Electronic Drums VS Acoustic

Bands that use Acoustic drums: 90% of the time your live drums sound like crap. There. I said it. Looks neat, sounds like crap. Like your beating on various sizes of cardboard boxes. Or since the venue is kind of small, you are overpowering the rest of the music with your dry uneffected sound. Especially electronic based bands. The lovely sound men of the world aren't mic-ing them correctly no matter how great they are, and if they do mic them correctly they aren't getting them to a decent level until your last 2 or 3 songs. That's all good to know isn't it? Especially since you are having to lug all that crap all over the world, set it all up, and paying to the change the heads every few shows. Acoustic drums in a modern rock band is like playing an acoustic guitar with distortion.

The only thing is, Acoustic drums are much easier than Electronic drums. You hit an Acoustic drum and it makes a sound. It plays, power or no. The soundman knows they are working, if he doesn't hear it in the PA he knows it's his problem, not yours. Plus, soundmen that are acoustic purists aren't going to screw with you. They love that flat-assed uneffected drum sound. Not so much with Electronic drums.

Electronic drums are hard to do. No power no play. If the venue power isn't grounded right all sorts of fun could happen. They can look dinky. Most of them don't have flashy looking cymbals, so why you hit a crash there is no movement. You don't feel the sound coming from the drum kit like you do an acoustic set, you hear it from the PA, so it almost seems unreal. HOWEVER, when an Electronic drum kit is okay in a live mix, it is kicking all sorts of ass over an acoustic kit. Each kit is premixed, with each sound specifically tempered for each song. It is tight, and it is powerful. Also, you never have to replace a head. About every 2 years of so you have to replace a drum, but the cost doesn't add up to all the acoustic heads you have to replace on an acoustic set. Also it travels well. It's at least half the size of a regular kit with 100 times the amount of sounds. I can pick up almost the entire kit on a rack set it on stage and it's good to go after plugging in a few things. BAM!

Just sayin...