WHY I LOVE MY ELECTRIC DRUMS!

Hi everyone, welcome to the second of out blog series where we share our passion for music and performing and maybe generate some discussion points along the way! Today’s blog is written by Larry, our drummer and he wants to talk about why he uses electric drums and how they have changed his playing experience for the better!

WHY I LOVE MY ELECTRIC DRUMS!

I have been playing drums for over 30 years, and I have always loved the sound and feel of acoustic drums. However, as I started to play more gigs with my band, I realised that acoustic drums have some limitations and challenges. For example, some venues have noise limiters that make it harder to play loud and expressive (I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a basher and love really laying into my cymbals especially…), acoustic drums sometimes need miking up (another expense and faff), and of course, they can be very annoying for the neighbours when I practice at home.

That's why I decided to invest in a Roland VAD 506 drum kit and an SPD-SX Pro sample pad. The former are electric drums that mimic the look and feel of acoustic drums, but with some amazing advantages. Let me tell you what they are.

The Pros of Electric Drums

·      Versatility of sound. With electric drums, I can choose from hundreds of different sounds and effects and customise them to suit any genre or mood. I can also layer samples and loops on top of my playing, creating a rich and dynamic sound. I can even trigger sounds from my phone or laptop using Bluetooth or USB. (If you want an excellent example of this, check out Adam Betts and his Colossal Squid performances). I can customise the EQ of each drum, I can make a snare as lively or as damped as I like, I can sample everyday sounds and add them to the kit or the sample pad… The list is almost endless and the opportunities to be really creative with my drum sound, and how I integrate it into Side Hustle’s live performances are really satisfying.

·      Volume control. With electric drums, I can adjust the volume to match the environment and the audience. I can play as loud or as soft as I want, without compromising the quality or clarity of the sound. This is especially useful when playing in venues with noise limiters, or when I want to practice quietly with headphones.

·      Realistic feel. The Roland VAD 506 drum kit is designed to look and feel like an acoustic kit, with full-size shells, mesh heads, and cymbals (yeah yeah, the latter are black rubber, but you can’t have everything right?). The pads are responsive and sensitive, and never miss a beat. The SPD-SX Pro sample pad is also very intuitive and easy to use, with large pads and a bright display. I can play with the same technique and expression as I would on an acoustic kit, and get the same feedback and satisfaction.

·      Portability and flexibility. Electric drums are much lighter and (can be) more compact than acoustic drums, and they can be set up and packed away in minutes. I can also use different configurations depending on the situation. I can use the full kit, or I can use the sample pad by itself, or I can mix and match. For instance, if the band decides to put on a local street performance, or if we're playing a venue where space is severely limited, I can still deliver a great performance with just the sample pad.

·      Sound people love them! With the TD-27 module (the brain of the VAD 506) I can run separate channels for my snare, kick, toms and cymbals straight into a desk giving the sound engineer (if there is one!) 4 channels to balance my sound with the rest of the band. Of course, there is no overspill from the drum into any of the other mics on stage so no need for baffles or a drum cage or whatever they’re putting us in now!

·      Recording. I can record multitrack audio sound through a single USB into Logic Pro (other DAWs are available) on my laptop. Simples!    

The Cons of Electric Drums

Of course, electric drums are not perfect, and they have some drawbacks as well. Here are some of the cons that I have encountered.

·      Lack of acoustic feel. Even though electric drums are very realistic, they are still not the same as acoustic drums. Some of the nuances and subtleties of acoustic drumming are lost or altered with electric drums. For example, other players in the band don't 'feel' the sound of the drums moving through their body as they would with an acoustic kit. You’ve also got to run them through a decent PA system, with a great sub or they’ll sound thin and tinny.

·      Wiring and maintenance. Electric drums require a lot of wiring and connections, which can be a hassle and a potential source of problems. Sometimes the wires can get tangled, damaged, or unplugged, causing glitches or interruptions in the sound. I’ll say now that this has never happened to me personally, and I take the wiring admin seriously because it’s SO important for electric drums.  I’ve made a robust cable snake which I can get set up quickly. Lastly, electric drums need to be regularly updated and calibrated, and they can malfunction or break down if not handled with care. Again, I like to ensure the chances of this happening to me are minimal by investing in decent cases for my electronic gadgets.

·      Expense. Electric drums are not cheap, and they can be a big investment for some people. A decent set of electric drums and a sample pad can cost thousands of pounds, and that's not including the accessories and the amplification system. Electric drums also have a lower resale value than acoustic drums, and they can become obsolete as technology advances.

My Conclusion

Overall, I think electric drums are a great option for drummers who want to expand their sonic possibilities, control their volume, and have more flexibility and portability. Electric drums have allowed me to play in different settings and situations, and to express myself in new and creative ways. I have received a lot of positive feedback from the audience and the band members about the sound of the drums. And I don’t break sticks. Ever. 

However, I keep my acoustic kit for the right venues (although I have started to add electrics into my acoustic set up eg the sample pad stays, and I’ve a couple of triggers on the kick and snare drum. Hybrid drumming I believe is the buzz word and there’s a whole other blog right there!) and they have their own challenges and limitations. Electric drums require more wiring, maintenance, and expense, and they don't have the same acoustic feel and vibe as acoustic drums. Electric drums also need to be properly set up and balanced with the rest of the band, and that requires practice, decent tech knowledge and communication.

That's why I like to practice through the PA system whenever I can, especially when I first integrated electric drums into my band setup. This allows me to adjust and fine-tune my sound, and to avoid any nasty surprises on gig night. I also make sure to check and test all the connections and settings before each performance, and to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. We make sure we do this at least once in the run up to every gig. 

