Q Drums Gentleman's Series Snare
November 2016
This month we sat down with Jeremy Berman, a highly respected drum tech and renowned builder and the founder of the Los Angeles based manufacturer Q Drums, to get a little background on his career. We also checked out his latest offering, the Gentleman's Series copper snare.
Berman has been making drums since the '90s, and his resume as a drum tech includes Nine Inch Nails, Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal, Jimmy Eat World, Katy Perry, Gwen Stefani, Slipknot, and Norah Jones. Berman got his start in the industry working at Guitar Center in Orange County. "I started playing drums late," he says, "when I was around sixteen. But the first time I sat at a kit, I was hooked. I eventually found myself working at GC, which was where I met John Machado. He was vice president of Orange County Drums and Percussion at that time. Every time he came in, I'd ask if they had any openings.
"Then I was in a serious car accident, and it changed my whole perspective on things. John came in after my accident, and I put all of my cards out there. I told him I wasn't a salesman and didn't want to sell gear anymore. I wanted to learn how to make drums. I had a woodworking background, so he finally gave me a shot. For the first year and a half, I was sanding shells day in and day out, and I loved every minute of it. Things just blossomed from there.
"It was a small shop and there were only a handful of employees, so John let me run with it," Berman continues. "Scrap wood was fair game, so I went through a phase of making some silly stuff. How deep can I make a bass drum? How many materials can I use in one drum? I thought some of these crazy ideas would sound good, but they didn't." [laughs]
After spending a few years refining his skills, Berman eventually began to spearhead his own projects at OCDP. In 2004, OCDP artist and Nine Inch Nails drummer Jerome Dillon called Machado looking for someone to tune a kit that Berman had built, because it was the first time NIN leader Trent Reznor was using acoustic drums on a record (the With Teeth album). John recommended Jeremy for the sessions, and when the band geared up for a world tour to support the album, Jeremy was asked to join them as the full-time drum technician.
In 2009, Orange County Drums and Percussion closed its custom shop, which meant that Berman was without a place to build drums when he was home between tours. After securing a workspace and procuring some proper tools, he began building drums for fun. During this time, Jeremy was hired to tech for Katy Perry's drummer, Adam Marcello. Perry's team requested a second kit in addition to Marcello's Shine acrylic set, so Berman volunteered to build it. That kit was used on the majority of the tour, and Q Drum Company was born.
One of Berman's latest creations is the Gentleman's Series copper snare drum. Inspired by Ludwig's classic Black Beauty model, the Gentleman's Series snare differs in that it's 7x14 rather than 6.5x14, is made from seamless copper instead of brass, and has eight lugs, not ten. It's a modern spin on a classic design. And because it's made from copper, it produces a slightly darker sound. The tuning range is exceptional, and it sits very well in the mix no matter what genre is being played.
The Gentleman's copper snare comes with hand-filed snare beds that have been pressed into the seamless shell. The drum is outfitted with standard 2.3mm triple-flange hoops, twenty-five strand brass wires, Remo heads, and a Trick throw-off. The shell is left without a clear coat or stain finish.
Muse's Dominic Howard and Nine Inch Nails' most recent drummer, Nan Rubin, have used this snare in the studio and on tour. Rubin tells Modern Drummer, "In the world of custom drums, where obnoxious finishes and odd drum construction often come first, Q Drums focuses on tonal quality. While pushing construction techniques and respecting what was done right in the past, all my needs—and then some—are met." For more on Q Drums, go to qdrumco.com.
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