189 – Cody Rahn & Ben Smith: “Sounds Like A Drum” – Talking Tone

Cody Rahn and Ben O’Brien Smith are the creators of Sounds Like A Drum, “an ongoing video series for drummers, audio engineers, and anyone who is responsible for achieving great drum sounds at the source. Sounds Like a Drum offers in-depth tutorials on tuning in ways most have never learned, tips and tricks for a memorable sound, and hacks that you might never have thought of.” Cody’s background as a working drummer in New York and Ben’s background in product development give them a unique and insightful approach to achieving great drum tone, whether that means finding creative new sounds or just troubleshooting the old ones.

In this podcast, Ben and Cody talk about:

* The philosophy behind the aesthetic and presentation of Sounds Like a Drum

* SLAD’s origin story

* How to associate certain drum tones with certain genres

* Going beyond the “what” and “how” of tone, and getting into the “why”

* Developing your ear and taste to inform your tone choices, rather than buying gear

* Making confidence part of you sound

* Balancing tone with feel

* Cody’s approaches for mic’d vs. un-mic’d situations

* How they handle comments and feedback on their channel

* Their advice for anyone who wants to start a social media or digital enterprise

Cody Rahn endorses Promark sticks and Evans heads.