I get asked about the electronic drums a LOT. Many drummers are, shall we say, RELUCTANT to use electronic drums. Most of them change their minds when they hear how great they sound. But, if a drummer still wants to play his or her own set of acoustic drums, Allegra provides a good selection of excellent drum mics for a great live drum sound. But electronic drums do have advantages, and these are the reasons Allegra offers the e-drum option:


BIG SOUND, SMALL MONEY: Major studios spend huge amounts of time and money to build, equip, and fine-tune good-sounding drum booths. Even then, it can take hours to get a good drum sound (and by the way, are YOUR drums tuned?). With electronic drums, the work is already done - Sampled drum sounds are recorded on great drums in great rooms with great mics and great processing. If we can benefit from that expertise, why shouldn't we?


CONTROL: As a recording engineer, I want to be able to treat each recorded signal as individually as possible, without worrying about bleed (sound from sources other than the intended source), and wondering how changes in one signal will affect others. As a customer, you want the best-sounding finished product you can get for your money. Electronic drum pads are triggers, not microphones, so there is no bleed; each sound is perfectly isolated. Hitting a drum pad produces very little noise, so it does not bleed significantly onto overhead and hi-hat mics (we always use real cymbals).


VERSATILITY: Don't like the piccolo snare? Don't buy another drum, turn the dial and find a snare sound you like better. With electronic drums you have almost infinite combinations at your disposal to design the drum kit you want.


CREDIBILITY: Electronic drums do NOT sound like 70's disco records (unless, of course, that's how you WANT them to sound). When listening to the final recorded product - which, in the end, is what really matters - no one will know or even suspect that the drums weren't "real" - not even your drummer friends. All they will know is that the drums sound great. And you would be surprised at how many of your favorite records use drum samples, either alone or mixed in with recorded drums.


MIDI FUNCTION: Since the drum sample playback modules are MIDI devices, MIDI data, as well as audio, is generated when they are triggered. I often have a drummer come in and play drum parts for songs, but record the MIDI data - not the audio - or both audio and MIDI. MIDI data is easily manipulated, so this allows me to lock up drum parts with other tracks and make any desired changes easily.


OTHER OPTIONS: We can also use a hybrid kit, for example, electronic bass drum and toms with acoustic snare and cymbals. This gives you the advantages of electronic drums and the expressiveness of the acoustic instrument where it's most needed.

Long story short: At least be open-minded enough to give them a try.

why do you have electronic drums?