-gig, of course). Again, start finger tight and turn all the rods in turn (you'll need to press the centre with the palm of the hand on drums this large), until you've removed all the wrinkles.
Tension progressively (ie a little at a time on each trip around the drum - half-turns with the key at a time should do it), and don't try to crank each rod.
At this point, this level of tension for a batter head can prove to be enough for many players, but if you want a more bouncy feel, take the head up half a turn up on each rod. Now tap gently around the head (about 2'-3' in from the edge) and check that the pitch is even all the way round. Don't get overcritical with this, just make sure there aren't any obvious differences and adjust where necessary.
5. Dampen now (if you must)
If you do insist on dampening the bass drum, this is the time to do it. A small rolled-up towel placed toward the front (resonant head), will generally suffice.
It can sometimes be useful to dampen both heads, particularly for close mic'ing, so (depending on the heads you've chosen) it may be helpful to add a similar sized towel to the batter head. Enya albums list. Attach the towel to the inside of the drum (not the head itself) so that the towel will rest against the front head once you've put it on, and then put on the front head.
6. Time to tweak
If possible, repeat the seating procedure used on the batter head and return to finger tight. Press in the centre, as before, and remove the wrinkles. Now, this is where it gets really interesting - the resonant head on a bass drum is the key head when it comes to a great bass drum sound.
Turn your bass drum over into the playing position, engage spurs and attach your favourite bass drum pedal. At this point we haven't actually done any tuning as such, we've just removed the wrinkles and evened out the pitch on the heads. Tuning a bass drum so that it sounds how you want it to out front can be difficult. Many of us will have tried the 'get the bass player to play the drum as I stand out front' routine, but what if no one is about?
Lie down on the floor with one foot on the bass pedal facing the front skin. Play a slow and steady pulse with your foot and start working on the front head to dial in the sound you want. This approach means the bass drum will be struck differently when you're playing, but at least you get a chance to hear the pitch, tone and general resonance of the drum for yourself.
7. Pitch, clarity and focus (and perseverance)
When tuning the front head, you will notice two things. First and not surprisingly, the pitch will start to go up, but perhaps more importantly, the clarity and focus of the sound will improve. With both heads at the starting point, you'll most likely get loads of low end rumble but very little definition. Some players like this, and that's fine, but if you prefer a more focused or more punchy sound, then persevere and very gently increase the tension of the front head.
You should treat this system purely as a foundation from which to work and be prepared to experiment - trying out different tunings and different heads will help get the sound you want. Good luck!
Now readHow to build your own studio in 11 easy steps
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If there's one thing drummers are known for, it's not disposable income. Fortunately, if your bass drum pedal breaks down you don't need to spend $100 at the local music store for a new one. In fact, you can build a very good product with things already laying around your house.
Building the Base
Turn on your table saw and align the blade to 90 degrees. Pushing the wood through the blade while protecting your fingers, cut the 2-by-4 into three foot-long pieces. Cut two of the pieces in half horizontally, creating two 6-inch 2-by-4 boards. Cut another in half vertically, creating two foot-long 1-by-4 pieces. Finally, cut one of these in half again, creating a foot-long, 1/2-by-4 piece. This will be the foot pad of the pedal. Drill a small hole at the center of one end of the foot pad and tie a loop of string around it.
Stack two of the 6-inch pieces on top of each other and hold them together with a vice. Using a drill bit only slightly larger than the size of your PVC pipe, drill a hole through both boards. The hole should be near the top of the boards, but not so high that it will split the wood. This hole will allow the pipe to spin.
Place the two 6-inch pieces, now with holes, six inches away from each other, standing vertically. Lay between them another of the 6-inch pieces, creating a U shape. With a 1/16th-inch drill bit, drill thin holes where the pieces, then screw the pieces together tightly. To make a stronger foundation, apply wood glue to the sides of the pieces before screwing them together.
Glue one of the one-foot boards to the front of the U. Then, as above, screw the pieces firmly together. This forms the structure of the pedal.
Preparing the Pipe
Cut the PVC pipe to 11 inches with the table saw.
Drill a 1/4th-inch hole in the middle of the PVC pipe. With a hammer, nudge the dowel through the hole so it stands upright from the pipe. Good weapons in fallout 3.
Puncture a hole in the leather strip using a leather punch. Pull the leather strip around the dowel on the PVC pipe, ensuring the leather sits away from the front of the pedal. This will ensure that the pipe rotates in right direction.
Drill a small hole in the other end of the leather strip, and attach to it the spring by wrapping the hook on the spring into the hole.
Wrap the tip of the dowel in a full ream of masking tape. This will be the mallet of the drum pedal.
Finishing the Pedal
How To Make A Bass Drum At Home
Mount the foot pad (the 1/2-inch board cut in step 1) to the frame by attaching the door hinges to the end without the loop of string and then screwing the hinges into the frame. This should allow the pedal board to move back and forth without falling off the frame. The foot pad should operate just like a door on its hinges.
Loop the string through the spring attached to the leather strip to create tension. Now, when you step down, the tape on the dowel should move forward and beat your drum.
Line up the pedal to your bass drum to make sure it works.
Tip
How To Make A Bass Drum Practice Pad
Check your bass drum before beginning. You might need to adjust the sizes in order to make it fit. You can experiment with other material for the head, such as tennis balls, rubber balls, or even the head from your last professional pedal.
Warning
Make sure when you attach the leather strip it is going in the right direction. If not, your pedal will rotate backwards.
Add some variety. A song with one simple bar loop is going to get dull mighty fast, so you need to vary the drums a bit. However, this doesn't mean just change them bar after bar- this would lose the tune's structure (a vital ingredient in DnB). In order to add change, but keep structure, you must make your changes repeat over a 'phrase'. In this case a 'phrase' is a sequence of 4, 16, or 32 bars. For basic hardstep a la Roni Size/ general club DnB, change the drums every bar for 4 bars, then repeat again. This should be complex enough to stop the song from sounding boring for now, although you will have to think of changing the drums again, later in the song (again in a 4-8-16-32-64-128 etc etc bar phrase--remember, it's how it sounds that matters, not how mathematical it is. These are guidelines, which, on occasion, are made to be broken, after you have mastered them.). If you want a more complex (as was once called 'intelligent DnB') beat, you should aim to use a 16 bar progression, or if you are exceptional, 32 (listen to Paradox - a DJ's nightmare, brilliant music, impossible to mix).