I have everything positioned pretty close and I'm very anal about where each drum and cymbal is, that's one reason I like using smaller kits. I remember a gig years ago where I had arrived early and had everything set up, I left to grab a bite and when I returned the guitarist moved the kit to set up his gear. He didn't move it much, just enough to where everything was off! I had about ten minutes until showtime to re-position everything, I nearly murdered him that night.

There's nothing worse than not having you kit set-up how you like it for a gig. I remember listening back to a a live recording I did with a band and at the time the snare was too high. On the tape some of my snare hits were all rim and no snare. That's the difference a couple of inches can make.

Another thing I'll do is I'll always make sure my kick pedal is flat on the floor when I clamp it down. I'll feel around by hand because it's not the kind of thing you can eyeball. I'll make sure the base-plate sits flat on the floor. Sometimes it'll be flat until I turn the nut to clamp it to the hoop and then it's off. I'll keep jiggling it around all the while feeling it by hand until I know it's perfect. This can sometimes set me back a couple of minutes. There should be a quicker, easier way to do it. If I can think of one I'll have to patent the idea, but doubt anybody would care too much. :D

Always the first move on a tear-down for me is to give the top hat a whirl so it starts undoing the centre rod down in the stand. Meanwhile the first crash is coming off. When the hat starts making a clicking sound I know I can lift the whole thing out, undo the clutch slip off the hat then slip the clutch to the end of the rod back into the pipe. When all the cymbals are done I can relax. The kit no longer looks fun to drunks, and the cymbals are protected.

Lol! That's one swift getaway! You just know I'm going to be practicing that later :D

Since timing is everything in drumming, most of us would need to have a regular position for every item so that the brain can instruct the limbs to be there on time without actually having to look where you are going. It is clear some guys are mentally able to work around it and I suspect that is because they are often faced with making do with the house kit. House kits, as many of you know, can be pieces of expletive. I'm sure many of you have had to deal with it in your professional careers. Don't think too little of what you are calling anal though. Observe that Buddy Rich worked off a pretty standard arrangement regardless of what company he was endorsing. And I'd bet dollars to donuts that his tech had pretty strict instruction on that setup. I know that when I switch from, say, Headliner to Celebrity or Londoner, I've got to be careful because I normally use a 4-piece with everything pretty much in the same location every time. Having the ride tom out further on the left or adding in that extra tom and driving the ride out to the right can mess me up.

As for heads: logo at the vent/tone control on my Rogers drums. I only do that so as to place the head in the same basic location on the bearing edge if I have to remove it for any reason. Seems to have worked OK. Otherwise, it doesn't matter. What does matter is guys who can play a set with dead heads. That has always annoyed me, but on the other hand, I've mostly been able to afford to replace them when I needed to.

Good Lord! I am guilty of everything and more. Logos must be inline with the badge. I use a small cloth tape measure to make sure the bass spurs are "correct" and the floor toms are at the right height. Naturally the tape measure case is in turquoise to match my kit. No one touches my drums! Since my gigging kit is at my guitar player's house, I take a drum home every couple of weeks for cleaning, polishing , waxing, and tuning. All hardware is removed and examined closely. Often this is not necessary but, I simply enjoy the process. I don't feel that these quirks hurt anyone and give me a lot of satisfaction.

Brian

Wow.. What a bunch of freaks... Trouble is I do all of this stuff too, the logo over the badge, pedal has to be flat, cymbals down first according to size & straight into the case. Much of it equates to a quicker set up and pull down and often I will be the first of the band to load up the car. My pack up includes that the heavier & bulkier stands I pull down first and place straight into the case in a set order. The more fragile items always ride on top. I try to avoid (any) double handling whatsoever. When removing toms and snare I already have the bags at hand, the bags are placed over the toms before I even remove them from the mounts then I just flip and zip straight away. Regardless of the stage surface my rug goes with me and the imprints in the rug speed up my placement of the kit and hardware. I use memory locks wherever possible including on the inside of the BD for the front set of disappearing spurs. I try to get the pack up over and done with whilst the adrenalin is still pumping... only then do I relax and wind down.

Cheers

John

> I try to get the pack up over and done with whilst the adrenalin is still pumping...

LOL - So true! You don't always get a chance to break down immediately after the set. If I sit down to relax for even 5 minutes after a gig, when I look over at the kit, in my mind the packing job seems ten times harder than it is. Break down is best done while you're body is still buzzing. At least at my age anyway!

John

Exactly Purdie.. the longer you look at it the bigger chore it appears to be.. When I was doing many more gigs than I am now, I used to pace myself on the pull down time.. eventually becomes second nature and one hand is on to the next wing nut before you even realise it...

Cheers

John