Vintage Corner: Homemade mini-pad

Long before Ahead made its Wicked Chops pad, drummers had been challenging themselves to strive for greater accuracy when playing. Here's a beautiful pad I recently obtained from a guy in southern Oregon, a lovely D-I-Y number that's super-fun to play.

He made the pad himself back when he was taking lessons. How? He took a small block of scrap wood, stained it, drilled a hole in the bottom, and affixed a very small disc of rubber to the top. Then he used a leftover music stand base to mount it on.
It's very short, and intended for use while sitting, perhaps on a drum throne that's lower to the ground than a kitchen chair. And it works just fine.



Above: The block mounted on its improvised stand.
Below:  the surface of a Wicked Chops copy compared to the playing surface of the pad.
The modern pad's surface is actually a bit bigger.

Above: A quarter placed atop the pad.

When I was a kid, we would trace around a quarter in the center of our practice pad and work on getting our sticks to hit the drum head there every time. But having a surface area that's actually about the size of a quarter is even better. When you practice on this pad -- or its grandson, the Wicked Chops pad from Ahead -- you had better mean business. This pad will show your weaknesses like pulling the curtain to reveal who the Wizard of Oz really was.

So, in the interest of investigation of both the pad and where my weaknesses lie, I went ahead and made a little video. In order to get my hands and wrists in the right position, I had to bend over the pad slightly even while I was seated -- so perhaps I'll find a way to add an extension of some kind to give it a little more height for adults to use.
(Pro tip:When playing on a surface only a little bigger than a quarter, stay away from marching sticks.)

This is a sweet little pad, and I'm thrilled to give it a home alongside my other pads that live permanently on stands.
Happy drumming!

New Drum Day (sort of): West Craft Drums by Kaleb Shields

The ethos for repurposing, recycling and sustainability in general runs very deep in my life. After twenty years working in and co-owning a bike shop, I saw a lot of unnecessary waste at every level of the bicycle industry. I spent much of my time and energy looking for ways to reduce our shop's waste, and also argued with sales reps and manufacturers about their penchant for trying to sell new versions of components every single year whether it was needed or not.
Since sales was the name of the game, I was seldom successful beyond the reach of our little shop. But that ethos has carried over into so many areas of my life.

I got this drum from a friend who taught music in the local middle school. I would come in and coach his drummers every spring for a token stipend, just to give them some music to play and enjoy over the summer months.
One year not quite twenty years ago, I strode into my friend's band room at the last week of the school year and found that everything was in boxes. The walls were stripped of their posters and the chairs and stands had been neatly stacked in the back of the room. My friend had not only lost his position with the school, but the district was cutting band, choir and art from the curriculum because of budget cuts. He had gotten three days' notice to vacate the room and turn in his keys.

After handing back all the district-owned instruments he was left with some odds and ends that had no district tags. No one knew where they'd come from and some had been sitting in a closet for yearts, in need of repair. He showed me a couple of snare drums, both missing heads. "Take them," he said, "I've got nowhere else for them to go and I can't pay you."

So I did.

I fixed one up and gave it to a friend who was starting a band and needed a snare drum.















I kept the other one and fixed it up enough to make it playable, and I used it on a few tracks of my album Ten Miles in 2013. I've taken it out now and then for a handful of gigs, but otherwise never did anything else with it. It's an old steel-shell snare drum from the 1980s, probably made in Japan or Taiwan and it's done its job.

As you can see, there was quite a bit of rust all over the drum, and the snares were held onto the strainer by the shoelace I had found on the drum twenty years ago when I got it. (At the time, I'd simply adjusted the snares and called it good.)

Then the pandemic came and I tore the studio apart looking for projects. I practiced Baroque recorder, I practiced rudimental drumming on my pads. And I began assembling a minimalist kit, building it around a suitcase kick drum and my old snare, with a dream of playing out for friends when the pandemic has passed.
I scouted around thrift shops and online garage sales, where I scored a rack tom in pretty awful shape. It was missing a head and the hardware was rusty; the wrap was beginning to crack and warp. Still, it was dirt cheap at only five bucks and the wood was in decent shape, so I bought it.

