**Timm Endorses Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals**
On October 31, 2007, Timm signed on as an endorser of Istanbul Mehmet cymbals. "I'm excited about this new affiliation", says Timm. "Not only do they have a huge variety of sounds to choose from, but they are serious about making their artists feel like their part of the family. That's very important to me." (Photo by T Dub)
**Hear Timm's New Cymbal Set-up**
You can hear Timm's Istanbul Mehmet set-up on "12 Hours", the new album from his jazz trio Triplicity T_2! Available now in The Shop.
For a variation of the rig, check out the video of Timm's solo piece "Lambahhh" on the Video page by clicking here.
What I Play And Why!
As you might imagine, I get a lot of questions about my gear. Hopefully, the info on this page will answer those questions in far greater detail than I can provide with individual responses. If, after reading this page, you still have specific questions relating to my kit, e-mail me by clicking here.
Drums
In 1994, I made the move to Premier Drums. I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. In my humble opinion, Premier
makes the best drums you can find today. And their products just keep getting better! Over the past year, I've changed my set up a bit to allow me to move in some different musical directions. Here's a diagram outlining the current configuration I'm using...
- 18x20 or 18x22 Kick
- 5.5x14 Signia maple snare (wood hoops)
- 7x13 Modern Classic maple snare
- 9x12 Rack Tom
- 10x13 Rack Tom
- 14x14 Floor Tom
- 16x16 Floor Tom
- 16x18 Floor Tom
My main touring kit is now Artist Maple series, but I'm still using the Signia series (maple) in the studio here in Nashville. Both series sound absolutely phenomenal, and I urge you to check out the Artsit series for yourself - particularly if you're on a budget!
Here are a few photos of the Signia series "Redskin" kit (in my old confirguration), which now resides in my studio. This is the kit was used on albums by Danny Gatton ("Relentless", "9/9/94 Live"), Nils Lofgren (" Breakaway Angel", "Live") and many, many others. These drums have aged beautifully, despite over 10 years of touring. The first and last photos were taken by my studio partner Johnny Raimondo during sessions for Tony DeNikos. The middle shot was taken by me...
Cymbals
Since the 2006 NLB tour ended, I've been hearing different cymbal sounds in my head. I knew that I had to make a move to get these sounds "under my sticks", but wasn't exactly sure what to do. At various times over the past 18 months or so, I played cymbals from a variety of manufacturers - many of which were really great sounds, but not exactly what I was hearing.
In October of 2007, I received an e-mail from Torab Majlesi, artist rep at Istanbul Mehmet. Torab, who happens to be a Premier endorser, asked if I would be interested in joining Istanbul Mehmet. I had played their cymbals in the past and really liked them, so I began to do check them out pretty intensely. After several lengthy e-mails in which I described to Torab exactly what I wanted to achieve compared to the sounds I have been working with, and listening to samples of their various cymbals, I really felt as though this was the company to go with. They have such a wide variety of lines to choose from, ranging from traditional to extremely radical sounds, that I felt sure we could work together to craft my new rig.
The new cymbals arrived in mid-January 2008 and I've been absolutely blown away by them! Torab (and the craftsmen at Istanbul Mehmet) did a wonderful job of translating my vision into reality. I'm still experimenting with what will be the final "main set-up" and some things may change slightly in the coming months, but I totally believe in these cymbals - and Istanbul Mehmet's commitment to excellence. You owe it to yourself to investigate their cymbals - no matter what type of sounds you're looking for.
Here's the kit diagram again, and this time I'll list the cymbals in my main set up:
- 18" Sultan China
- 8" Radiant Splash
- 13.5" X-Jazz Hi-Hat
- 16" Traditional Dark Crash
- 10" X-Metal Splash
- 21" Traditional Dry Custom Ride
- 12" Sultan Hi-Hat
- 18" Traditional Dark Crash
- 19" Xperience X-FX or 18" X-Jazz Crash
Here is a composite shot of the new Istanbul Mehmet cymbal rig I've been experimenting with (as of 1/19/08). This kit configuration was used on the new Jeff Packett album...
