SO YOU WANT TO SOUND LIKE...

Matt Sorum of Velvet Revolver is one the finest hard rock drummers in the world. And his production chops means he knows how his drums sound...

What aspiring rock drummer wouldn't want to trade places with Matt Sorum? With a career spanning three massive bands (The Cult, Guns N' Roses and now Velvet Revolver), soundtracks, production credits and more, Matt's scored big on pretty much every level.

His combination of huge backbeat and knack for creating the perfect, sometimes tricksy, part for the song is legendary. And with Velvet Revolver he's found perhaps the best outlet for his talent yet. Contraband features some scorching playing, from the blazing single-stroke fills of 'Illegal I Song' to the crushing single, 'Slither.' It also contains fantastic-sounding rock drums...

"Josh Abraham, who produced the album, talked me into using slightly smaller drums than I'm used to," says Matt. "So I ended up with a 22" bass drum instead of a 24" for a tighter, more aggressive tone. And while I'm usually into really dirty drums, this time we microphoned the kit really close."

One of the big challenges for Matt is cutting through the wall of thick guitar sound of Slash and Dave Kushner. As Matt explains: "If you listen to Led Zeppelin, the drums sound huge, but Jimmy Page's guitar sound was thin compared to what I'm dealing with. So there's less room for that big, open drum sound. It's the same with a band like Audioslave - Brad Wilk has more space to fill. What I ended up with is some DW drums that have thicker shells than they normally produce. I seemed to be sucking the life out of the originals because I hit pretty hard. The heavier shells seem to stand up and sound better for this kind of music.

"I have the toms tuned pretty low for Velvet Revolver shows. In the Cult I went for higher tunings and a bit more of a 'note,' but now it's all about that big, thumpy sound with plenty of attack. Top and bottom heads are tuned pretty much the same and I use Remo Emperor coated heads now - they deliver the thumpiness straight off."

Matt also has clear ideas how he wants his drum to sound on stage. "I hate noisegates on drums," he laughs. "If you know how to tune drums properly you should be able to leave them wide open and let them sustain and decay naturally. It's only when they're badly tuned that they sound terrible and the soundman needs to control them with gates."

Set up like..Matt Sorum

Drums: Drum Workshop - 24" x 18" bass drum, 13" rack tom, 16" and 18" floor toms. Snare: 14" x 6 1/2" Ludwig Black Beauty or DW bronze.

Cymbals: Zildjian - typically a combination of As, A customs and Ks depending on mood!
18", 19", 20" and 22" crashes, 18" and 20" chinas, 22" Ping ride, 15" New Beat hi-hats and 40" gong

Plus...Remo coated Emperor heads, Zildjian Matt Sorum signature sticks.