Eventually, I made my way to West Craft Drums, owned and operated by Kaleb Shields. I'd seen his beautifully refurbished drums for sale at Revival Drum Shop. I admired the workmanship and saw that the prices were reasonable. Since I could provide the drums I figured it was worth asking about refurb'ing mine.

We began the conversation online, reviewing the photos oI sent him, discussing options and ballpark pricing. Since he's local to me, I was able to drop them off at his place. A week and a half later, my drums were done. I picked them up today.

First, the rack tom, which I asked Kaleb to cut in half. I'd invited him to keep one half and just refurb the other for me; but he chose to treat both halves in case I decided to use them both.

The old wrap was removed and the wood underneath sanded. Then, each drum got a fresh bottom edge which was sealed with oil. Finally the both shells were stained ("just pick a nice darker color or stain, whatever you like," I'd said.)
The primary tom got "new" used hardware without so much rust, which Kaleb had cleaned up with steel wool. The "secondary" tom kept its old, rusty hardware, which he didn't need for anything. He had filled in the rack mount hole with wood putty and sealed the hole from the inside with a small patch of wool felt. If I want to, I can choose to clean up or replace the hardware on this drum later. For now, it's going into the cubby hole for storage.

The primary tom, which was cut shorter to avoid the rack mount hole, was given the star treatment, with newer hardware, and cleaned-up rim and replacement head suitable for brushes (he gave me a used one to economize and it will work just fine). This drum will sit on a snare stand just beyond the suitcase kick drum.

Each refurb'ed drum gets a lovely little badge.

And here's the finished refurbished snare drum. Kaleb thought it looked a lot like an 80's Pearl, but since Pearl also owned CB700 and other budget brands, it's possible that the drum could have been a CB700 from that time. IN any event, it wasn't a bad drum to begin with; and after resurrecting with cleaned hardware, four coats of color and three coats of clear lacquer, rebuilding with some new heads (which I'd supplied), this drum is more beautiful now than the day it came off the assembly line. Kaleb was pleased enough to feature it at his Instagram page.

It's stunning. Far more beautiful than I'd imagined. And it sounds great!
I plan to assemble the whole kit sometime in the next week, after I put the finishing touches on my crudely-built, perfectly functional suitcase kick drum.

I'll ask Sweetie to give me some time alone in the house if the weather's not horrible, and I'll put the kit through some paces and figure out if it needs anything else. When it's all where I want it to be I'll make a little video to show it all off. Stay tuned.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And happy drumming.

Although Kaleb is based in Portland he can ship all over the country. See more of his beautiful craftsmanship on Revival's web page and also at etsy.

Product Review: Rudimental Drummers sticks

I was intrigued when Rudimental Drummers, makers of high-zoot, high-quality practice pads, announced the introduction of two models of rudimental drumsticks to their line. The sticks were the result of a collaboration between RD and Pellwood Drumsticks, another Dutch company; Pellwood manufacture their own line of sticks in addition to these models for RD.
So when the company invited me to try them out and write a review, I jumped at the chance.

The sticks arrived a few days ago, and yesterday and today I finally had time to hang out with them. Here's what I can tell you.

1. Van Haaren Signature model. (Length: 17"/Diameter .710"/Weight 95g)

This stick, named for RD co-founder Rene Van Haaren, is designed for those who do traditional drumming on lower-tension and/or rope tension drums.  Made from American Hickory, this is a seriously beefy drumstick. Even for someone used to the size and heft of marching sticks, these feel shockingly heavy. I'm guessing that this is because of both the size, and the additional weight focused on the ends of the stick (see photo), which may be useful when playing on lower-tension traditional drums.

The sticks are beautifully finished. The result is a clean, semi-matte coating over natural hickory.
Graphics are clear and bold without being distracting.

The large oval tips provide a big contact surface area when contacting the drumhead. If you're thinking about using these on a high-tension Kevlar head, well, don't. That's not what these are for, and you'll only end up hurting your hands and wrists if you try.

