Studio drums, birch or mapple
- Thread starter blackcom
- Start date
KeithRT99
BOOSH.
maple, i think it sounds better. PLay a maple kit, then play a birch kit. you'll hear the difference.
Razorjack
Bass Behemoth
I guess maple will get you where you want. Thick low mids, roundness, and great balance.
Birch has more attack and less low mids, sounds good but maple is definitely more polyvalent and pleasant sounding to me.
I had a Premier Signia maple kit before, recorded them a hundred times, they sounded huge ! Now I have a Pearl Reference kit (which is made from birch, maple and mahogany depending on the shell), damn it sounds really ENORMOUS, I love it !!
Mahogany is awesome too (check out the Pearl MHX), it sounds a bit like maple, but with more bass, and warmer low mids, absolutely huge. Really love the sound of my floor toms with mahogany inside of them.
Birch has more attack and less low mids, sounds good but maple is definitely more polyvalent and pleasant sounding to me.
I had a Premier Signia maple kit before, recorded them a hundred times, they sounded huge ! Now I have a Pearl Reference kit (which is made from birch, maple and mahogany depending on the shell), damn it sounds really ENORMOUS, I love it !!
Mahogany is awesome too (check out the Pearl MHX), it sounds a bit like maple, but with more bass, and warmer low mids, absolutely huge. Really love the sound of my floor toms with mahogany inside of them.
Birch is not bad at all for metal, sounds quite a bit EQed, it can a good idea. Although I find that playing and recording maple drums is more exciting because of that roundness and "beautiful" tone. Apples and oranges here. Depends what you dig the most ! 
jesterroot4
Member
perspex haha i'm joking, i beleive my drummer has a maple sonar kit, and bloody hell does it sound fat!!!!
like the others have been saying, nice warm low mids
in an acoustic treated room the tones realy come out nicely and it makes the kit just sound so powerful.
on the other hand, my other drummer has a pearl export made from birch and im realy starting to not like it. theres not realy any feeling in it.
like the others have been saying, nice warm low mids
in an acoustic treated room the tones realy come out nicely and it makes the kit just sound so powerful.
on the other hand, my other drummer has a pearl export made from birch and im realy starting to not like it. theres not realy any feeling in it.
Sloan
Sounds like shit!
I've got a $500 Gretsch birch kit that i've used for years and i really like it. Most drummers that come in and mess around on it seem to like it too. I haven't ever done any real A/B comparisons or anything, but I definitely get workable sounds. If I could only have like 10 different sets on hand, it would be great, but I would have a hard time working with a boner all day.
skuller
Member
- Oct 5, 2003
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Two questions about maple, though...
-Will mapple kits generally produce lower pitch in toms and kick then birch?
-Can maple be problematic due to ringing? I've had a Pearl Master Custom Maple kit with abassador resonance heads and coated beater heads in my studio. Usually i'm good with tuing drums, but no matter how long we tried or what we did the toms would ring on forever. We had to put cottonballs inside the toms to controll the ringing to get a usefull kit. Any others here with experience on this matter? Can maple be problematic in the ringing dept? Alot of drummers plays very fast rolls over here.
I wish Andy would chime in on this one, he seems to get a lot of good drum sounds and I don't think this have been covered on the forum before.
-Will mapple kits generally produce lower pitch in toms and kick then birch?
-Can maple be problematic due to ringing? I've had a Pearl Master Custom Maple kit with abassador resonance heads and coated beater heads in my studio. Usually i'm good with tuing drums, but no matter how long we tried or what we did the toms would ring on forever. We had to put cottonballs inside the toms to controll the ringing to get a usefull kit. Any others here with experience on this matter? Can maple be problematic in the ringing dept? Alot of drummers plays very fast rolls over here.
