Mix & Match drums, not so much...

[aaamax]

I guess I am more shallow than I ever realized, LOL.

While packing up for a gig, I wondered why I always take a matching kit. Each of the kits I own have at least one outstanding tom, but not one kit is 100% perfect in tone. Tom here, kick there, etc.
Snares don't count I have always used unmatched.
But for the kit, I don't even like playing mixed/matched at home!

Never realized how much the visual effects me. Even to the point of toms that are not flat, but angled, irk me.
When there is a backline and barely enough time to make adjustments, angled toms will make me pizz myself, the more angle, the more pizz... LOL!
If the kit doesn't look about the way Clem Burke has his set up, I aint diggin' it.

When everything is done right I can sit off stage and just stare at the kit, under the lights, true love, LOL #3
I had never thought of this before and what's funny to me is that I never realized this until just now.

Anyone else suffer from drum kit visuals?

 

[cribbon]

I'm not totally OCD about stuff, but on the other hand I don't drop acid before I put together an a-la-carte drum set: The hardware in all my sets is mix-and-match and on my live gigging sets I don't mind if the brand of the toms and kick don't match (I often use timbales or Traps toms, so that's a common occurrence) but I like them to be the same color if possible. The exception to the rule: just for the hell of it I once put together a Frankensteined kit consisting of a Rogers big R metallic silver bass drum, a Ludwig black thermogloss concert tom and a faded gold sparkle Gretsch floor tom wrapped in wrinkled white contact paper. It would've been perfect for a Bonzo Dog Band gig.

In the few recording situations I've done, the Heinz 57 approach doesn't bother me at all - I pick stuff exclusively for sound, nobody's going to see how it looks.

 

[audiochurch]

I mix-and-match every gig. Here are Premier toms, Slingerland bd, Ludwig 13” Supralite, Sabian, Zildjian cymbals, gibralter, tama, yamaha, vintage ludwig hardware.

 

[Trilock_Gurtu]

Not at all. Especially in recording situations it's very normal to mix and match different drums. The idea is simple - no one sees the drums, pick whatever drum(s) that work best for the song. That's it. It's not a date, no need to get a hair cut and put on cologne, just play whatever works best. I do it all the time for live, as well...mainly because I get bored, and don't care about a drummer in the crowd with OCD. Last night I gigged with my 50's Slingerland 24", 13" and 16" alum Inde toms, and a fibreglass snare. Three different finishes, three different shell materials. Everything mismatched like crazy. It was great.

 

[richardh253]

This is a cousin to the "what does the set-up tells us about the drummer..." thread "Only his therapist knows for sure..."

I'm at the "same brand, same color, same badge, same hardware" end of the spectrum. I once put a Ludwig BDP kit together with a Slingerland BDP kit to play around with a "monster kit" -- and that lasted 30 minutes.

Saw the 1973 Central Park Carole King film the other night. Harvey Mason had a sweet Rogers BOP 4 piece...with 4 Ludwig clear Vistalite concert toms riding over it. Ugh

Jim Gordon often had a one-of-these-and-one-of-those kit.

 

[1988fxlr]

It doesn’t bother me at home, when I did play out regularly I would mix things that we “close” like a natural maple bass drum with beige toms but I never had a reason to get too mismatched. Worked for Bill Ward though

 

[lamartee]

"...It would've been perfect for a Bonzo Dog Band gig..."

HeHeHe- Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band-Haven't thought about them in a long time!

 

[hsosdrum]

I.G.M. — It's Gotta Match. Even the wood snare drum has to have a matching finish. That's just the way it is.

 

[katulu]

I guess I am more shallow than I ever realized, LOL.

While packing up for a gig, I wondered why I always take a matching kit. Each of the kits I own have at least one outstanding tom, but not one kit is 100% perfect in tone. Tom here, kick there, etc.
Snares don't count I have always used unmatched.
But for the kit, I don't even like playing mixed/matched at home!

Never realized how much the visual effects me. Even to the point of toms that are not flat, but angled, irk me.
When there is a backline and barely enough time to make adjustments, angled toms will make me pizz myself, the more angle, the more pizz... LOL!
If the kit doesn't look about the way Clem Burke has his set up, I aint diggin' it.

When everything is done right I can sit off stage and just stare at the kit, under the lights, true love, LOL #3
I had never thought of this before and what's funny to me is that I never realized this until just now.

Anyone else suffer from drum kit visuals?

I'd be more concerned about getting all those not-outstanding toms tuned up right, OP.

My monster kit has 2 additional FTs, a Taye and a Ludwig, and with all of it being black, I have no issue.