On a lower-tension drum, these sticks will provide enough mass at both ends to help you keep those big rolls balanced and even at every dynamic level.

For more modern drumming needs, there's the other stick in RD's line:

2. Cornelissen Signature Model. (Length: 17"/Diameter .710"/Weight 89g)

Named for RD co-owner Daan Cornelissen. These sticks, also made from Hickory, are a little smaller in diameter, and have more mass focused in the front half of the stick to provide the balance required for modern corp-style drumming on high-tension drumheads. The sticks are finished with the same semi-gloss coat, over an attractive walnut-colored stain and bold white graphics. I found these a little closer to the marching sticks I'm used to, but still a bit heavy. I like them but they will take some getting used to.

The acorn tips provide plenty of punch without overblowing the tone and articulation. They also offer a more modified bounce than a round tip will, meaning there's room for some shading on quieter passages (especially when playing buzz rolls).
These sticks are great for a higher-tensioned Kevlar head, but be aware that the shift of the mass and weight to the front half of an already heavier stick will definitely require you to slightly modify your approach to playing.

If you choose this stick for high-tension drumming, give yourself time to get used to it, especially if you're migrating from modern sticks like the Vic Firth Hardimon or the Promark Audesmore. The mass is placed differently here, and it gives a heftier feel overall as a result.

Below, a couple of videos checking out the two models of RD sticks.

And a note: In this day and age where pitch- and weight-matching are becoming expected by drummers, it is always a disappointment when sticks arrive and are not matched.

(This was the case, if you remember, with the Ukranian-made Star Marching model -- an attractive, comfortable stick which unfortunately played pitches more than a whole step apart and was a huge disappointment as a result.)

You will hear in the first video that the Van Haaren sticks I received are almost a whole step apart in pitch. The weight doesn't feel markedly different between the two sticks, but the pitch difference is noticeable. This may be less annoying on an actual drum than on a pad, but on my RD Chop Pad I can absolutely hear the difference.

NOTE: I shared this information  with RD co-founder Rene Van Haaren, and he was shocked that I'd been sent a pair of sticks that wasn't pitch-matched. He apologized profusely and thanked me for my honesty; and said that even greater focus would be placed on this aspect of stick manufacture going forward. I believe him, and down the road I may choose to acquire another pair of Van Haarens so I can have a pitch-matched pair.

And here's a video of me exploring the feel of the Cornelissen sticks.

 

 

Overall, I find the Cornelissen sticks easier to work with, and I anticipate a shorter break-in period with them. They seem fine on my Mylar-headed Chop Pad, and while they are definitely heavier then the sticks I normally use (Vic Firth Jeff Queens and sometimes the thicker Roger Carter models), they're not completely overkill.
That said, I think players with bigger hands than mine may find their sweet spot with these sticks and enjoy them a lot.

A caution: Because these sticks are already at the heavy end of the continuum, I would advise against taping them. Tape does add weight; even wrapping the last two or three inches of your favorite stick will change the feel and the mass. It may be that in future editions of this stick, RD may wish to use a natural finish, since the lighter color will show up better against most uniforms.

Another consideration: although the demo video at RD's web site shows the sticks being played with a few simple tricks, the heavier weight of this stick may make those tricks harder to learn, especially for younger players who are still growing. If anything, this stick may help make the sound educational case for playing musically and correctly first, and adding visual tricks later.

As for the Van Haaren sticks, I'm not a rope drum player, so I may choose to send these to someone who is and invite them to comment. It is unlikely that I will ever find a serious use for so big and heavy a drumstick. That's less a reflection on the stick and more a reflection on the reality of my smaller, slightly arthritic hands.

Both models retail online for €17,99 / $21.71 per pair, plus shipping. Considering that most American-made marching sticks retail for half to two-thirds that price, this is definitely a stick for the serious rudimental drummer, and not for beginning drummers who basically eat sticks for breakfast. It's a nice addition to the range of available professional-quality sticks, and I look forward to seeing whose hands they land in over the next few months.
Happy drumming!

