Beginner electronic drum kits are a great way to learn to play the drums. One of the biggest bonuses of electronic drum sets is that they are virtually silent while you play them. Because they are electronic you can put on headphones and hear every sound that is created, while keeping peace with the neighbors. These kits can also be plugged into dedicated drum amplifiers to produce an enormous sound. It is possible to choose from a large selection of samples for each component such as the hi-hats, cymbals, drums and tom toms. You can experiment with various noises, frequencies and beats.

The technology has really advanced in the last few years as a result of the kits becoming so popular. The drum kits are affordable, more realistic and quiet. Beginning drummers need not worry about making a racket with their enthusiastic first efforts. The kits have newly designed cushioned tom pads, snare heads and kick beaters. There are kits for various levels of expertise and even if you buy the most expensive set, it will not produce a better sound if you are a beginning player. Beginner drum kits are affordable and let the novice drummer quickly improve with continued practice. The drum kits are a lot of fun and you can upgrade as you get better.

Electronic drum kits are easy to transport and fit into small spaces. They are compact and lightweight. Once you have finished your practice the drum kit can be folded up and put away. Since the kits are electric it is possible to produce a huge range of sounds. Every component of the kit has a range of samples that you can choose from. This feature is very useful for beginners who are not sure which genre of music they want to play. The samples are also useful for drummers who play various styles of music in different bands. You have complete control over sounds sent to the amp and can adjust the effects as well as multiple audio outputs.

Beginner drummers can play along with their favorite music by using the auxiliary input to plug in their MP3 player. You can play along while you are learning. Drum kits allow you to record your efforts and you can edit individual instruments or notes to your liking. There is a built-in metronome that allows you to check your timing and analyze your playing. You can listen to yourself playing through the headphones. An electronic drum kit is a great way to have fun and learn how to play the drums.

Happy Birthday Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey Hancock was born on April 12, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois and considered a prodigy as a child. When Herbie was eleven years old he performed a Mozart concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Hancock began taking an interest in Jazz in his teens and transcribed records of Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans and also was into the vocal group the Hi-Lo’s. In his own words, “by the time I actually heard the Hi-Lo’s, I started picking that stuff out; my ear was happening. I could hear stuff and that’s when I really learned some much farther-out voicings -like the harmonies I used on ‘Speak Like a Child’ -just being able to do that. I really got that from Clare Fischer’s arrangements for the Hi-Lo’s. Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept… He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that’s where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were.” After high school Herbie attended Grinnell College where he double-majored in music and electrical engineering. Herbie quickly formed a reputation in Jazz in the 1960s performing with Donald Byrd, Coleman Hawkins, Oliver Nelson and Phil Woods and made his first album on Blue Note called ‘Takin’ Off’ in 1962.

Hancock’s first album caught the attention of Miles Davis and Herbie was asked to join his quintet in 1963 with Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Some of the classic albums recorded by the quintet include ‘E.S.P.’, ‘Nefertiti’ and ‘Sorcerer’ and he also appeared on Davis’ albums ‘Bitches Brew’, ‘In a Silent Way’ and ‘Tribute to Jack Johnson’ among others. It was Miles who first introduced Herbie to the Fender Rhodes and began his interest in electronic keyboards. During the 1960s Hancock also made many albums under his own name including ‘Empyrean Isles’, ‘Maiden Voyage’, ‘Speak Like a Child’ and others. Herbie also began his career in film composing the score to the film Blow Up and in television by composing the soundtrack to the show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. In the 1970s Hancock began experimenting more with electronic instruments in Jazz and formed a group with Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Julian Priester, Bennie Maupin, and Dr. Patrick Gleason. Albums this group made include ‘Mwandishi’, ‘Crossings’ and ‘Sextant’. These experimental albums led to the creation of one of Herbie’s most successful groups, The Headhunters, with Maupin, Bill Summers, Paul Jackson and Harvey Mason. The Headhunters were well received and their first album, ‘Head Hunters’, was the first Jazz album to go Platinum. By the mid 1970s Herbie was traveling around the world performing for stadium sized crowds. Hancock also continued with acoustic Jazz in the late ‘70s forming VSOP with the members of the Miles Davis Quintet minus Miles.

In the 1980s Herbie continued with VSOP II with Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. In 1983 Hancock made an album with Bill Laswell called ‘Future Shock’ which went platinum and their hit song from that album “Rockit” won a Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental and the music video won five MTV awards. Their follow up album ‘Sound System’ also won a Grammy. In 1986 Herbie won an Oscar for his work scoring the film Round Midnight. Highlights for Herbie in 1990s include his Acid Jazz album ‘Dis Is Da Drum’ in 1994 followed by ‘The New Standard’ with an all star band that won a Grammy in 1996. In ’97 Hancock and Wayne Shorter recorded a duo album called ‘1+1’ and the following year The Headhunters reunited and went on tour with the Dave Matthews band. Herbie’s most celebrated achievement of this decade is by far his 2007 album ‘River: The Joni Letters’ with Joni Mitchell, Wayne Shorter, Lionel Loueke, Dave Holland and Vinnie Colauita. There many special guests on this album as well including Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corrine Bailey Rae and Leonard Cohen. The album won a Grammy for Album of The Year and was the first Jazz album to do so in fifty years and only the second time ever a Jazz album has won the honors.

Herbie Hancock continues on making music and breaking barriers which only seem to exist for everyone except Herbie. The almost literally ageless Hancock has an unbelievable body of work and the thought that he is far from done is mind boggling. Herbie’s influence has reached nearly every genre of music in America and continues to simply make the music he wants to make in that moment without the rationalization that seems to hold back most others from reaching their potential. Herbie has won twelve Grammy Awards, an Oscar, NEA Jazz Masters Award, voted into the Down Beat Hall of Fame and so many others. I can’t wait to see what Herbie Hancock will do next.

“Practicing Buddhism has brought several revelations to me. One that has been extremely important to my own personal development and consequently my musical development — is the realization that I am not a musician. That’s not what I am. It’s what I do. What I am is a human being. Being a human being includes me being a musician. It includes my being a father, a husband, a neighbor, a citizen and an African-American. All of these relationships have to do with my existence on the planet.”

“Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music.”

“Without wisdom, the future has no meaning, no valuable purpose.”

“Since time is a continuum, the moment is always different, so the music is always different.” – Herbie Hancock

Many of our customers have found that using the Presonus Studio Live 16.4.2 Digital Mixer along with a CBI 16 Channel Ear Monitor Snake your choice of in ear monitors and an SKB Mighty gig rig does the trick.

Simple, as the board is located in the top of the rig connected to the snake installed in the back panel you simply need to show up to the stage and take of the panels, uncoil the snake and plug into the house snake and you are ready to go.

The presonus has many compressors, limiters and other effects along with savable “scenes” so that you can call up a preset that will give you the sound in the monitors to suit the gig and instrumentation. Not to mention the board is easy to change on the fly should you not get exactly what you are looking for in the monitor mix.

Give us a call if you have any questions!

Jay Shultz

Pro audio