Studio house kits

[Rhythmatist]

I've had some mixed results using house kits in studios. Most recently, I laid 3 tracks for a CD project I'm doing for someone. I was preped to bring my kit when I got a call informing me that I was welcome to use the house kit. I figured as long as it was all dialed in I'd go ahead and use it. The last project I did there was a couple years ago and the house kit sounded great and felt good to play. When I arrived there was a completely different kit set up and to my disappointment they were all wrong. They were too large for my preference (11x13 16x16 18x24) with heavyweight heads top and bottom (I also would have liked three or four toms for the material). The kit did not breathe at all and was very thuddy and after a few minutes I realized no amount of key turning was going to polish this turd. So, I was stuck and had to make the best of it. Having my own snares, pedals, seat, cymbals and stands did afford me a small amount of comfort but the lack of response from the kick and toms was enough of a distraction to keep me from performing my best. And to make matters worse they really didn't sound all that great in playback (I have played kits that sounded like ass to the ear that recorded beautifully in the past so I was just hoping....). The rest of the CD will definitely have my drums.

I guess I should have asked about the kit beforehand, but knowing the kit that was there previously I trusted they would be the same or similar. Live and learn even at my age.

Anyone else have horror stories of house kits? How do you deal with it when you do run into an uncomfortable situation?

[S.P]

Hey,

Well me and my band usually rehearse at a studio space which is also available for recording. Here in Hong Kong hardly anyone owns a car as the transport system is one of the best in the world. The problem with that though is that you can't really use your own drum kit when rehearsing and/or playing live. Unless your doing a big expensive show.

I play mostly old rock n roll stuff with my band, like rolling stones, the who, beatles and other oldies stuff so its not really technically demanding music, but it is really annoying because i dont feel as good playing. Everything seems more stiff and not as fluid as my normal playing. I always at least try and bring my own snare.

But yeah, around here theres you can do but suck it up. But its ok because even steve smith plays house kits a lot when he goes on tour