 

(Disclaimer: I own and use a Rudimental Drummers practice pad. RD did not pay me to test and review their pads or their sticks. I ordered them online like a regular person, and so can you. I shared this review with the folks at RD before posting online, and they provided additional info about the specs that I've included here.)

Vintage Corner: Remo's precursor to the tuneable pad (Part III, sort of)

Here's the followup to my previous posts about the Remo tuneable practice pad.

First, Remo has a really cool little timeline at their web site that allows you to see major developments from the company's beginnings up till around 2007 (the timeline could use an update). From there, I was able to learn a few things that helped me to place the Remo pads in my collection on the historic timelime.

My plastic pad dates from the 1970s.
My two metal-rimmed tuneable pads date from the early to mid 1960s -- basically, until Remo began making tuneable pads with hard plastic rims.
But I have two pads that pre-date these pads, and I always wondered exactly where they came from.

These pads are not tuneable. They are constructed entirely of wood and use very early versions of Remo's synthetic drumhead material, for which patent paperwork was first filed in 1957 (the patent was granted in 1962; prior to this, most drummers had to live with calfskin heads and the vagaries of temperature and humidity that affected them. The synthetic drum head was a revelation as well as a revolution).
Beneath the head there appears to be what's left of some kind of foam (padding? muffling?); it has disintegrated over the decades, leaving a pad with an unsatisfying, hard "thud" sound.

Construction: each pad is made of wood, a built-in tilt and a sound chamber made of a thin piece of wood that looks like it was heated and bent into a curve. The framework holding the head is mounted on top of the curve, making for a resonant pad.

One of the things that can stymie research is a lack of serial numbers or other markers. These can be found on drums, but generally never appear on practice pads.

However, Remo's timeline gives us some help in determining exactly how old these pads are.

Remo's timeline goes as far as charting the course of its "Crown" logo design over the years, which in this case helped me more closely date these pads, the first produced under the Remo brand.

The larger pad's logo is worn, but still visible enough to determine a manufacture date.

Based on Remo's timeline info, that would date this pad to right around 1958-60, making it the first generation of practice pad offered by Remo.
Below, the logo from the smaller pad.

This means that the smaller pad is almost surely from 1961, since the new plastic-rimmed pad was rolled out in early 1962.
Not all companies provide such useful historic information to collectors, but Remo's timeline is especially helpful here. If you look closely at some points along the timeline, you can even click on links to patent information.

Like I said, playing these pads is NOT an exciting experience. The feel and sound are klunky.
It would be great to find a pad in as-new condition, with the foam in original shape, so I could get a better sense of how it sounded in the late 50s.

I hope you've found this exploration as interesting as I have. Happy drumming!

Last Chance product review: BOSO "Strata" 2B sticks

 I've already had a few things to say about my experiences playing with BOSO bamboo drum sticks in two different sizes (Marching and 2B), neither of which impressed me that greatly. Frankly, the 2B was SO light that it made me start to like the Marching stick a little bit.

Today, a friend sent me a pair of BOSO's 2B sticks in their "Strata" series, which are sticks made by laminating two different kinds of bamboo (BOSO identifies them as "dark" and "natural") together. The size and shape are identical to BOSO's regular 2B bamboo stick, but lamination makes the Strata sticks much heavier, and closer in feel to a hickory stick.

The sticks DO feel heavier, and a lot closer in weight to hickory. However, they still don't respond quite the same way that hickory sticks do, and I can see myself needing more time to become accustomed to the feel.

That said, they're a welcome change from the regular 2B's (which I ordered, tried, and gave away because I couldn't stand them).

These definitely show more promise and I look forward to trying them on my kit.

Below: a little video. 

(Yes, that's a first-generation VF Stockpad, and no, it's not for sale.)

