Prices for a half decent studio drum kit

[James Day]

Hi, how much would I be looking to spend on a drum kit for use in a studio for recording with (so must sound pretty good) and possibly band practices? I would be looking for everything, so that's shells, cymbals, stands, and possibly a double bass drum pedal if that makes a difference to the price. Also what sort of brands are good? Especially ones that aren't too pricey! Will be playing mainly rock/grunge music with it. Thanks

[Pearl MCX Man]

Give a baseball figure of your budget.
My guess would be to get used. Pearl Session Studios is a great kit if you can find one. Not too many kits come with double bass drums. You would have to order another bass drum to match whatever kit you get. Most manufacturers make great kits e.g Tama, Pearl, Sonor, Yamaha, Ludwig etc. Best to read reviews, visit music stores. Hear them, try them etc.
There so much involved when buying a kit e.g. shell material ( Maple, Birch ) and I am sure you will hear response from other members her. Hope this helps. Good luck and Welcome to DC.

[SpazApproved]

you need to figure out more things like what kind of sound do you want. Cause the type of wood and all the tom sizes and depths will make a huge difference. Also how big of a kit do you need/want. Me personally especially when recording I like a little bigger kit to give me choices and lots of differences.

New drums alone for a decent kit looking around $2k to shoot on the high side. Then you need cymbals and stands another $1-2k depending what you get. And if you want this for recording you won't want to cheap out with pingy cheap sounding cymbals.

Bass drum pedals can run from cheap to expensive also like anything else. The pedal I want is $600 but you can run anything just make sure it's not squeeky.

So why don't you budget yourself high like $5k. Remember this is an investment not just a purchase.

[lukesplat12]

I don't know what sound you are going after, but if I had to put together a kit for a studio to sound the best with the best cymbals to match MY TASTE, I would put the total budget at around $4k (cymbals, drums, heads, and hardware.

If this seems way to high, than don't be afraid. A really nice kit can easily be found for half the price.

Also, a lot of those packs that have everything, might have the best deal... but the cymbals especially in those packs are not very good.

[James Day]

Thanks guys, I would be wanting a good heavy rock/grungey sounding kit, for example Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Royal Blood.

[Russ]

I think it's the player that makes it sound like the genre it's being used in. Any number of kits can be used in a studio setting, but the key factor here is how it's dialed in more than anything. I see questions all the time like "what kit should I get for rock or metal" all the time, when almost always it comes down to the how the person plays it, drumheads, tuning, and whether or not any type of dampening/muffling devices are used. The question you should be asking is what type of heads to use, research what each head does and whether it fits in line with your type of sound, THEN get your kit. If you know how to tune and which head to use for the genre, guess what? You're going to sound better than the guy with the $6000 setup. It's true because i've heard the difference a hundred and one billion times.

Now, the kits themselves - if it's a studio usage, generally you'll want something that does not sustain as much, so woods like birch, kapur, alder, ash are good choices. Drums made from these materials tend to take less work to get ready to record, because they don't naturally have more overtones to begin with. Always check the used market before going retail.. Some picks of mine for a good studio kit would be(in no particular order)

Pearl SSC
Pearl VBX
Ddrum Reflex
Ddrum Dominion Ash
Crush Chameleon Birch or Acrylic(possibly)
Tama Superstar(either the all birch, or part birch editions)
Mapex Meridian birch or M birch
Sonor 2007 or Essential Force
Yamaha Stage Custom birch or Rock Tour
Gretsch Catalina Birch

[slinglander]

As Russ said,"if it's a studio usage, generally you'll want something that does not sustain as much, so woods like birch, kapur, alder, ash are good choices. Drums made from these materials tend to take less work to get ready to record, because they don't naturally have more overtones to begin with."

You can practice with any kit. Gigging is slightly different.

At any rate, check all the vids on You Tube for your fav music and you'll see all the kits being used by the drummers with the manufacturer name on the kick res' head. I think you'll find any make will do.

