Today, we’re going to talk about drum techs. Whether you’re interested in becoming a pro tech working stadium tours, a local gig tech, or if you’re a drummer who wants to hire a tech, let’s talk about what it takes to keep the show running on schedule and handling the surprises that happen on the gig. Let’s define what a drum tech is.
A drum technician is someone who cares for the maintenance, transportation, tuning, setting up, and tearing down of a drummer’s gear before, during, and after a performance. This can be on tour or in a recording studio. The job also includes working and communicating with other techs, musicians, and people in the industry. And it includes caring for the specific needs of the drummer that you’re working for.
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I want to discuss my thoughts and brief experiences as a drum tech on major tours and local shows because I’m not aware of any schools for drum techs, and I find a lot of the training happens on the job where you’re thrown in the deep end and you figure it out as you go.
It’s not necessary for drum techs to be drummers themselves, but I think it helps. I would guess that most drum techs are also drummers, but keep in mind, though, if you’re a drum tech, you’re there for the drummer who hired you. It’s about how they want their drums set up and tuned, not your personal preferences.
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First of all, it’s important that as a drum tech, you have the necessary tools you need to do the job. That can be anything from a drum key and other tuning gadgets, gaffer’s tape, moon gel, or other tone mufflers, to spare drum heads, wing nuts, and cymbal felts. Depending on the gig, they may provide these things for you, but make sure you have the tools you need.
Two other optional things you could consider adding to the list are a headband flashlight. You definitely need a flashlight of some kind, but there are times you’ll need to quickly use both of your hands in the dark, and it can help to have one that you don’t have to hold. If that’s not a fashion statement you wanna make, to wear a headlight on your forehead, you could wear it around your neck.
And the other is gloves to handle the cymbals. I’ve worked with drummers who wanted their cymbals handled with gloves to avoid the oil on the hands from getting on them, and I’ve also worked with drummers that didn’t care either way. If it’s your job to clean the cymbals for every performance, it may make sense to handle the cymbals with some thin gloves, or maybe not. If your drummer plays a lot of cymbal chokes, there’s gonna be hand marks on the cymbals anyway.
Now let’s get into it. There are different levels of tech work, and what’s required for each can differ from teching a local show, to a tour with an unsigned band, or teching on a major label tour. So we’re gonna discuss the drum tech duties with regards to each of these levels before, during, and after the gig.
Okay, so before the performance, doing local drum tech work. In general, you’re gonna start by picking up the drums, packing them up, and delivering them to wherever the performance will be, and then setting them up and making sure everything is secure and ready. You’ll most likely interact with club and studio sound engineers, so it can be helpful to have the info on the band you’re working for. You represent the band, or you represent the drummer who represents the band, so professionalism is important. Don’t be a jerk, learn and use people’s names, et cetera.
There will be some drummers who are very particular about how their drums are set up and tuned, and some who are more relaxed about it. When you go to pick up the drums, I recommend you take a tape measure and paper to make a diagram of their drum set, measure the heights and angles of everything, and note it on your diagram. Also, take photos from different angles, and sit behind the drums to get a feel for where everything is.
For these local gigs, you may or may not have drum cases to transport the drums, or you may or may not be required to use your own vehicle. It’s good to discuss and negotiate the duties up front. You can offer different levels of service from basic setup and teardown to full head change and tuning and cleaning. You can even offer an option to rent them a drum set. There are cartage companies like Drum Doctors, SIR, and Angel City Drumworks with warehouses full of gear that offer these services.
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Okay, if you’re touring with a local unsigned band, before the performance, the general duties are basically the same. You’ll arrange to pack the drums up for transport in a van or U-Haul. You may have multiple roles to play here, as they probably can’t afford to bring multiple techs and a tour manager on the road. This is the type of gig where you’ll be moving the drums up three flights of stairs in the rain, but it can be a good way to break into teching on the road, as it’s not as high pressure as working for a major label band, especially if the band can’t afford to pay you much.
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Now, on tour with a major label band, usually the pay is pretty good here. You’ll be paid by the record company, and you’ll have a contract with the record company for your services. On top of your pay, you’ll get a per diem. It’s money paid to you for daily expenses. The per diem is usually paid by the week. You’ll get a bunk on the tour bus, and there will be catering for food and showers in the major venues when you arrive there.
The job is the same, but you’ll usually have one or two big road cases that houses all the gear. You won’t be loading the gear in and out of the big rig semis. Someone will do that for you, and there will be help by local stagehands to help you move things. You’ll need a laminate backstage pass so that security and everyone else knows that you need to be there.
And on these major tours, there might be multiple of everything. Some shows have two full drum kits on stage, plus a practice drum kit backstage for the drummer, so your duties could triple. And some drummers have really, really large drum sets. Your job is to keep stock of everything and order things as needed to be shipped to the venue where you’ll be, so you’ll be corresponding with reps from drum companies.
You’ll report to a tour manager or a production manager, and you’ll need a passport for traveling overseas. There are specific schedules for when to do your job on major label tours. It can be a lot of hurry up and wait. There may be long periods of time waiting to do the job, but when you do it, it usually has to be done in a timely manner. There will be time during the day before setup to change the heads and tune the drums.
You’ll be dealing with sound and lighting engineers. You’ll be dealing with in-ear monitors. You may have the same in-ear mix that your drummer does, and they may have a talkback mic so they can talk directly to you or the rest of the band. You may be dealing with backing tracks or click tracks on laptops and other computers, as well as electric drums and pads. They may ask you to run the backing tracks during the show, but you’ll probably be responsible for setting them up, breaking them down, and transporting them.
You’ll most likely have to do the sound check or line check for your drummer. It would be good to learn how the drummer strikes the drums and their playing dynamics so that you can replicate it for sound check.
Everyone is doing a particular job on major label tours, so ask before you do something that’s not directly related to your job. For example, if you notice a microphone is out of place, don’t just move it. Ask the sound engineer or let them know that it’s out of place. They might ask you to move it, and that would be fine. If the lighting engineer notices the floor tom doesn’t sound right and they come and detune it, if your drummer you work for hits it and it sounds terrible, that reflects badly on you. So in turn, don’t just move mics or do something that’s not your job.
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OK, during the show. In any of these situations, you’re part of the show. They say you need to be out of sight but always within reach. You need to pay attention. If anything goes wrong, it’s your job to fix it. You may have to handle these things differently depending on the gig, but some common things that go wrong is the snare drum head breaks, the cymbal tilter comes loose and the cymbal is out of place, the bass drum pedal goes through the bass drum head.
It’s important that you have spare pedals, spare sticks. Drummers might have plenty of spare sticks in a stick bag around their drum set, but if they throw them out into the audience, they need spare, spare sticks.
Aquarian Drumheads makes these Aquarian patches. Basically, they’re stickers of different sizes made out of their drum head material that you can slap onto a broken drum head to get through the song or get through a gig. I recommend looking into those.
And another tip is if you carry a backup snare and the main snare head breaks during the performance, you can quickly swap it out for the backup snare. But if you don’t have a second backup snare, I would change the broken head as soon as possible in case something happens to the first backup snare.You might think, what are the odds? But it could happen. It’s your job to keep the show going.
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After the show, it’s pretty much the reverse of setup, but things tend to go a little quicker than
setup, getting the drums back to the truck or where they’re stored. Be careful when you’re tired and you’d want to get done quickly. Pack everything well for transport. On major tours, you may be covered if something breaks, but on a local tech gig, you may have to pay for the damages.
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Okay, these are the details of my experience doing drum tech work. Each situation can and will be different, but I wanted to share this for anyone who’s interested.