Here are a few additional shots of the new cymbal rig (photos by Tam Singer)
More photos of the new rig coming soon...
Hardware
All of my hardware (with minor exceptions) is made by Premier. The new set up is basically an update of the configuration I've used for many years, with one addition. It consists of five 6000 series boom cymbal stands, one 6000 series "straight" cymbal stand, the "Rok-Lok" double tom holder with a boom arm add on for the center splash, hi-hat stands from the 6000 and 4000 series, two 6000 series snare stands and my custom built cowbell holder (by Rich King and Noel White). The new addition is Premier's "X-Hat", which is supported by one of their fantastic large multi-clamps. I've been practicing with one of their 6000 series double kick drum pedals and I have to say I like it a lot. I've never played a double pedal before (I guess I'm more old school than I like to admit), and I've worked very hard throughout my career to have a right foot that didn't need any help (so to speak). I have a feeling, however, that this pedal will find its way onto a record in the near future, then I'll be committed to using it on a tour. Until then, I'm going with my old reliable DW 5000 double chain pedals. They're of the "Turbo/Accelerator" variety, and I've gotten so accustomed to their feel, it's difficult to make a change. Thankfully, the kind folks at Premier don't seem to have a problem with me using what I need to. I am mulling a couple possible additions to the set up before touring begins, and I'll post any updated info here.
Heads
I've used Remo heads since the start of my playing days. What I'm looking for in a head is as open a sound as possible - no deadening whatsoever. I like the drums to sound a bit like a jazz kit to me, but I want the front of house folks to be able to get the sound they need for any given situation. This approach makes life a bit more difficult sometimes, as overtones can be a problem in certain live settings. Over the years, however, I've learned how to take care of that through tuning. Rarely do we use any dampening (i.e. Moon gel, duct tape), and we never use electronic "gating". A big factor in this is micing, which I'll discuss in a moment. For now, let's talk head selection.
For the remainder of this discussion, feel free to insert the words "single-ply head" wherever you see the word "Ambassador". Likewise, you can use "double-ply head" where you see the words "Emperor" or "Pinstripe". With that in mind, let's move on... In the studio (as you can see from the above photos), I almost always use Remo Ambassadors on the snares and toms. To me, kits with thin shells (Premier, Slingerland, Gretsch as examples) can feel and sound a bit choked with thicker heads such as Emperors. And while I've used practically every head combination you can think of over the years, I always find myself coming back to Ambassadors in the studio. You can mold an Ambassador into virtually any sound, but you can't make a Pinstripe head sound open with a lot of overtones.
Kick drums are another matter entirely. I use the same heads live as I do in the studio 99.99% of the time. For the past several years, that choice has been a Remo Powerstroke. Start with a Powerstroke (or similar head from another manufacturer) and you're well on your way to a good sound. For live and the studio, all I do is use a Powerstroke and a front head with a hole. Premier front heads are dampened in a similar fashion to a Powerstroke (in fact, I think they are Powerstrokes), so that makes life easier. Usually, all I need to do is throw a small piece of material (like a bandana) into the drum to kill the "inner tube" sound that's sometimes there, and I'm ready to go. I use no other direct dampening at all and my kick drums sound great.
Sticks
Since the late 1970's, I've used Pro-Mark 808 Wood Tip sticks. I used Oak at first, then Golden Oak through the Mahogany Rush days. In the mid 80's, I switched to Hickory. They seem to last a bit longer and they're much easier on my hands. After trying several different sizes (and brands) of sticks these past few months, I wound up returning to the 808's. I guess my hands have become so accustomed to them over the years I can't seem to change! I also use several types of Pro-Mark Rods, Vic Firth Brushes and Mallets.