Electric drums are not for everyone, and they are not the only way to play drums. But for me, they have been a game-changer, and I love them. If you are curious about electric drums, I encourage you to try them out and see for yourself. You might be surprised by what you can do with them.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this blog post. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. And if you want to see more of Side Hustle,  follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.  Until next time!

Backing Tracks. that’s cheating… right?

Let’s get a discussion going around what seems to be a controversial subject amongst musicians, and certainly amongst covers bands like Side Hustle: Backing tracks. Should you use them? Why don’t you just add another band member? Aren’t you cheating? You might as well put the record on and mime!

What are backing tracks? It seems obvious, but to the un-initiated or someone who is just starting to delve deeper into the art of performance, backing tracks are pre-recorded audio files that a band can play along to in order to pad out their sound, add extra instruments, vocals or sound effects, and add extra elements to the sound that the audience hears and (hopefully) enjoys! They can be played through many devices, but more often than not they are run from a laptop using software such as Ableton Live or Mainstage (we use Larry’s Roland SPD-SX Pro sample pad) and the sound is mixed and balanced with the output from the musicians playing live on stage. The musicians will often have a click track playing alongside these tracks that only they can hear, which allows them to sync their performance to the track, and hey presto, a great sound is projected to the front of house speakers.

What does this mean for the performance? When it all works as it’s supposed to (sometimes running tracks does present some technical issues!) then my personal view is that the performance is enhanced, especially as the band get more used to working with the track, and knowing when and where they can perhaps play in front of, on or slightly behind the beat to add a different character or feel to the groove of the music. Hell, you can even programme your tracks to incorporate a ‘human’ element to the time keeping so it’s not like playing to a metronome!

Aren’t you cheating by using a backing track? Why don’t you learn to play the parts yourselves?! This is where backing tracks become marmite. The internet is awash with forums that bemoan bands that use tracks, and who don’t learn to play certain parts or incorporate musicians in their line up who can. They are seen as being lesser musicians for playing to tracks and that therefore their contribution to the live music scene should be discounted.

Well… I can fully understand this point of view! I love hearing bands that rehearse for countless hours to be able to craft a song to perfection with all the parts performed live. In fact this is what we do for the majority of the songs we learn and perform live. However… so many contemporary artists are now producing music that has so many elements and moving parts that it requires so many musicians to be on stage to even get close to the sound produced on the studio album. Let’s take a look at one such artist: Taylor Swift (I can see Scott’s eye’s rolling at the mere mention of her name. He’s NOT a fan!).

Her current Eras tour sees her travelling with a 6 piece band and 4 backing vocalists. The band are all multi-instrumentalists (not sure about the drummer, but his set up might be the theme of a later blog…. watch this space). Why does she need so many musicians playing so many instruments and so many backing singers? Well numerous Swift tracks have multiple layers of synths which add texture and richness to underpin the traditional guitar and bass sounds. Sometimes there are just synths! The vocal parts she writes also use loads of multipart harmonies again to add body and character to the songs. This is fine for an artist playing in huge stadiums and it is admirable that the Eras tour uses so many live musicians to recreate the sounds of the album pretty faithfully. However, for your average every day down to earth 5 piece party rock covers band like Side Hustle et al, it is just an impossible ask to add one or maybe two more musicians to our line up. We are often limited for stage space, very limited for rehearsal space and very very limited in terms of the budget we can bring to bear in order to try and replicate the sounds that some bands produce and that you all know and love. That’s where the backing track comes in!

Where do you get them from? There are commercially available backing tracks on websites various, some good quality, others are well… meh. We have used these in the past, but now we tend to produce our own using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) called Logic Pro. This allows us to create backing tracks using software instruments of preset sounds, and also allows us to use virtual synths to create or replicate our own sounds if there are no stock sounds available which suit what we are trying to achieve. It really is an incredible piece of software and is used all across the music industry to record and produce music (see here for a great breakdown of how Jacob Collier uses it https://grahamstoney.com/music/how-a-real-musician-uses-the-logic-pro-digital-audio-workstation). We then add a click track, and upload the final version to Larry’s sample pad. He then does some magic which means that when he hits the machine, the track and click start together in sync, and we play our parts over the top. If you come and see us live, you’ll notice that we use backing tracks in songs with lots of synth sounds or complicated backing vocals which lie outside of the Tim, Scott, JD and Larry’s vocal range. Van Halen Jump and Pulp Common People are two examples of songs where we use tracks. (Head over to our VIDEOS section and check out Mr Brightside. We use a backing track for the synth parts. Let us know what you think below!).

Answer the question! IS IT CHEATING?! OK OK! No. You won’t be surprised to learn that we don’t think it is. For us, the remit of a good covers band is to try and replicate the sound of your favourite artists however they choose to do so. For some it will be acceptance of the fact that they don’t have a keyboard player and perhaps get their guitarist to play the keyboard solo line using a patch or pedal effect. For some it will be recruit as many musicians as possible to try and reproduce an accurate sound as faithfully possible with as many parts being played live as possible. For us, it is to do all of the above where we think it works, and if there is too much going on for the five of us to play, then that’s where the backing track comes in. We produce them ourselves, so they are crafted by a human, one of us, they aren’t AI generated or downloaded from another source. So what you’re hearing is in fact one of us playing a synth or a percussion part etc, which is recorded and played back to you as part of our overall sound. At the end of the day, as long as our audience (or the majority of them!) enjoy the sound we’re creating, then that’s fine by us! 

I’ll caveat the above that it’s just opinion, and I fully accept that you all may have your own on the subject. Or you may not! If you do and you want to share, why not leave a comment?

As always we appreciate your support and are really grateful for you coming out to hear us play. Thanks for looking in, and hopefully see you soon!

Side Hustle.