Getting your Gear Gig Ready
A long time ago in a theatre somewhere…. (Basildon actually!)
With the imminent and hopeful restart of the live music industry, there’s no better time to give your kit an MOT and get everything road ready and ready to go. For many musicians, their gigging gear has been permanently cased up for a year now, so it’s about time to give it some much needed TLC, so here’s a few top tips and some of my recommendations, to make that first gig back the best it can possibly be.
Strip & Polish
This one is pretty obvious, but so often overlooked! But while we all seem to have so much spare time, its a rather enjoyable process (for me anyway!) and a lovely way to get to know your kit. Simply working one drum at a time, totally stripping the heads and hardware off, giving the shell a dust with a dry microfibre cloth, and maybe a wipe over with a drum-specific cleaning product (my preferred is this Music Nomad Drum Detailer). Then giving the hardware a bit of spit and polish, and lubricating any moving parts, and dropping a little white lithium grease on the swivel nuts in the lugs if need be, then reassembling everything back together. Likewise with all the cymbal stands and hardware, a wipe over with some polish and a check that everything is working as it should, with no rattles or threaded nuts, to give you total piece of mind that they’ll be looking and functioning their best when it comes to being thrown around again in a hardware bag.
You can also clean your cymbals if thats your thing, and there’s a number of specialist cleaning products and detailed methods out online. Personally though, I prefer my cymbals to age and patina, so I don’t clean them with any more than a dry microfibre towel, so i’ll leave the cymbal cleaning methods to those who know better!
For some excellent restoration tips and hacks, i’d highly recommend watching some of rdavidr‘s YouTube videos. If you’re a little lazy and want someone else to put in the elbow grease on your behalf, i’d highly recommend Mark Haynes at The Drum Bunker, who’s done some fine restoration work for me in the past.
Some great tips and tricks for restoration
Tuning techniques with DW’s John Good
New Heads & Snare Wires
Changing heads can drastically improve a kits sound and really bring back the tonality, and give you the sound you’re looking for. Especially if the drums have been stored for a while, its worth at least refreshing the batter heads, and maybe the resonants too. If you’re already giving your kit a strip and clean as previously said, its the perfect time to change your heads (since they’re off the drum anyway). Heads are a very easy way to achieve a sound, whether its thick hydraulics and pinstripes for fat rock tones, or coated single ply heads for super tight bebop tunings, the right head combo for every drummer is there to be explored. A perfect starting point for most drums is a classic single ply coated head (Remo Ambassador or Evans G1), but don’t be afraid to try something new and see what sounds you discover. My go to heads in the recent past have been the Evans UV line. I think the coating on those heads is by far the most durable i’ve used, brushes glide wonderfully and never snag on it, and it never chips away. The heads sound lovely too, with warmth and rich tones, so I use those heads on nearly all snare and tom batter heads. Another recent discovery for me is using coated resonant heads on toms, for the ultimate in tubby, vintage sounding drums, its a must try idea, and after years of using clear resonant heads, a total revelation!
Snare wires are also a key component to replace periodically, and much overlooked too. New snares can have a tremendous effect on the tone and sound of your snare drum, and vastly improve it and make it sound its best once again. I generally try to change wires every couple of years, but it depends how much use the drum is getting, whether its a road warrior or just an occasional sound i’m after. But if its a main working snare, i’d definitely say there’s no excuse for ancient wires! I tend to favour Puresounds myself, they make great wires and their range has plenty of options. The Custom Pro line is my personal favourite, and the quick release straps to allow resonant head changes without having to reset your wire tension is a stroke of genius.
My Head recommendations (for an all-round sound):
Snare: Evans UV1 Batter head, Evans Hazy 300 Resonant head. Puresound Custom Pro 20 Strand wires (Steel or Brass)
Toms: Evans UV1 Batter head (or UV2 if you prefer a double ply), Evans G1 Resonant head (Coated or Clear).
Bass Drum: Evans EMAD Batter head, Single ply resonant head (either Evans EQ3 or Branded resonant) with 4-5” port hole
Some new Evans Heads and Puresound Brass Snare wires on a DW Craviotto Snare.
