Tommyp!

Thanks for the excellent review of Buddy's muffling technique! Enjoy your summer drumming!

Mark

Guys!... but there's MORE!... there's always more! Regarding Buddy's use of a sheet of plywood:

That is true... but it didn't always happen. It was completely contingent on the particular venue and HOW the stage was "dressed". If there were heavy curtains and/or carpeting... Buddy's drums would be set up on the plywood as he wanted that reflectivity/brightness coming back at him from his drums. As many of you know, certain theater's have sound deadening "devices" on stage to "improve" the sound... which it does in a lot of cases, with the exception of the drums. They get completely dead/dry with very little to no overtone. Buddy hated that! ( I have to admit that I do too... although I don't travel with a sheet of plywood! ) .. so in those cases, his drums were set up on the plywood. I saw BR LIVE 5 times between 1972 and 1978, and he didn't use the plywood at any of those particular venues as all the stage's were wood with excellent reflectivity. Regarding the bass drum head set-up/selection:

Eric!... it's pretty well known that I am a Buddy FREAK!.. ( ya think? LOL! ) .. and I have TWO EXACT BR sets, a 1950 WFL and a 1965 Rogers Buddy Rich Celebrity. I gig the Rogers 99.9% of the time, but have to admit that I have the bass drums on BOTH sets set-up a little more "contemporary" in sound/heads than BR did. Reason for that is Buddy was playing pretty much strictly big band, whereas I have to cover a few more bases stylistically. Because of that, I play a coated Evans EMAD on the batter side using the SMALL foam ring, and have the resonant/front head.. ( which are Ambassadors ) .. wide open except for one felt strip. That's it! The bass drum ROARS, yet can also be played softly with plenty of presence, and I never have to worry about too much "boom"... as it were. Cool thing is, all of this is completely subjective to personal choice!, and whatever you decide is what will be perfect for you! I want to mention that my bass drums are also 14X24's... just like Buddy's.

Lastly, you really would have had to see/hear him LIVE to get an idea as to how his bass drum sounded/felt. You could FEEL IT if you were in the first couple of rows! Recorded though, well... limiter's, mix, padding at the board, etc. are all going to have an effect on what/how we hear it. LIVE... different story!

Tommyp

PS: Here's a pic of my '65 Rogers Buddy Rich Celebrity's in the gig zone.

Tommyp!

You are a treasure trove of information! Wish I lived closer. It would be a real kick to hang out and talk drums with you... which I'm sure most of which would be Buddy related!

Mark

Hi Tommy!

You´re an open book man! Such an honor and pleasure to share fórum with people like you

Regards from ArgentinaCool1

Hi again Tommy!

Know I'm wondering how he kept his same drum sound on the toms from Rogers to Ludwig?

Anything special or are my ears just playing tricks on me?

Thanks in advance for anymore insight on BR drum tuning/tensioning :)

Eric,

sounds like you know Buddy didn't "tune" his drums..(ya can't!)...he "tensioned" them....

Guess I forgot he used a wood beater .....as did Keith Moon...and others....

Blair!

Check my reply in post #5... I did of course mention the wood bass drum beater!

Tommyp

Eric!

I must respectfully say that... your ears are playin' tricks on you! HUGE difference sound wise between the different drums/companies that Buddy played over his career. Starting with his WFL endorsement.. then to Rogers.. ( WFL's sounded "flat", whereas the Rogers were quite "bright" with a bit more tone, having to do with the 5 ply vs. 3 ply shell no doubt! ) .. then through Fibes.. Trixon/Vox.. ending up at.. Slingerland. His Slingerland's sounded different compared to all of those prior too... but "close enough" to know that it was Buddy. I honestly always thought that he carried a bit more of "his sound" in his hands/approach, if you know what I mean. His last Ludwig endorsement in 1978, well... those were probably the worst sounding out of all of them I thought. Still, you knew it was Buddy! In my opinion, and of course just MY opinion... I always thought Buddy sounded BEST on his Rogers drums. Those drums just always sounded GREAT, irrespective of venue, live, recorded, etc. I have always maintained that BR would have stayed with Rogers had it not been for the CBS top brass, but that is of course... another story!

Tommyp

Tommy, that's funny because I was listening to him playing on a Rogers kit, Mercy Mercy Mercy and thought that kit sounded a bit like a deader Luddy :confused:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFzf-khFwtc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFzf-khFwtc[/ame]

But, this is the sound I was looking for, hoping to know if he used Remo Ambassadors

coated top and bottom or?

The kick in this video sounds like the same BR kick drum sound across the board to me, I'm guessing his little mini riser is plywood painted black.

As far as 5 ply vs 3, I always thought less plies = more resonance. Both of my 3 ply Premiers ring forever, where as my Tama kits with 5 and 8 plies respectively are less resonant even with Diplomats all the way around.

My WFL 3 ply dinosaur kit has flat bearing edges on the ride and floor tom so I can't compare those. Those 2 toms are DEAD and I've left that kit completely original.

I think I really need a 60's Rogers kit! :)

Tommy,

yes!>>Did see...that's why I mentioned that....