Vintage Corner: Remo tuneable practice pad, Part II

While researching this make and model of practice pad, I was also looking for an older version of the pad so I could get a better idea of its technical development.
I got lucky and obtained two within days of each other. They were made around the same time, in the early to mid 1960s (not long after its release by Remo).
The larger of the two pads measures 8” diameter and is constructed with a wood bed covered by a metal rim. Inside the wood bed is a foam muffler covered with a real, tunable Weather King drum head. Below all of this is a Masonite platform that is tilted slightly to give a simulation of the tilt most drummers used in the 1960s; before the advent of modern marching drum carriers, snare drums were carried on the march with a simple webbed cotton sling and a leg rest, which caused the drum to tilt. (This historic “tilt” is why snare drummers have been using what we call “traditional” grip for centuries. Only when drums could be carried perfectly horizontal could drummers begin utilizing “matched” grip comfortably. Oddly, while most drum lines carry drums nearly horizontally now, most use traditional grip, which can place extra strain on the left hand as it’s require to twist farther away to pull the stick from the drum head. But I digress.)

Photos below show the construction of the older, 8” Remo pad.





The other pad was a gift from a fellow drummer back East, who offered to give it to me if I paid for postage. It’s a smaller, 6” diameter pad, with a large Masonite platform designed to allow the snare to be placed on top of a 14” snare drum — a throwback to the rubber pads designed by Billy Gladstone over a decade earlier, which serve as a muffler for the drum while practicing. Since this pad is not especially low-volume, putting it on a drum won’t create quite the same muffled effect; but perhaps some drummers found this feature useful. The 14” Masonite disc was offered as an optional accessory, sold separately and screwing into the threaded hole originally designed to mount the smaller pad on a cymbal stand. My disc came with some damage incurred in shipping, so I fashioned a small “washer” from cardboard that allowed me to re-center the disc under the pad. The cardboard is just stiff enough without adding additional pressure to the fragile, 60-year-old Masonite disc.



Pay close attention to these photos, because there will be another part to this exploration that will show off what I believe was the precursor to the tuneable pad, you’ll be able to see the differences in design that may have led Remo to his idea of a tuneable pad. (No spoilers if you think you know where I’m going with this; I’m waiting to hear back from folks at Remo for verification.)

Below, you’ll find videos comparing the 1960s version of the pad with my plastic-topped pad from the 1970s. While the 1970s pad feels familiar, I find I actually like playing the 60s pad a little more. The sound and response feel "beefier" to me, and I don't think it's only about the size difference, but the materials used as well. My guess is that plastic got less expensive to manufacture with and that helped fuel the switch from a wood and metal base to an all-plastic one.




I think the Remo tuneable pad still has a place in the drum universe; For untold millions of drummers it has been the gateway to sa lifetime of drumming joy. It remains a well-built and very affordable choice for students, and the replaceable head makes it a longer-lasting choice too.
I hope you've enjoyed this little trip down the Remo drum pad "rabbit hole," and don't forget there will be a third chapter to this exploration.
Happy drumming!

Vintage Corner: Remo Tunable Practice Pad, PART I

In the fall of 1973, I moved with my family  to Concord, California. I was in fifth grade, and finally old enough to join the school band.
I went to the music teacher and asked about my options for learning an instrument.
After I explained that my parents could not afford to rent an instrument from the music store, and that whatever I chose would have to be on loan from the school district, the band director told me there weren’t many loaner instruments available.
It also had to be something I could get to and from school on my bicycle, because this was the era of latchkey kids and learning self-sufficiency. Ultimately, the only remaining choice that appealed to me was to learn to play the drum. A practice pad and sticks cost less than ten dollars, fit easily in my backpack and was quiet enough to practice anywhere. Plus, Karen Carpenter was a drummer long before she ever began singing, and she was one of my childhood idols. So that decided it.

I was presented with a copy of the Belwin Band Builder, a pair of 5A Ludwig drum sticks and a Remo tunable practice pad. With a 6-inch diameter plastic head, it looked like the top of a drum, and when you played it, it sort of sounded like a little drum; plus, the head was tunable and if you broke it you could buy replacements — the sort of thing that was sure to please my economy-minded mother.

