Episodes
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You might have seen a new brand of drumsticks at your music store. A brand you didnāt grow up with, Los Cabos.
Most music gear companies are started by musicians, but when Larry Guay started Los Cabos Drumsticks, he wasnāt a drummer ā he still isn't ā he was a wood turner, looking for a new industry. And he found one!
You can learn more at loscabosdrumsticks.com, and facebook.com/loscabossticks.
Drum Showroom is a production of Podcraft. Create a great podcast, faster and easier, at podcraft.us.
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Digital technology presented an electronic drumming future made more convenient, lighter weight, and cheaper; and thatās where the market went. But for a smaller group of e-drummers, analog was still what they wanted. The industry moved on, and it created opportunities for people like Bob Shepard, an electrical and radio frequency tech in the telecomm industry by day, and reverse engineering Synare circuitry in his free time. And he kept building them until retirement, when he started his company, Helensson.
Bob isnāt some luddite analog purist unwilling to look forward. Despite starting out emulating obsolete technology, heās embraced digital percussion with quite possibly the most flexible, capable trigger on the market. And heās become one of the most forward-looking music-product designers today with his latest product, Headcaster, which debuted at Summer NAMM. This brilliant reverse projector can display lyrics, sheet music, and more, in crisp detail on your rack tomās batter head, and itās powered by an Android device complete with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and all the latest digital consumer technology.
You can learn more about Bob and his company, Helensson, at helensson.com, and facebook.com/HelenssonLLC.
Drum Showroom is a production of Podcraft. Create a great podcast, faster and easier, at podcraft.us.
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This week we're thrilled to turn the spotlight on one of our own, Nate Testa. An aspiring drum nerd from Kissimmee, FL, Nate runs social media for Drum Showroom and has built his new brand, Snare Geek to share his passion. Recently, Nate got the call heād been praying for: the opportunity to participate on a national tour as a professional drum tech!
Nate is on tour with Blake Whiteley, teching for drummer Austin Ware and also running sound at Front of House. We talk foundations, lessons learned, Nate's love of the art of teardown, his favorite tools, stories from the road, the best thing he's eaten on tour, and more!
You can connect with and learn more about Nate Testa at testabeatdrums.com. His Instagrams are instagram.com/testabeatdrums and instagram.com/officialsnaregeek, and his Facebook pages are facebook.com/TestaBeatDrums and facebook.com/officialsnaregeek.
Drum Showroom is a production of Podcraft.
Have you ever considered starting a podcast? Because people connect to the human voice more deeply than the written word (or overproduced and expensive video), businesses that podcast have a competitive advantage in their marketplace.
Create a great podcast, faster and easier, at podcraft.us.
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In Season One, one of your favorite episodes was the one with Josh Allen, founder of INDe Drum Lab. So weāve decided to remix it and make it more digestible. Let us know what you think at drumshowroom.com.
Josh decided that staying at Ludwig was holding him back from creating something that was truly his due to the brandās amazing history and lineage. He wanted more of a clean slate from which to create.
Despite his corporate management and design expertise, at his core, Josh is a builder. He thinks in solutions to problems that take form as physical products. And heās not unwilling to be honest with himself about where needs to work the hardest.
Thereās a section of the INDe site at INDedrum.com titled, āļæ¼Tech, Design and Nerdery.ā I couldnāt think of a more fitting headline for talking shop with Josh. It got very geeky. If you love the nuts and bolts of drums, youāre really going to enjoy Josh Allenās design philosophy.
Joshās comes from an industrial design background. Industrial designers focus on the physical embodiment of the design. What does it look like? What is it made out of? What does it feel like in the hand? By contrast, mechanical engineers think in terms of function. How does this thing work? I enjoyed talking to Josh because he can talk like both an industrial designer, which is is by education, but also as a mechanical designer.
One of the things many drum companies focus on in their marketing is their bearing edges. And Josh has a really succinct, clear way of talking about the function and variables that matter in bearing-edge design.
What I think impressed me the most in talking with Josh is how he is just a systems thinker. Heās not just thinking about the systems that make up a great drum, but heās also engineering a great drum ownership experience through INDeās business model.
Learn more about Josh and INDe Drum Lab at INDedrum.com.
