forget the stripes

After some experimentation, I've decided to go back to my original Emperor Coated's for my toms. Those Pinstripes sing like all hell when they're brand-new, but after a few weeks of playing them, they died out relatively quickly and the heads showed remarkable wear (by way of many deep divets - which ultimately effected the overall tone). The attack on them are higher pitched and more cutting (thus, the singing more) than the Emperors, but I like a flatter attack for metal and funk playing. Plus I know that the Emps take a longer time to wear, just due to the coating, let alone the heavy double-plies. When I put the Emps back on this time, I didn't obsess about tuning but made sure I followed a few basic guidelines and they sound surprisingly good as is, for now. Although, I did give the bearing edges a quick shave with sand paper to refine them. I love a day off (considering I work six days a week). I changed those heads at 9:30 and have been playing since then. Rest assured, I'll be playing ALL DAY LONG. I absolutely love the drums. They boom and smash - what can be cooler?!

"nasty"

Valentine's Day rocks! My wife-to-be just hooked me up with a new cymbal that's described as "nasty" by the manufacturer. It is the new Sabian HHX Evolution O-Zone 18" Crash cymbal and it lives up to its rep. It is freakin awesome (as is my lady). It's got 8 2" holes around the shelf of the cymbal and creates the attack of a crash with the decay of a china, plus with a boost of projection. I normally stick with only Zildjian cymbals, and I was given the option to return it for something else, but I truly love it. And besides, unless it's very very undesirable, I never return gifts given to me. Anyway, another reason I have never ventured away from Zildjian is because I never had any positive exposure to others. I've always seen a lot of legends use stuff from the HHX series, but I had never tried one myself. I have to say that Sabian is definitely competitive, especially on their high-end stuff. I'm so stoked! With a five-piece and a healthy amount of cymbals I think I've got my hands full for now. Eventually, I'd like to get a new exotic wood kit (mid-life crisis) and the cymbals are always transferable. Additionally, I'd still like to get a 14" crash, a 6" zil-bell and like a 6" or 8" splash. Maybe a second set of hihats wouldn't kill me either. I recently tried out the Zildjian Mastersounds and they are sick. I love drumming.

those drums, making music

It's been a while...

In regards to those heads I got from Remo, they're pretty cool, but not exactly what I'm looking for. The Powersonic bass head is pretty sick, yet I already use Aquarian's and I like the thought of nothing on the face of them. I can remove the pad that buttons onto the face of the Powersonic, but why even bother with all of that. The SuperKick II is the best head for the kick so I'm sticking to it even though the Powersonic is nice. For the toms, they sent me Emperor Suedes. They have a nice feel to them, but they lie in the gray area of tone too much. I don't know, I have them on an Imperialstar kit in the shop so maybe if they were on a different kit, they'd sound better. I have been using regular Emperor Coated, but recently decided to try out a classic set of Pinstripes. I was paid to change and tune heads using the Pinstripes, then I heard what nice tone they had and then wanted to throw them on my kit. I absolutely love them, although I still like the Emp Coated's. The Stripes really sing out though compared to the Emps. I get a duller attack using the Emps. But drum heads are like strings for a guitar: you constantly experiment with gauges and materials, etc. It's always an experiment and depends on your application. Next, I'd like to try a set of Evans EC2 heads for the toms. I'm religious about sticking with my current bass and snare heads though (at least until something better comes along so who knows). I'm also definitely thinking about selling my New Beat hihats for a set of Mastersounds. Plus, I'd like to add a few more cymbals, especially a 14" Avedis crash. Drumming is cool shit.

Also in life, I have since started giving drum lessons at the music shop that I work at. I absolutely love it and my schedule keeps getting bigger and bigger. For now, I'm just offering lessons on my days off. The demand is there, as is the supply. I think, if anything, I'll continue expanding my schedule as the opportunities come. I really love people, teaching, drums and music so there's really no end in sight here. I'd much rather teach drums for a living than actually having some regular form of employment. And besides and not for nothing, but, the money in teaching is way better than most average jobs out there. Most importantly, I have the best students and I'm really passionate about it all.

As for recording and songwriting, I really haven't spent much time on it. I record some practice and impromptu jam sessions with friends, but I'm not too interested about it at this time. I spend most of my free time either practicing myself or developing curriculums for my students.

Overall, I'm well and quite happy.