Mics
I've always wanted to control as much of my sound as possible. Guitar players, bass players, keyboard players - they get to have so much control of their sound it's not even funny! Why not drummers? This was how I felt for years, and I think, finally, microphone companies listened to all of the drummers out there crying out for more control. With every flyer from "Musician's Friend" for example, I see more and more "drum micing packages" available at reasonable prices. That's a very good thing! But you must be careful when choosing a package such as these. It is unfortunate that we can't take our kits into the music store, set them up, mic them up and play until we can decide if what we hear is what we want to sound like. Because we can't, it's important to ask around, search out other drummers opinions and see what the drummers you like are using. Even then, do your best to get a return guarantee on whatever package you buy! Believe me - what sounds great on one kit in an arena may not sound great on your kit at the local bar. Remember, it's all in the hands - we all sound different from one another, even on the very same kit.
Years of recording and touring have given me pretty firm opinions about what I want from a mic. I want clarity. I want them to be almost invisible, imparting little or no additional tone to my sound. I want them to have a very "low profile", so there are no extra stands hanging over everything. I want the clamps to be extremely low mass, not choking the drum in any way (very important for users of thin drums). And I need them to be rugged. Really rugged.
When I came on the Danny Gatton Band in the early 90's, he'd just gotten an endorsement deal with Shure mics. One day, a package arrived at a gig filled to the brim with all of their latest mics. Needless to say, everyone had a field day! When I saw the drum mics - SM 98's for the toms, an SM 91 for the kick drum, Beta 57's for the snares - I was curious as to how these would sound. Until that time, I'd been accustomed to using Sennheiser 421's & 441's, EV RE 20's, AKG D-12's & D-112's and, of course, the ever present SM 57's on snares. Well, let me tell you, they blew me away on the gig that night. I could hear the clarity - even through the monitors! What a change it was. I asked Danny if I could use them in the studio to really check them out. He agreed, and off I went with a box full of mics. My studio assistant and I put them through a bevy of A/B testing over the next several days. We tried them on a variety of kits and different head combinations. The 98's and the 91 were winners in every test we ran. We went through over 20 SM 57's and found 2 that were remarkably better than the others on snares. We then went through about the same number of Beta 57's (the first generation Beta mics), and found 1 that was better than the rest on snares. Since those tests, I've been sold on those mics. I've been using my Shure mics for over 10 years now, and everyone who hears them is amazed by their sound. Mind you, whenever I've gotten new mics into the studio, we've tested them and always found 1 or 2 to be better on snares or better on guitars. And I like the older, thinner cables on the 98's and 91's (which is sometimes a drag for the crew!). But they are everything I look for in a mic, and I think they're a big part of my sound. That's why I take them nearly everywhere I go.
To run down my complete mic set up:
- Kick drum: SM 91 (lays in the drum on a piece of studio foam that doesn't touch the heads)
- Main snare: Beta 57 or SM 57 (depending on the drum - a darker drum gets a Beta, a brighter drum gets a 57)
- Snare 2: Beta 57 of SM 57 (same criteria as above)
- All toms: SM 98's (with Shure clamps and goosenecks)
- Overheads: SM 81's (matched pair)
- Hi Hat: SM 81 (in my studio, I often use an old Sony condenser that I've had for years. Don't know the model #)
One last note: I do, in fact, sit on a beer keg. I've done this since I was around 15 years old and it's far more practical than you might think. In those days, drum thrones weren't nearly as well made as they are today and I was breaking one after the other. I had a gig coming up, but couldn't fix my throne and had no money to buy a new one. I'd acquired a keg (we won't go into how) some months before and tried sitting on it while I played. The height was right, it was solid as a rock, and not at all uncomfortable. At first, I used a cushion on top. Over time, this disappeared, though sometimes my drum tech's have fashioned one out of foam to use for a tour. If you're into specifics, the kegs I use (I actually have 3) are Budweiser 3/4 kegs (not too many of these around anymore). When we were in New York with Nils during the Breakaway Angel Tour, one of the stage hands remarked on the keg and said "Oh, I get it - Biery / Beer Keg". Believe it or not, I'd never thought of that before, but the keg certainly has become something of a "trademark" of mine.
I hope this page answers some of the many equipment questions I'm asked. As I said earlier, I'll keep it updated as things evolve...
Timm Biery hits Remo Heads on Premier Drums and Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals with Pro-Mark Sticks