Drum Showroom is a production of Podcraft. Create a great podcast, faster and easier, at podcraft.us.
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Chances are, youāve seen a recent influx of classic-looking waxed canvas and leather-trimmed stick bags, cymbal bags, and other thoughtful accessories in your drum shop or Instagram feed. Maybe you first noticed Carter MacLean or Mike Johnston using them. Or maybe you saw them in Steve Maxwellās fine shops in New York and Chicago. In any case, it feels like everywhere you go, you see Tackle Instrument Supply Companyās wares.
You probably know the name, but you might not know that behind Tackle is a professional touring drummer named Scott McPherson. Scott came out of Portland, and now lives and operates Tackle from Minneapolis. Scott has built long-term playing relationships with Elliott Smith, Bright Eyes, She & Him, Beck and many others. And when Scott came through Asheville with the āHimā of She & Him, M. Ward, he sat down for breakfast and some conversation that I really enjoyed.
And in case youāre not aware, Tackle produces some things youāre probably familiar with, like stick bags and cymbal bags; accessories like bass drum hoop protectors, impact patches, and cymbal sizzlers; and also a third category of unique problem solvers that only could come from the mind of somebody who has dedicated themself to the craft of performance at the drums. Tackleās Gig Pouch, Gig Pocket, Shop Rag, leather cymbal washers, and other items all help drummers with the problems they face performing, setting up, and moving their drums.
Thanks to Green Sage Cafe for letting us sit and recordā¦ and thanks to this weekās audio producer, Ben Etter, for cleaning and processing the background noise! Hereās Scott McPherson of Tackle Instrument, and this is Drum Showroom.
I want to thank Scott McPherson for being so generous with his time. Not only did we talk for literally a couple of hours, but we also hung out for lunch and checked out some antiques, and then he invited my wife and me to see him perform that night at Ashevilleās famous Orange Peel rock club with M Ward. Scottās a no-nonsense player with superb musicality, selflessness, and tone for days. He sounded great.
You can learn more about Tackle Instrument at tackleinstrument.com and tackle_instrument on Instagram.
This episode was produced by Ben Etter with social media by Nate Testa. Drum Showroom is a production of Podcraft. Create a great podcast, faster and easier, at podcraft.us.
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Hey everybody, Dan here with a quick message from family vacation in Connecticut.
On behalf of the entire team, we're excited to share that Drum Showroom has been nominated for a 2018 Podcast Award! Please vote for Drum Showroom in the Music category at podcastawards.com. Voting closes July 31.
Thank you so much for making Drum Showroom so much fun for us. #PCA18
P.S. And don't forget to go listen to the first two episodes of the new Season! We kicked things off with Jared Falk of Drumeo, and followed it up with Garrett Hawkins' reportage from Summer NAMM.
P.P.S. And if you're still reading, if we could ask one more favor of you: please leave a rating and review of Drum Showroom. It really helps other drum gear fans discover the show. Thanks!
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Welcome to the special Summer NAMM 2018 edition of Drum Showroom. Twice a year, NAMM, the musical instrument industry trade organization, holds trade shows at which manufacturers display their latest instruments.
And as the only drum gear-specific podcast among the more-than half-a-million shows, we HAD to be there! So we sent Drum Showroom reporter, Garrett Hawkins, to get the scoop.
In this episode: new gear from Alesis, Yamaha, Ergosonic, Fat Hoops, Cooper Grooves, Pearl, Sonor, British Drum Co., Impression, Samsung, JBC, Drum Dots, Nice Company Japan, Beatbox, and Headcaster.
A word of full disclosure: I worked for Alesis as product manager several years ago, but didnāt give Garrett any direction on what to include in his report, and none of the companies featured in this coverage compensated us in any way.
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You might not have heard his company, Musora, but itās pretty likely you have heard of Drumeo, the education platform he runs, along with its sister sites Guitareo, Recordeo, and Pianote. Thatās right, weāre kicking off Season Three with Drumeo founder, Jared Falk.