I wish Andy would chime in on this one, he seems to get a lot of good drum sounds and I don't think this have been covered on the forum before.
skuller
Member
a friend of mine, when i showed him my new birch kit, said this in comparison to his maple kit:
"it kind of goes dooom when you hit it, were maple's more like dooooommmm"
unless he's talking about actual doom being presented when it's hit, i'm pretty sure he was referring to the resonance tails.
i think birch is gonna provide more cut in a mix. $.02
check out the new pearl vision stuff. great woods, and aesthetic, for not too much $
"it kind of goes dooom when you hit it, were maple's more like dooooommmm"
unless he's talking about actual doom being presented when it's hit, i'm pretty sure he was referring to the resonance tails.
i think birch is gonna provide more cut in a mix. $.02
check out the new pearl vision stuff. great woods, and aesthetic, for not too much $
I think the ringing has more to do with the depth of the drums, versus the wood. If you get a maple kit with the F.A.S.T. tom sizes (they are 2-3" shorter than "power" toms) then you won't have an issue with the 80s sounding toms that ring forever.
You will get better tone out of a maple kit, and even if you have to put moongels, or cotton, or duct tape, on the kit to get a good resonance, I think it's worth it.
You will get better tone out of a maple kit, and even if you have to put moongels, or cotton, or duct tape, on the kit to get a good resonance, I think it's worth it.
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
Birch will surely cut more but it will be less warm and round than maple, you'll get a more focused attack.
It's a matter of tastes, I generally prefer maple because the tone is generally beefier and warmern. The Pearl Reference I have souds like the perfect mixture If you have the money, go for an high end maple kit (or a Pearl Reference ahahah), if you have a smaller budget, birch kits like the new Pearl Masters Premium or Tama Starclassic Performer will be killer too.
And don't dampen drums ! Use thicker heads like Emperor on toms and Powerstroke 3 on the bass drum. IMO Ambassadors on toms have too much mids for metal.
I did thousand drum recordings and 95% of the time I avoid dampening drums, I love them to sing naturally. For faster stuff like death metal, use heads like Pinstripes or Powerstrokes on toms, they will get you the sharp attack you need and will cut a major part of the sustain.
It's a matter of tastes, I generally prefer maple because the tone is generally beefier and warmern. The Pearl Reference I have souds like the perfect mixture
If you have the money, go for an high end maple kit (or a Pearl Reference ahahah), if you have a smaller budget, birch kits like the new Pearl Masters Premium or Tama Starclassic Performer will be killer too.And don't dampen drums ! Use thicker heads like Emperor on toms and Powerstroke 3 on the bass drum. IMO Ambassadors on toms have too much mids for metal.
I did thousand drum recordings and 95% of the time I avoid dampening drums, I love them to sing naturally. For faster stuff like death metal, use heads like Pinstripes or Powerstrokes on toms, they will get you the sharp attack you need and will cut a major part of the sustain.
Aaron Smith
Envisage Audio
My drummer is gonna drop $1500 - $2000 on a new kit soon and he and I were recently discussing the maple vs birch issue... I can't say for sure if I have a strong opinion or not, just because only recently have I started paying attention to wood types. What kind of wood were the toms on Doomsday Machine? That tends to be the tom sound that I always go for (opposed to a Tue Madsen kind of tom sound) and I've gotten extremely similar results with maple. I don't even think I've ever recorded a birch kit, though. Does Tomas Haake use a birch kit, or am I just making that up?
Tomas Haake uses a Sonor Designer Maple kit, but ObZen sounds like real drums mixed with triggered DFHS samples + tons of EQ and compression.
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
In no particular order the quality of head, state of bearing edge and overall quality of the drum - and by that the hardware, not the pretty lacquered finish - have a far far greater influence on drum sound than the wood - i've tested Pearl MMX and Pearl Export back to back setup with the same heads, same room etc etc and the difference isn't in any way shape or form something that is "better".
Infact if blind tested or better double blind tested you might spot a difference - but it's not better, it a difference. In a mix you won't spot a damn thing.
Make some tunes instead...
Cheers
Infact if blind tested or better double blind tested you might spot a difference - but it's not better, it a difference. In a mix you won't spot a damn thing.
Make some tunes instead...
Cheers