[-bongos-]

A Yamaha stage custom kit would probably do you well for a nice budget studio kit. They sell new for around $600, Im sure you could find a used one for a couple hundred less. The stage custom is a birch she'll kit that should work well for recordings. As for hardware, try not to go too cheap here. Quality hardware can last more than 20 years if you take care of it. New cymbal stands around the $70-80 price point will hold up nicely. Pick any brand, Pearl, Tama, Yamaha, DW, ect......they all make great stuff. Bass pedals are a personal thing, try them out before you pick one up. The DW 3000 is about as cheap as I would go for a bass pedal, around $130 for a single if I remember, a little north of $200 for the double. And whatever you do, don't pinch pennies on the cymbals. You can always tune drums and change heads to change the sound, but you can't tune cymbals.

And as was said before, check the used market for cymbals and drums. You can save a lot of money that you could put towards a nice set of drum mics.

[Pearl MCX Man]

Now that I have seen some of the prices mentioned. I think for about 1000-1500 you can pick something used with cymbals and hardware. Right now with the economy in the U.S that it is a buyers market. Good luck and happy hunting.

[Northern Redneck]

Im gonna go in a different direction here. Youre obviously not a drummer so tuning will be an issue. Id get a nice E-kit.

[inthpktplayer]

Really isn't enough info in the OP to give valuable advice.

[EddieV]

I've been in studios with entry-to-mid level kits where the engineer had them dialed in and they sounded great.

I think it depends more on the engineer than the kit. The drummer too.

[kay-gee]

I've been in studios with entry-to-mid level kits where the engineer had them dialed in and they sounded great.

I think it depends more on the engineer than the kit. The drummer too.

For sure.

I say just find a studio that provides a set or even rent for recording purposes. Save the $$

all the best...

[kaosotis]

Only thing I can add is if you are planning on posting the stuff you mentioned you probably want to in the bigger side in terms of drum sizes.

[cc1918]

A Yamaha stage custom kit would probably do you well for a nice budget studio kit. They sell new for around $600, Im sure you could find a used one for a couple hundred less. The stage custom is a birch she'll kit that should work well for recordings. As for hardware, try not to go too cheap here. Quality hardware can last more than 20 years if you take care of it. New cymbal stands around the $70-80 price point will hold up nicely. Pick any brand, Pearl, Tama, Yamaha, DW, ect......they all make great stuff. Bass pedals are a personal thing, try them out before you pick one up. The DW 3000 is about as cheap as I would go for a bass pedal, around $130 for a single if I remember, a little north of $200 for the double. And whatever you do, don't pinch pennies on the cymbals. You can always tune drums and change heads to change the sound, but you can't tune cymbals.

And as was said before, check the used market for cymbals and drums. You can save a lot of money that you could put towards a nice set of drum mics.

I agree with this post, you'd be hard pressed to find a better quality kit for the price that sounds as good as the Yamaha SC

[MrB]

I'll chime in and say that the Yamaha's a good choice, I had a Stage Custom kit for years.

Since you are specifically chasing the grunge sound, I'd steer you towards a maple kit, as that is what you are hearing on the Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Sunny Day Real Estate records.

First and foremost I would advise you to look at the used market. I am in the process of buying a full kit for $2,000 that new would be roughly $3,500.

When you're scouring the used market, if you happen across used DW Collectors or Ayottes, come running back here with the information, as that is what those artists specifically used. For the best value for your dollar, I would be hunting for a used Ludwig Classic Maple kit. It might not be the same brand, but the company quality has greatly improved over the past ten years, and their kits are hundreds of dollars less NEW, and even better used. You could probably find a shell pack used for slightly under $1,000 and they would serve you very well.

[drummer]

I'm not sure about the electronic drumset as your main option. A lot of guys (including myself) would rather play on an acoustic set. There are great advantages to the ekits in the studio but it's limited on the drummer/playing side. There's also more of a learning curve with the ekits for sound engineers if they're not already used to working with them.

[Russ]

If you're planning on recording with just sampled midi, do you really need a studio for that?

[Pearl MCX Man]

I would like to know what the original poster decided on. He asked us for our opinions over 2 weeks ago and he never replied back to give us an update.