Archive - March, 2010

How to Wrap a Drum Shell Part 2

March 24, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Tutorials, Drums, General Updates with 1 Comment

This is the 2nd and last post on how to wrap your drum shells! Enjoy! Check out the first post here. Another important blog post to view along with this post is “How to Keep your Wrap Seams From Coming Up“.

After you have made sure there is not sanding dust on the wrap or on the shell you can apply your contact cement. If you have already drilled your holes for hardware you may want to tape the inside up so that no contact cement can run on the inside of the shell. Use a paint brush or roller brush to apply the contact cement to the shell, the back of the wrap, and the overlap! You’ll need to apply 2 coats to achieve maximum adhesion, and you can do them one right after the other. Leave no space uncovered or else you’ll have some bubbles in your wrap. Make sure you really get the overlap good! Consult the directions on your contact cement to get the best results.

Keller Shell contact cement

Most contact cement needs about 15-30 minutes of drying time BEFORE you try to put the wrap on the shell. When the glue dries on all surfaces you may proceed. – Attention! – The glue must be dry for you to have a permanent bond, it sounds counter intuitive, but trust me, if you try to stick things together with contact cement when the cement is not completely dry, it will become un-bonded over time.

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How to Take Good Drum Photos

March 16, 2010 in Drum Building Resources, Drums, General Updates, Reader's Drum Pictures with 0 Comments

cameraWhen you build your very own custom drum or drum set you'll want to take some great product photos to show off your work to everyone you know. In the past I've been lucky to work with some amazing photographers who have shot some promo pictures of drums that I've built, one of them being Chad Zellner. I recently emailed Chad and asked him to answer a few questions about taking drum product photos. Here is what he had to say:

MD (Makedrums): Can you tell me about your process when you take product photos…specifically drums.

Chad: Product photography is all about lighting and drawing attention to the product or specific area of the product. I always do multiple off camera lights to give depth to the photo and give it much better color than direct lighting. Direct lighting (or built in flash) is a huge no no.

MD: I know you’re a professional photographer and have great gear, so can I ever expect to turn out pro looking pictures with my Cannon Power Shot camera? How?

Chad: Absolutely. Many pro photographers get great looks due to their gear and post processing in Photoshop or some other program. But if you just want a good clear picture then you don't have to have a $3000 camera. One piece of advise if you plan on doing your own product shots far into the future is to learn basic camera functions. Most cameras have a manual mode that let you control shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Read online or in your camera's user manual to see how to change these functions and what they do. It may take you a little while to understand it but it's camera 101 and will definitely help you out in the long run. Avoid auto settings if you can.

MD: What if I wanted to take a picture and have everything white except the drum set? Like this one:

How would an amateur photographer achieve this look without spending tons on lighting and backdrops?

Chad: If you want this ''infinity" look there are a few different ways to get it. If you have the lighting equipment you can get this look very easily with a few white sheets. But if you don't have lighting but do have photo editing software you could spend the time to cut out around each piece. Other than that you might be better off hiring this one out for a good quality shot.

MD: Do you know of any free photo editing software that you could recommend?

Chad: Although I've never used anything but Adobe Photoshop, I have heard good things about GIMP. Don't hold me to it but it's the only free software I have heard of that is decent.

You can check out Chad's Photography at www.twopairphotography.com/blog
Chad will be making lots of photography 'how-to' videos in the future on their tech blog www.blogmeright.com

How To Keep Drum Wrap Seams From Coming Up

March 10, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Resources, Drum Building Tutorials, Drums, General Updates with 1 Comment

I have a confession to make. I recently discovered that the seams on the 2nd wrapped drum set I ever made are starting to come apart. This is unacceptable, but luckily you get to learn from my mistake. Wrapping your custom drums with a sparkle, glass glitter, onyx, pearl, or solid color wrap  is an easy way to get a great finish on your drum without spending days, weeks, or months apply a stain and lacquer finish. Just make sure you do it right the first time or this will happen.

my custom drum wrap lifting at the seam Continue Reading....