Steel Covered Drums

steel drum, tuned gong made from the unstoppered end and part of the wall of a metal shipping drum. The end surface is hammered concave, and several areas are outlined by acoustically important chiseled grooves. It is heated and tempered, and bosses, or domes, are hammered into the outlined areas. The depth, curvature, and size of each boss determine its pitch. The drums are struck with rubber-tipped hammers.

This Steel Drum was custom designed for our recording session. We wanted the instrument to cover all ranges from bass to treble, but have them all contained inside a singular Steel Drum. We sampled the instrument with several mallet types (ex. Beaters, Felt Mallet, Brushes, Hands, etc) The result, a beautiful and rich deeply sampled Steel Drum.