Let us now praise famous Drum pads: Remo

I joined my school band in 1973, when I was ten years old. We had moved to Concord, California about three months after I started fifth grade, and I wanted to join the band and learn an instrument.
My first choices -- trumpet and french horn -- were not available. My parents told me they couldn't afford to rent something from a store, so I had to make do with whatever I could borrow from the school. After considering multiple options, I chose the drums, and rode home with a brand new pair of 5-A sticks and a Remo tuneable practice pad in my backpack.

The Remo pad was the first practice pad for a whole generation of drummers, most of whom began playing in the late 1960s through early 1980s. It's portability and tuneability were the main selling factors, as was the reasonable price. Because the school bought pads and sticks in quantity, I could obtain my pad and sticks for a total of $10 in 1973 ($45-50 today, adjusting for inflation).

The Remo pad was also popular because it could be played on a tabletop (or on a tilted music stand, which was standard practice when I was a kid) or mounted on a threaded cymbal stand; the raised rim allowed you to experiment with something cool called a "rim shot" (played on a real drum, this would eventually break the stick; played on the Remo pad, this would eventually crack the plastic rim. I admit I broke at least four Remo pad rims on my way to High School, when I switched to a rubber practice pad). Another nice feature was the replaceable head -- though I never played mine hard enough to have to replace one. The largest size, 10" in diameter, was almost big enough to practice brushes on.

The pad, first patented in 1962 (only a year before I was born!), revolutionized drum practice for tens of thousands of school and professional drummers for decades, and nearly every drummer my age remembers starting out on one of these pads.

(Below: A 1966 patent for Remo's practice drum kit, comprised of multiple tuneable pads on an adjustable metal frame. Today, you can find these for amazingly little money at yard sales and on craigslist.)

Remo tuneable pads are now considered a good choice for a student on a tight budget, the idea being that when money was available the goal would be to "upgrade" to something "better" -- or, in 2019, something that came closer to the feel of a high-tension marching snare with a Kevlar head. Remo pad heads are tuneable, but not past a certain point; and that point doesn't come close to the feel of a higher-tension head.

For those who can't afford a high-tension, "modern" practice pad (the best ones start at close to $100 each), there are numerous Youtube videos showing how to get an approximation of the modern "fake-snare" sound by modifying the Remo pad -- by filling it to the brim with unpopped popcorn or even ball bearings, and even swapping in longer bolts to allow for tighter tuning. But remember, that plastic rim can only handle so much tension -- so if you decide to experiment this way, expect that the rim will show its limits before you reach the desired higher tension.

For those of us who continue to play on Mylar heads, the original, unmodified Remo pad is still a fine choice, which is why I keep one in my stable today. Happy playing!