I wore that first pad out by the time I got to high school, going through two replacement heads before I had cracked the plastic rim. I saved up my babysitting and paper route money and bought another, larger Remo pad in an 8-inch diameter size, which got me through high school. By then, I had gravitated to other styles of practice pad (including scrap rubber duct-taped to a wooden plank), and it was a long time before I bought another Remo tunable pad.

Fast forward to 2005. I was inspired to audition for a community wind ensemble, and needed to fill in my meager supply of drum sticks, mallets and other ephemera. I also needed a practice pad, so I went looking for something cheap — and found a “vintage” 6-inch Remo tunable pad in its original box, with the paperwork. It was being sold as a “collectible” and cost me almost twenty bucks. As it happened, that vintage drum pad purchase became the foundation of the practice pad collection I have today. I wound up hardly using it for regular practice because I had found other, more modern pads that I preferred. So it has mostly sat on a shelf in its little cardboard box.

The Remo tunable practice pad remains a stalwart, the pad you start a beginner with because it’s durable, still quite affordable — and easy to find used at garage sales for even less than I’d paid for my very first pad. The pad is still in production today and remains a best-seller, ideal for student drummers on a budget and anyone else looking for something that just works; though the current version is mostly plastic throughout and has no metal platform to provide a slight tilt, as my old pads had. There's even a version called Silent Stroke, with a mesh head for much quieter practice.

Here’s a few photos of the pad I bought used some fifteen years ago, and the paperwork that came with it. My pad dates from the mid to late 1970s, and utilizes both a “tilt” platform and a threaded hole for mounting on a cymbal stand.

A little instruction booklet that came with the pad

(Click on each page to get a larger photo)

A letter from Remo Belli and a quality pledge. Did these things once matter to customers?

When my interest in collecting pads and researching their history expanded,  I found photos of an older version of this pad, made with a metal rim.

My next quest would be to find an older version of the Remo tunable pad so I could make comparisons. Stay tuned for Part II of this exploration into a really cool corner of practice pad history, and happy drumming.

Full Review: Movement Drum Company practice pad kit

I'd been curious about this pad from Movement Drum Company since I first saw ads for it early last year. However, with a retail price of just over $50, I wasn't prepared to make the commitment, especially when I already had pads that served me well.

Recently I found a "slightly used" one for sale online for considerably less, and decided it was time to try one out. So I made an offer, and a few days ago I took delivery.

The pad itself is very simple, with only a small logo screened onto the primary head. The primary head has a 10.5" diameter surface of roughly 1/8" thick, embedded onto a dense 12" diameter platform (which appears to be some kind of compressed wood resin) and surrounded by a raised rim of hard plastic. I assume the plastic rim is also glued down somehow onto the wood platform, but it's not clear with what kind of adhesive.

This makes it good for practicing rimshots. The response of this primary head is reasonably lively and good for most snare drumming practice. However, I have to say that it didn't excite me; I didn't get a sense that I was experiencing anything radically different or new. Then it hit me; the feel was almost exactly like the feel of the silicon ruybber head used on RCP's Active Snare practice pad (which I reviewed late last summer). Looking more closely at the Movement pad and the installation of its primary surface, I noticed a couple of small blobs of what looked like dried, clear glue poking out from underneath the surface. (Look closely at the photo above and you can see them in the lower-right quarter.)

The bottom of the pad has another playing surface, roughly 1/4" thick and more gently bouncy than the topside, but still quite responsive.  This appears to be glued directly onto the bottom of the platform. Turning the pad over to use the underside surface requires a tabletop with some padding, or else you'll hear the hard plastic against the bare table. I set mine on top of another rubber practice pad that was just slightly larger in diameter than the rim, which made the feel and sound a little less jarring. However, there is a hollow quality to the sound when playing the underside.

So far, I was not getting anything radically new or different in the feel of playing on either side of the pad.

The feel of the underside surface was similar in some ways to the response of many rubber practice pads I've tried, and reminded me of playing on the red Vater Chop pad, another model that did not impress me enough to keep.

Then I turned my attention to the accessories that complete the Movement practice pad kit: a soft foam insert and a hard plastic laminate, which are meant to be used in combination with the primary top surface.

