Turtlerock Forum

So i saw van halen "jump" on the video show this morning
Anybody care to explain the drum kit to me
Ludwig ( vistalite) ..but four kick drums
but the
Heads of the kick drums have some device that looks like
A speaker horn attached to them ?

Any ideas?

Yes i know there a lot of " time pieces"
In that video that defy logical explaination

But whats with those kick drums ?

using speaker horns as mics?

If you look carefully you'll notice that there are actually 6 bass drums. The inner two are doubled. Apparently he played the inner two (four) & they were ported via some kind of ducting or hose to the outer two. I don't know if the horns are for cosmetic or acoustic purposes, but he used Simmons electronic drums as part of the kit so maybe they were something to do with that as well? If you look carefully again there are fire extinguishers mounted on the kit, so maybe there are amps or something in there? I heard somewhere that he also used to tape the inside of this tom (& snare? memory is struggling here) shells to dampen resonance. He certainly had a distinct drum sound.

2 fire extinguishers .. right
6 kick drums .. check
1 david lee roth... accounted for and good to go
on 5

5
4
3
2
1

dah dah ,danna na ... etc etc

I saw that clip too for the first time in years - did you notice all his Roto toms too? Love Rototoms - I'm assembling a full kit of them atm.

I know you really know about the multiple BDs.... but for the younger players: apart from the bling they provide it's often for multple pitches - using remote pedals you can pivot your foot and have the option of different pitch BDs - or you can play two footplates at once to get 2 pitches (I do this with BD and hats to get 2 sounds from the one foot).

I'm not sure if these large numbers of bass drums are ever played (except maybe Bozzio and Peart).
I saw Lee Roth in the 90's and they had the typical wall of Marshalls filling the back of the stage. The guitarists were actually using a couple of pint sized Boogie combos (hidden), with maybe 1 Marshall amp and a couple of 4 x 12's.
The majority were fake, empty cabs.


Love roto-toms too

Something like this.....

peter you are going to lose your licence to rock posting photo like that !
arent you a still a payed up member of the guild ?

what will we tell the kids ?

rick wrote:what will we tell the kids ?

Obviously, they were using flat panel LCD speakers.

tunetown wrote:

marshall Wall Of Death.jpg

Something like this.....

I want a wall in my studio with these! Fill 'em up with soundscreen insulation, use them as bass traps!

DwaneHollands wrote:I want a wall in my studio with these! Fill 'em up with soundscreen insulation, use them as bass traps!

You don't need bass traps, just use the proper amplifier:

That photo is gold!

Sorry to spoil the fun, but back to the drums.

I always liked that dry, snappy snare sound they got on so many records (during Roth's or Hagar's time). Anyone know how?

By a random coincidence that song came on the radio on the way into work, and so I listened to the drums closely (for the first time).

It really is a killer drum sound, especially because it is from the early 80's when the "douche" snare was so fashionable.

His playing is outstanding as well. He does some really intriguing stuff during the guitar solo - very jazz-like phrasing on the kick and snare (the thundering tone is perhaps not quite so jazz-like).

Manning wrote:the "douche" snare .

hahahaha. douche = gated verb snare? or is there other douches im unaware of?

jkhuri44 wrote:

Manning wrote:the "douche" snare .

hahahaha. douche = gated verb snare? or is there other douches im unaware of?

That's the one. My idea of hell is being locked in a room and forced to listen to REO Speedwagon's drum tracks.

Yes - yet another very good drummer is Mr VH - probably a bit under-rated in "greatest drummer" conversations.

The snare sound? Where do you start? kit in a dead zone / heavy weight top skin wth medium-low tension top and bottom / muffling / loose snare wires / close miking / Gate / Compress / Double / Delay / 'verb / bit of 10K ish and low-mid EQ / and Alex.

Though I find it easier to get close to this sound with a 6.5 x14" wood snare and diecast hoops.

George Saer was the guest on Pensado's Place a couple of weeks ago and talked alot about the recording of van halen (cant remember if he mentioned drums though)

http://thisweekin.com/pensados-place/en ... orge-saer/