When I heard that a lot of studio pros in L.A. were playing this kit,
I got inspired and custom made myself one out unfinished
Keller 5 ply all maple shells

10", 10", 10" and a 14" X 14" floor tom
with
an 18" X 18" kick that is raised off the ground so that
the sweet spot on the drum is hit, normally by the bass drum beater.

I had the guy who's done house sound at the Catalyst for 20 years say
it was the best sounding drum kit that he's ever heard there.

I have 45 degree bevels on all drums and I tune the drums to unison pitches
but pretty deep.

the secret of how enormous they sound is that if you pitch a 16" X 16" floor tom
to the same note as a 8" X 10" , the 10" drum will have a decided pitch bend
down when struck (the stick tensions the head for a second causing the pitch to rise
and then the drum lowers as it resonates.) whereas the larger drum will just have
a non-pitch bent note that has a much longer envelope.

Ironically, the pitch bending drum sounds "BIG" to us, psychologically (remember we are talking
about tuning to the same exact pitch for both drums) but the fact that the envelope is much
shorter on the small drum means there is a lot more space in the sound.

Space around drums translates to 'BIG', again. Additionally, you can put a longer envelope on a
reverb on the drum without it's sounding mushy.

Additionally, there are less subsonic frequencies in the smaller drum which means considerably less
timbral masking with the bass guitars and the kick drum.

The drums stand out a lot more and they sound bigger.

Now, I purposefully don't play really notey fills on these drums because I really like a lot of space in the groove.......
but for those Russ Kunkely/Ringo Starr/ styled syncopated fills they sound fantastic.

Also, the 18" kick has enough depth for the subsonic multiplication to take place making it sound a lot
bigger than it's actual size. That kick sounds enormous, oddly enough, yet has enough space in it
so that it doesn't cause tons of timbral masking with bass guitar or bass synth sounds.

It's interesting but the most versatilve drums on a drum kit, in terms of tuning range are the 10" and 12" diameter drums.
You can pitch 10" drums a 1/4 interval apart and get really clear separation of pitch and tone between them.

This is a great kit and I've done hundreds of sessions with them in my life.
It's designed for mics too.

The fact that they have absolutely no covering or coating means that they tend to be warmer.
Every 4 or 5 years they get enough finger prints and oil on them that I have to sand them down.

Over time they have gotten thinner and thinner (and conseqeuntly, more and more resonant) as
I sand them down a little each time.

I'm set with this kit, but I occasionally record with a 26" kick 14" X 14" and 16" X 16" kit for that
enormous 'Bonham' thing which just can't be simulated wiht the smaller drum kit.

I have a 16" X 16", an 18" X 18", an 18" X 20" and a 14" X 26" kick drums in my studio collection,

all made out of unfinished maple.

I also have four other kicks that only have heads and no shells with thick naugahyde glued to both sides
for that 'TR 808' styled Analogue hip hop bass drum vibe. I actually use a 12" RIMS tom as a kick drum
for simulating Drum and Bass kicks that are recorded at 120 BPM and then played at 160-180 BPM
on a sampler. They're cool looking and people always assume that they are electronic trigger drums but they
are not, I put an AKG D112 mic a 1/2" away and crank up the bass on the board or parametric to get a huge sound.
My 14" inch drum sounds like god......................waaaaay too long of an envelope to do anything but single hit
styled kick drum patterns.

I play a six piece: small and large snare, two toms on the bass drum and a floor tom. HH plus a big ping ride, a medium crash and a splash mounted upside down on the same stand as a small crash. I use a double-bass drum pedal too, for those few songs where a double bass is just right. This kit takes me about 20-25 minutes to set up, from being in cases and bags to "ready to play." I play frequently and practice with my band weekly, so I'm setting it up and breaking it down a lot. Thus, I consider each piece I bring carefully.

This isn't quite as minimal as what you were describing, but nearly so. The extra snare is tiny and attaches to the side of the HH. It is definitely not a "fad" to play a smaller kit. If anything, I think *some* drummers playing larger kits are... "compensating" for something. It is always what you play, and not what you play on, that defines you as a drummer (in my opinion.) I've played on the backs of pots, books and logs and kept the rhythm while other people played melodies and bass lines on whatever they could find. It is still music and people loved it.

I've always been interested in how long it takes other people to set up from "cases" to "ready to play" but I've gotten some ridiculous answers that I just don't believe, like "five minutes." My kit is a Pearl Custom kit with mostly Pearl hardware -- standard stuff. My hands are fast and I know exactly where each piece goes. My kit comes out almost exactly identical to the last time each time I set it up.

Hey hey hey drummerdudes and drummerbabes!

It turns out to be a very interesting thread indeed. Thank you all so much for your kind and informative replies. You're cool! :-)

I decided to start experimenting with a smaller kit. Not because it is trendy but because I'd like to find out, where the limit of a smaller / minimalistic drum kit ist and whether the limited variations / possibilities are enough for me.

This thread is not closed, it would be great if we continued to share our thoughts and views about the size. Of drum kits, that is :-)
I'll write about my experiences for sure.

Thanks once more and keep those posts flowing in, maybe by answering the following two questions?

1. What tom sizes would you use if you had the choice of only one tom plus a floor tom?
2. Same questions with two toms plus a floor tom?

Regards,

LeDude / George

I play a fairly minimal kit. It's a four piece, but it's gigantic. I play a 14x14 snare (made it myself out of a Tama Artstar II tom), 16x16 rack tom, 22x16 floor tom and a strange kick drum that's two 22x16 kick drums stuck together end to end, making a 32 inch long drum. It sounds like several artillery pieces going off at once, but the obvious trade off is the heavy feel, as well as the ergonomics of such a beast. The set up is kind of a chore, too, as EVERYTHING is heavy, but after a while I got it down to about 15 minutes tops. I know it may not be the most studio friendly or perfectly resonant kit possible, but it's all about inspiration for me. When I sit down behind that monster I get really excited, and ideas just come flooding in. Whether I'm playing quick, jabbery bits with time changes every few seconds or slow, grinding sludgy stuff I love the way it delivers what I'm trying to get across. Lately I've been thinking of adding a 10 or 12 inch tom, but I may just get a set of octobans.

When I take my kit to the park, to kick some jungle beats for whirled peas, I like to travel Lite™. I'll take my 14x18" Ludwig Classic black sparkle kick and a Tama 5.5x10" Artwood snare mounted to a Tama hi-hat stand that has 10-12" hi-hats (usually Sabian or PAiSTe) and an 18" Sabian AA El Sabor - which has a great bell sound and can hold a ride pattern or give a clean crash - mounted to the cannon.

When I'm at home in my basement, and the drums aint goin nowhere, I like to set up my entire Taye GoKit collection; 8, 10, 12 toms, 14 & 16 floor toms, 16x18 kick, with two Tama snare drums, and a Roland SPD through a GK Backline wedge. Usually accompanied by eight or ten cymbals thrown up for good measure.

When I toured, I played a 5-piece Ludwig Classic in 13, 14, 15 toms with a big 16x26 kick. Live, I played PAiSTe cymbals with only hats, two crashes and a big RUDE ride. Mostly because It was really easy to set-up and tear down, fit into four cases, and I could almost always get someone else to carry the kick ;P