Not Every Drum Kit Sounds The Same

  If you are like me you love music and as a drummer I live to play music. Most people don't take into consideration that the type of instrument has a huge impact on what the song is going to sound like. For example, an entry level drum kit isn't going to sound like a DW kit. This doesn't just apply to drum kits, it goes for guitars, basses, pianos, etc. But in this blog we are just going to talk about drums and what different variables effect the sound of the kit.

    So like I said not every instrument sounds the same and this definitely applies to drum kits. Some popular drum brands are DW, Gretsch, Ludwig, PDP, and Pearl. Now that's just a select few of different types of drum kits. In my opinion they all sound great, I myself own a PDP drum kit.

    Some main variables that impact the way the drums sound would be the type of wood that is being used, how thick the wood is, the size of the drum, and the types of drum heads that you can choose from.
Lets start out with the types of wood, there are three main types of wood that most drum kits use and they are Maple, Birch, and Mahogany.

Maple- Slightly boosted lows with smooth mid and high frequencies for all around purpose.
Birch- Boosted high frequencies, slightly reduced mids, and a good low end punch.
Mahogany- Extremely rich low end frequencies, with sweet smooth mids and a slight roll-off in the higher  frequencies.

     Now lets talk about the thickness of the drum. Basically, the thicker the shell, the higher it will sound. The thinner the shell, the lower it will sound. The thickness is measured in plies, which is just a layering of sheets of wood. For example a drum that was labeled 6ply would have 6 layers of wood. There are thin, medium, and thick shells.

Thin- (4 ply, 5mm) enable relatively easy energy transfer from the heads to the shells causing the shells to vibrate. This vibration causes a very rich "wood" tone to the overall sound. .
Medium- (6 ply, 7.5mm) stiff and resist energy transference from the heads. Has less shell vibration then the thin shells. Drums made to this thickness are ideal for general-purpose applications.
Thick- (8 ply, 10mm and 10 ply, 12.5mm) designed to allow most of the player's energy to be focused to an audience. These drums are ideal for stadium venues and other events requiring high sound pressure levels.

     The bigger the diameter of a drum, the deeper it will sound. For example: a 16 inch floor tom will sound much lower than a 12 inch tom. The depth of the shell also effects the tone. The deeper the shell, the lower the sound and vice versa. A deeper drum will also be louder and therefore project more. A shallow drum won't project as well, but it will have better resonance and a create a more pure tone.

     So there you have it, a basic guide on what effects the sound of the your drum kit. Keep in mind these are just a few variables to take into consideration before you buy a drum kit. 

-Rhys Chartier GCSC Digital Media

Film Vs Digital

        In my last blog, I talked about how certain people prefer listening to vinyl records over digital music. I started to think the same would be true in photography, in the use of film versus digital photos. Apparently so have numerous other people, evident by the number of articles and blogs already covering the topic. So what it comes down to for me is a matter of preference; and this time I tend to prefer digital photographs for several reasons:

The first reason is longevity; this could be the same reason why some people prefer film as well. A digital photograph will look the same in 10 years as the day you took it. Film, on the other hand, will succumb to the elements and show signs of age over time, possibly even completely deteriorating. However; the grainy aging of film is a characteristic that some photographers seem to desire. Again, this effect is something that could be easily duplicated on a digital photo too.

This brings me to the second reason, of why I prefer digital photographs over film. Editing, there are far too many programs and apps out there that allow you to easily edit a digital image. The possibilities are endless when it comes to fixing a photo or manipulating it to an extreme. These programs can be seen as methods that detract from the “realness” of the image. This is a point I do agree with, mainly because of the extremes people have gone to improve their images. In some ways the skill has changed from an ability to capture a priceless image to the ability to create a priceless image, through software, from a standard image. I still believe these programs are still invaluable enhancement tools, when used for the right reasons.

The last reason I personally prefer digital photos over film is: Time. The time it takes to capture a moment and be able to share that moment with whomever I want to, makes digital images that much more valuable. Photos are instantly available, without even having to shake anything in the air.

-Chris Moses, GCSC Student

A Digital Society

  Imagine the world around us 10-15 years ago. Cell phones were just phones with no internet connection, computers were home and office based technologies only, if one were to have one at all, and people were social butterflies going out into the world for face to face interactions. Now, cell phones are mini computers, laptops can be taken anywhere and everyone of us
owns some kind of digital technology, which, has led to and is leading more into a world of virtual hermit crabs. People no longer have to step outside their house unless they want to. We can shop at home, go to school at home, go to work at home, and even socialize at home. Although, we are able to connect to people all over the world in a matter of one finger click; sitting alone in front of a computer is isolating us. We are becoming less physically active and are losing more and more face time with other people. I can imagine the world 10-15 years from now where no one steps foot outside. It's a ghost town all over the universe while everyone is inside their homes on a computer.

This is what more and more families are starting to do instead of sitting at the dinner table talking about their days.

 

 

  I am a victim of this. My family and I get home, eat dinner on the couch and all get on our phones interacting with the entire world except ourselves. We are all losing touch with one another. We cannot, of course, get rid of technology or its advancements, but as a society we can put forth the effort in actually calling someone instead of sending an email or text. We can go out to lunch, have coffee or drinks instead of staying in to play video games on the computer. We, as a society, have to put forth the effort to not allow technology to isolate us.

 Social isolation refers to a complete or near-complete lack of contact with people and society. There's a real disorder for this and it's called social anxiety. Social anxiety affects 36% of society in America alone. Imagine how this percentage is growing higher and higher as people start to isolate themselves.

 Many don't think anything of technology and its effects because it's convenient and right there in our hands, but there is a very real problem arising with growing technology nowadays and I don't look forward to seeing how it will look in the future.

~Megan Burleson