Gig Survival Kit
For me, a survival kit is an absolute must have for every gig I do. In short, it’s a bag/box of tools and spares that can get you out of a sticky situation should one arise on a gig. I’d recommend any musician to carry something like this, irrespective of instrument, as even though mine is ‘drum specific‘, there have definitely been occasions where a guitarist has needed an Allen key, or someone has needed a certain tool to repair something in a pinch. I used to keep this stuff in a small flight case, but now I use this Protection Racket Tool Bag, and it’s much easier, less bulky and sits perfectly inside my hardware bag. Also the internal compartments are really handy for keeping everything organised and easy to find what you need. You could also label these if needed. I’ve put a list of what i’d consider the essentials below, but every drummer and setup is different, so pack whatever you think will be needed for your rig.
Recommended items:
Drum Keys (Always have multiple)
Cymbal Felts (Including for Hi hat bottom cymbal and clutch)
Cymbal Sleeves
Tension Rods
Bass Drum Patch
Wingnuts
Washers
Memory Locks
Snare Straps
Hi Hat Clutch
Mini Jack Aux Lead
1/4” Jack to Mini Jack Headphone Adapter
Cable Ties
Cymbal-Mic Thread Adapter
Bass Drum Beater(s)
Screwdrivers (Phillips/Flathead)
Allen Keys (The multitool style)
Adjustable Wrench
Spanners
Large Pliers
Needle-nose Pliers
Wire Strippers/cutters
Scissors
Tape Measure
Sharpie Marker Pen
Ballpoint Pen
Gaffa Tape (I keep this in my hardware case because of space in the tool bag!)
Flashlight/Torch (Kept in my stick bag for ease of access on stage, will detail stick bag essentials in a future blog!)
Further ideas for gig essentials courtesy of Sounds Like A Drum & rdavidr
Check Your Cables
This is kinda related to the previous one, but in general if you’re using cables of any sort on a gig (be they power cables, XLR, Jack, Mini Jack etc.), take the time out and test every single cable to check its still functioning as it should be. Theres really nothing worse than having to deal with dead cables when setting up for a show, so nows the time to get rid of anything that isn’t performing its best and replace with nice shiny new ones. It can be a lengthy job to methodically check and test each cable (even if you have an electronic cable tester), but its far better done now than having unexpected surprises at a time when it matters.
IEM Maintenance
This is a pretty specific one, but if you run in ears, i’d highly recommend taking the time to properly clean your monitors (which you should be doing anyway!) and making sure they’re in perfect working condition. If you’re using universal fit ones, it may be a good time to replace the tips and put some nice fresh ones on, your ears will thank you for it! Generally though, a good clean over with the IEM cleaning tool of your choice, and a thorough wipe down with an Anti Bacterial wipe, because no one wants to be getting ear infections. If the cable looks a bit worn, change it for a new one and keep the old one as a spare if it still works well. This should keep your in ear rig ship shape and ready to go for the first gig and every gig, so taking the time now should save you from any problems down the road.
Nice, Clean Cosmic Ears IEMs
Wrapping It All Up
Hopefully this post has helped with your pre-gig prep, this is all stuff worth doing every once in a while, to keep the wheels well oiled and everything running smoothly for you as a drummer. Musicians who are well prepared and can solve problems are the ones that people want to work with, so if you can be ‘that guy‘ who can solve any problem that arises, every other musician will love you! As gigs are starting to come back now, all musicians want to hit the ground running and get back working as quickly, smoothly and safely as possible, so taking a couple of hours and working on the tools of your trade is never a bad idea, and will make those gigs all the more enjoyable, and as worry free as possible. All I can say now is…
Go forth and make music!
For further information, please see the links below:
Rdavidr: https://www.youtube.com/user/rdavidr
Sounds Like A Drum: https://www.youtube.com/c/SoundsLikeADrum/
Bearded Drums: https://www.youtube.com/user/stephannelson
DW Drums: http://www.dwdrums.com