Studio Drummer – Sweet Spot

*YOU WANT TO BE VERY CONSISTENT STRIKING THE DRUM IN EXACTLY THE RIGHT SPOT.*

 

Every drum has a ‘sweet spot’.  This is the spot on the drum where the drum speaks to its utmost ability.  Use your ear and find all of your drum’s sweet spots and practice hitting them every time.  It’s more difficult than you might think!  It’s usually the center of the drum or slightly off center.  Use and develop your ear!

 

Where does the stroke sound best to you?

 

 

*AS A SESSION PLAYER YOU’LL BE ASKED TO STRIKE YOUR SNARE INCLUDING A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF RIM.*

 

This means striking the drum but also including a touch of the rim, which creates a tremendous amount of crack and attitude out of the drum. 

This is tricky but you need to practice this. 

Practice the same consistency of your stroke but this time your stroke will be off-centre, slightly to the side of the drum and catching consistently the same amount of rim. You don’t want more rim and then less rim etc. 

You need to develop a style in this area that gives you consistency and attitude that you can pull out immediately if a producer requests it.

 

 

On the issue of weight;

 

*YOU DON’T WANT TO OVER-HIT EITHER!*

 

Drums tend to choke sonically when they are over-hit.  You can hear this very clearly with snares and toms.  You want to strike the drum with enough impact to excite the drum and make it sing but not to over-hit the drum and choke it.