As youāve hopefully seen in your social media and blog feeds, Jared and team Drumeo have partnered with us in the Drum Showroom Season Three Launch Giveaway. All you need to do to enter for a chance to win a Drumeo and Drum Showroom swag pack is like the contest post, comment with a question ā thatās your entry, so make it good ā and tag two of your friends. Weāll select our favorite questions as finalists, and answer them on an Instagram Live Story this week, where weāll randomly select the winner!
[AD] If youāre a podcaster looking to save time on production, or if youāre thinking about starting a podcast and are worried about how to get started, visit podcraft.us and create a great podcast, faster and easier with Podcraft.
And by the way, with the new season comes new technology. If youāre listening on an Android device, go get the brand-new Google Podcasts app so you can listen on your smartphone or tablet, and continue listening when you get home on your Google Home speaker. Weāre in there. And if you have an Amazon Alexa smart speaker, you can now add Drum Showroom to your Flash Briefing so youāll hear new episodes in your feed as soon as they come out.
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Welcome to Drum Showroom. Iām Dan Radin, checking in from our summer break. Well, technically summer starts tomorrow, but you get the idea.
Drum Showroom season three is just around the corner, and weāre opening up with three big episodes: Jared Falk of Drumeo, reporting from the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville, and Scott McPherson of Tackle Instrument Supply Company.
And with the new season comes new technology. If youāre listening on an Android device, go get the brand-new Google Podcasts app so you can listen on your smartphone or tablet, and continue listening when you get home on your Google Home speaker. Weāre in there. And if you have an Amazon Alexa smart speaker, you can now add Drum Showroom to your Flash Breifing so youāll hear new episodes in your feed as soon as they come out.
Drum Showroom season three starts this Sunday night. Stay tuned and tell your friends!
Oh, and one more thing. If you donāt currently follow Drum Showroom on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and our show page, drumshowroom.com, now is a great time to subscribe and follow because weāll be announcing a Drumeo and Drum Showroom swag pack giveaway in the next couple of days. See you soon!
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Ben O’Brien Smith started his career working at D’Addario, working on Evans drumhead projects like Black Chrome and Level 360, as well as the company’s integration and modernization of its Pro Mark drumstick acquisition.13 months ago, Ben departed his post to focus full time on building his social media creative firm, Cadence Independent Media. He already has an impressive stable of music clients. And his latest project, Sounds Like a Drum, is THE YouTube channel Drum Showroom listeners have been waiting for: how to reliably create the exact sound you’re after.More at drumshowroom.com
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This week’s show focuses on somebody I think of as a member of the Drum Podcasting Mount Rushmore. Someone who’s been speaking to the drumming community since all the way back in 2014, and has amassed an audience of more than 67,400 on Instagram. That’s a lot of drummers!Daniel Stevens started The Drum Heads Podcast after a back injury kept him from being able to play the drums, resulting in Daniel finding himself depressed. He used podcasting as a way to connect to people. And for four years, it worked. Until it didn’t.On May 8th, Daniel posted on The Drum Heads’ Instagram: “Hey guys, Unfortunately, I’m going to be taking a temporary hiatus from The Drum Heads Podcast. To be 100% straight up honest with you guys it can’t do it right now. Between being a husband, a father of 4, working 50 plus weeks and trying to produce a show. I’m completely burnt out. I’m beginning to lose my joy for drums & drumming. I never want to lose my passion for being a drummer. Drumming & Podcasting was my happy place but lately, it has slowly turned into something I dread and it’s beginning to impact my family life & my mental health. So with that being said the show is going to have to go on hiatus until I can get everything figured out.”This kind of message takes courage and vulnerability for anyone to share, and Daniel was very open about his challenges. I want to thank Daniel for being open and honest about the challenges he and his show are facing. In our age of curated social media presentation of ourselves, we often sand off the warts and show other people only the good parts. Daniel is courageous in sharing about his mental health and I want to encourage anyone who’s listening: if you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, don’t suffer alone.We have plenty of resources where you can start a conversation. Reach out. We are a community, and we take care of each other. It can be tough to start these conversations but you’ll be glad you did.More at drumshowroom.com