You can place the soft insert on top of the primary surface for more of a workout, and far less bounce, at a quieter volume. This makes the pad a lot more like the pads from Reflexx and Drumeo, both of which provide these softer sides built into their pads. Using the Movement pad with this softer insert (fabric side facing up) on top of the primary surface provides a similarly "mushy" feel that can be used when you want to make your hands work more without the benefit of a lively bounce.

An aside: When I was a kid back in the Dark Ages (circa 1973), we were taught to use a pillow for this purpose. A pillow gives NO rebound at all, and you must do ALL of the work with your hands and wrists -- which is great if you want to slow down your rudiments and really focus on hand and wrist position, build endurance and dial in technique. (I discovered that the top of our sofa could be used the same way, only with just a touch more bounce that the pillow didn't provide, which made it perfect for practicing timpani rolls on at home.)

Using the soft insert with the clear plastic laminate on top was a revelation. It gave the feel of a real drum, with just enough bounce to simulate a Mylar head -- perfect for my purposes. I enjoyed this combination most of all, and would happily use it again.

Removing the soft insert and putting the clear laminate directly onto the primary surface gave the feel of a very tightly-tensioned Kevlar head. Since I don't play Kevlar this did not excite me, though I could see its usefulness for modern marching drummers. The laminate is rather thick and rigid, making it durable and delivering a high degree of articulation. (Bonus points for the fact that it's removable!)

Note: When using the soft insert, place it with the fabric side facing up. Playing on the foam rubber side will wear it out very quickly.
The laminate is made of clear, fairly rigid plastic.
It can be used with or without the soft insert.
Each combination will give a different feel and sound.






























Here are a series of videos illustrating the different combination that can be utilized on this pad.


1. The pad without accessories, top and bottom surfaces

2. Utilizing the soft insert

3. The pad with the laminate, first with the soft insert and then alone

As you can see, this is a practice pad with multiple possibilities for use, depending on the needs dictated by either the style or by the player.

It's good that one pad can offer this much flexibility. And in this price-point, there simply aren't other options that provide a similar experience.
If you really need this much flexibility in one pad, this might not be a bad place to start.

It's also worth noting that if you really need the complete package, you will want to make sure you have a bag to keep it all in so pieces don't get lost or damaged.

Movement also offers a Marching practice pad that comes with two playing sides, one of which is permanently covered with a woven fiber laminate and a plastic rim. From the photos, it looks a lot like similar pads from Offworld and other companies.

Finally, when I went looking for Movement Drum Company's "origin story" I found this:

Our Story
Movement Drum Company is a husband and wife team that aims to help percussionists by creating the most versatile and complete practice pads in the market. We started Movement Drum Company because we love music and believe in it's ability to change lives, create communities, and represent a voice to the voiceless. Because of what both music and the drums have done for us, we want to give back. 

Playing the drums should be liberating, and the sound or size of the instrument should never cause restrictions. With this in mind, our mission is to create quality driven percussion tools that enable drummers to practice and play in any environment without compromise. Honesty, experimentation, and a commitment to learning from history are our best tools.

This was accompanied by a photo of a young Asian couple that honestly could have been taken from a clip-art gallery. The man's face is mostly obscured. The couple's names and address do not appear anywhere on the web site. The country of origin is not listed, though a phone number is provided for if there are questions.
A separate web page provides an electronic form for US customers to begin a return if one becomes necessary. (Non-US customers are told that sales are final. Huh.)

This, plus the price-point, lead me to believe that the pad is made in China, perhaps by one of the same factories that make RCP's Active Snare pad.

This is probably not a pad I would go out of my way to buy at full price, though I would totally understand someone on a student budget spring for this and getting quite a lot of use from it.

The Double Sided Premium 4-in-1 practice pad retails for $52.99 plus a very low $5 flat rate shipping directly from Movement Drum Company. (The Marching pad retails for $54.99.) They also offer free returns for US customers, so it might be best to buy directly from Movement rather than from an online retail outlet.

Happy drumming.