5 Drum Hacks Every Drummer Should Know | Finding Your Own Drum Sound

No matter if you want to change your drum sound within seconds or need some inspiration for your next practice session, these 5 drum hacks will help you out.
While all drummers have their own small tips and tricks and come up with new ideas all the time, some of the most famous drum hacks have been around for decades.
Here are 5 of our all time favorites.

00:00 Intro
00:17 The Two Rod Method
01:31 Inside Out
02:44 No Spring Pedal
03:28 Open The Drums!
04:29 Fat Head

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[glengamble]

Two tuning tricks-

1. you know those weighted, cylinder material things you put under your door crack to prevent a draft from coming under the door? Put one of those in your kick drum, either against the batter or reso head, in a smile formation . It kills just enough overtone that your drum still sound fantastic-and doesn’t choke it. Plus they are stuffed with beads and generally don’t move once you place them. The dollar store tends to sell them for around $3

2. Throw a small handful of cotton balls into your floor tom. When you strike the batter head, they will raise up and land on the reso head, gently cutting off some of the overtones from the bottom. Good enough for Benny Greb-good enough for me.

[victormuriel]

Back in 2004, I had the chance of playing a full concert tom drumkit like Phil Collins style, it sounded really awesome!!!

[martinschiller]

I love that he's wearing a Helge T-shirt!! ;)

[richardlanchester]

Back in the 1970s when the open concert tom sound was common, I often saw twin head drums with the bottoms left open and the kick wide open at the front, the bearing edge would get all rough and dinged up, the captive nuts and bits in the lugs would rattle and buzz, and I would often pick up such drums really cheap because all the parts had then got lost by stoner musicians!
My solution-- to cut an old head out to a big hole with only 3/4 inch or so left, just enough to hold shape over bearing edges, then refit rim and bolts and tighten enough to all hold firmly together.
Result, the open single-head sound desired, no damage to drums, and no loose parts lying around and getting lost.
And a tidier-looking kit, too.

[rectormusic]

You can also use the same method of cutting old heads to make O-Rings for the whole kit, and if they’re warped in some way you can just stack something heavy on them to flatten them out. If you don’t have a soft beater, you can wrap an old sock over the beater head. You can also tape a small towel to the batter head of a bass drum to get a really dampened tone. A very thin piece of tape placed on snare wires(only on the wires, not touching the head) can eliminate unwanted buzzing, especially if the wires are old.

[Chiroman]

Yes, I have "found" one myself. By accident, after replacing the HD Dry Batter head on my DW Nickel over Brass 14 X 6.5 Snare and retuning it, reinstalling the Reso head and Wires, I couldn't get the drum sound like before replacing the head. A few weeks ago, I placed the DW Snare atop my 16 Inch Floor Tom, to get it out of the way while I was playing at home for some recreation. I played my other snare - a Maple 14 X 5.5 in the stand - during a fill I hit the DW snare ! Bingo - that was the sound I was seeking. Better than before replacing the batter head. Sounded like a Ludwig Supraphonic - John Bonham sound. Take it off the Tom, it was not the same. Posts of various Drumming Forums posters said that I was playing 2 drums simultaneously; one poster said Jokingly that I may have invented a new Snare stand. I tried different Batter heads: UV1 and a UV2 - still couldn't get to that same sound of the HD Dry sitting on top of the Floor Tom.

[ziggismalls]

That Helge Schneider Shirt is awesome!

[hugolafhugolaf]

0:45 Nice variation on the Purdie Shuffle and Fool in the Rain.

[garyanderson]

Turning a cymbal inside out may not break it if you leave it that way, but returning it to its original shape and then inside out again will break it. bending metal back and forth will eventually break it.

[gumobe]

Some things I had not thought of(eg inside out cymbals) & some I sort of knew of but had not got around to trying (an old head on top of the existing batter head). Thanks

[rigorhead]

Those toms (with the reso heads) sound amazing!

[AJK.]

Cut out bandanas into the shape of your heads, basically a less drastic towel sound and it looks awesome too!
It’s like DIY “Drum Tortillas”

[jonpowell]

Great tips bro!!

8-bit sounding Hi-Hat.

I've got a Zildjian semi thick Hi-Hat that sounds great. Any good Hi-Hat will do. If you want an 8-bit sounding HHat, take the bottom tray of a living room halogen lamp (just the tray) and cup it over the top of the HH loosely. BOOM! you've got an acoustic 8-bit sounding Hi-Hat.

[thomasmowforth]

I dont recommend ever trying to play your cymbals inside out, despite what the video says, it 100% does/will damage them.

[joseph-owhf]

My. bass drum came w/ a huge hole in the reso head and a piece of that sculpted foam in the bottom, When I changed all heads to Evans, I put on a reso w/ no hole at all and no damping material. Massive improvement in sound. Very punchy and no ringing. BTW: you can kill ringing on toms by making the the reso heads very loose. If you want some overtones, it takes very small amounts of tightening the lugs to get it right. Go too tight and the drum will start to ring. For the snare, the best way IMHO is to get a small bag and put some coins or washers (something metal) inside and tape it to the rim, w/ the bag resting on the batter head. When head is struck, the bag will bounce up, letting the resonance come thought, the fall back down to cut of the duration of the over tone. You have to do a bit of experimenting to get the weight correct. I got this hack from Stephen Clark at The Non-glamorous Drummer site.Much better than tape or Moongel. Keeps your the true sound of you snare. I agree w/ post below. I would never attempt to invert my expensive Zildjian cymbals.

[ASpoonfulOfJimmy]

I once accidentally turned a cymbal inside out by stepping on it. I've been using it in a stack ever since!

[EricWilliamsDrums]

Those hats sounded great - what series and size?

[Surmoka]

The only modification I like of these is the loosened kick drum head. None of the others.

[DavidOakesMusic]

I have two L80 10" splashes. might have to try this - although they are made of thicker material so I dunno !

[irrsinnrainer]

F those drum hacks. You had me with the Helge Schneider shirt :D Joking aside: That Kickdrum sounds fantastic! I really fell in love with your quality content and all those useful information about drums and drumsounds