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Toby Goodman, pro drummer, percussionist, and business owner at The Business of Music, is a great example of how drummers can curate their lifestyle to include, but not solely dedicate all of their professional activity to playing the drums. I think Toby’s approach to balancing the load is a very smart one. And that’s not only good for his career longevity and creative spirit, but also for his ability to be a good dad and husband. More at drumshowroom.com
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Talking to Mike Martin of Predator Percussion brings to mind a single word: humility. This is a guy who doesn’t spend a lot of time bemoaning a workplace injury that snatched away his ability to play the drums for extended periods of time. It’s not a guy who sounds like he requires a lot of external validation. Mike is a guy who’s just working away in his spare time in his New Whiteland, Indiana shop making beautiful drums at fair prices using an unusual approach to produce uncommon results. Even his pricing is humble, starting at just $545 for a handcrafted stave snare drum. More at drumshowroom.com
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This week’s #drumtrepreneur, Ramy Antoun, who founded A&F Drum Co., has a growing team of nine. A&F hand makes nearly every element of its luxury snare drums and drum sets in Austin, Texas. Inspired by the drums from a hundred years ago, and built on old-fashioned values that extend from manufacturing methods to the way the company is financed, Ramy and his team are nearing the finish line of year two, of their hundred-year business plan.More at drumshowroom.com
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Ryan Gruss is one of today’s most successful #drumtrepreneurs. Dissatisfied with the quality of stock GarageBand loops, he made his own. Ryan built, and recently sold his company, The Loop Loft, to Native Instruments in under a decade.The Loop Loft creates loops by working with name brand musicians such as Omar Hakim, Simon Phillips, Matt Chamberlain, and many other drummers and other instrumentalists so that music makers can create songs, loops, and practice tracks that have human spirit. Wouldn’t you rather practice with Janek Gwizdala’s bass through your laptop than your Rhythm Watch’s shrill pulse?Now part of Native Instruments as Director of Product – Content, Ryan is free to focus on creating, while the Native team handles all the back-office business stuff. Pretty great!More at drumshowroom.com
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John Haddad of Cherry Hill Custom Drums is perhaps the most famous machinist in drums today. He creates some of the most beautiful drum hardware you will ever see. While John and Cherry Hill are best known for luxury brass drum keys and hi-hat clutches, he’s also a master woodworker, hand making stave and segment exotic wood, and cast metal snare drums that bear the made-one-at-a-time parts for which he’s best known. More at drumshowroom.com
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Joe Wong is the host of the outstanding podcast, The Trap Set, about the lives of drummers. And he was recently in the spotlight for his production credit on the Fred Armisen Netflix special, Standup for Drummers. We talk drums, podcasts, drummers, interviews, working with Fred, drum gear, and more!Are you an audio-production genius? Drum Showroom is looking for a rockstar audio producer to help push our production level higher. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact us at drumshowroom.com/contact.Transcript and links at drumshowroom.com
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Have you ever played a totally custom, hand-hammered, handmade cymbal? Maybe you’ve experienced one of those holy grail old Ks made in Turkey. Or perhaps you’ve played a Spizzichino, a Bettis, or a Lauritzen. If these names aren’t familiar to you – and there’s a good chance they’re not – stay tuned because everything you think you know about what cymbals can be, is about to change.Ray Byrne is a different type of personality than I’ve ever had on Drum Showroom. He speaks with the language of an artist, devoid of salesmanship and look-at-me marketing. This matter-of-fact style of speaking made him a joy to talk to and a pleasure to edit.More at drumshowroom.com
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In this episode we’re talking with the founders of one of the hottest new drum accessories on the market: Sterling and Braden from Drumkubes, the most fun way to optimize your bass drum. Our guests conceived of, prototyped, filed patent for, produced, began sale of, and built a community of followers for their product within about six months. And it made in the US. Impressive. More at drumshowroom.com
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Steven Wolf is one of the world’s most in-demand studio musicians. He came up as a drummer, and is very much the modern definition of what a studio drummer is today: a player, a programmer, a beat maker, a producer, a songwriter, and a remixer. Wolf splits time between the drum throne and Pro Tools rig, where he does most of his work composing and producing beats for the likes of Alicia Keys, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé, Pink, Aretha Franklin, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, and literally hundreds of other household names. His discography includes Number 1, Gold, Platinum, and Grammy®-winning records. Read more at drumshowroom.com
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