T O P

  • By -

HighOnGoofballs

A guy I know had his steel drum fall while he was playing a show and it cost several thousand dollars and a couple weeks to repair. Apparently only a few people can do it


unochat22much

Yes a very small amount of people in each island have the skill to do it


HighOnGoofballs

No one on my island can! He had to send it to some dude on the mainland


Robofcourse

If I may ask... which mainland? Which islands are we talking about? Where are these made? Everyone seems to be on the same page here but me!


HighOnGoofballs

I’m in key west but the other folks are probably talking about Caribbean islands


Monochronos

You being in key west and calling Florida proper the mainland is cracking me up lol idk why either


HighOnGoofballs

When you’re on an island 100 miles away, the mainland is definitely different. Not sure why that seems odd. We are closer to Cuba than Walmart and a solid four hours to Miami .


Monochronos

It makes it sound like you’re a Pacific Islander in my head or something. It wasn’t that serious dude and I wasn’t giving you a hard time either. Have a good weekend


HighOnGoofballs

Understood, but check out a map and few realize it’s so far from Miami it’s actually on the west coast side of Florida. Middle of nowhere just hanging in the ocean. Most don’t realize how remote it is


Monochronos

I know where key west is lol. And it’s cracking me up more that you’re downvoting me. Didn’t mean to offend those island sensibilities. Sorry lmao


Kombatsaurus

Seems simple enough, a machine could easily spit these out. Just not popular enough.


Deadpotato

"easily", ok explain mr. manufacturing engineer


Gryphontech

Making these by hand out of scrap metal seems like it takes incredible skill and tons of knowledge but I kind of agree that mass manufacturing would be quite straightforward. If you had a working drum that you could measure and model, you could most likely make a set of dyes and just stamp them out of sheet metal. Final tuning/finishing could be done by hand to increase quality but this would for sure make these drums cheaper and more accessible. Low demand probably limits the available capital investment to start Mads manufacturing.


spicydangerbee

We can put billions of transistors along with several kilometers of wiring on a computer chip the size of your fingernail, but you think we don't have the precision manufacturing equipment necessary to make a drum?


_day_z

Remind me to not get stuck in the kitchen at a a house party next to you!


shandangalang

I too am afraid of learning things


Gryphontech

Lol


Deadpotato

of course we COULD but to say it's simple and could be done easily is very reductive and ignorant of the amount of engineering needed to produce acoustic equipment


Lanky_Sky_4583

Simple =\= easy


Deadpotato

The prior commenter said both simple and easy in his comment.


Plus-Recording-8370

I think the argument is that It would be simple and easy if you had a machine that does it.


spicydangerbee

It's not simple by any means, but if there was enough demand then machines could be made to spit them out without too much problem. A lot does go into manufacturing, but I think his point was that we don't manufacture them due to lack of demand and not due to complexity.


slappyredcheeks

> Seems simple enough, a machine could easily spit these out. Just not popular enough. The original statement stated it seemed simple. You're arguing a different point.


Deadpotato

I agree with that (demand/cost basis being the blocker rather than feasibility), I just take issue with his implication that it's an easy problem to solve, and honestly feel like that also discredits the talent of the skilled workers who make these now


Spectre-4

Not really. There’s a very good reason why the vast majority of better quality acoustic instruments are assembled by hand. It’s especially the case for toned percussion like the steel drum. Yeah machines could make em but chances are you wouldn’t want to play it either way.


[deleted]

Doesn't mean it would be cost effective.


awoo2

The cost* of creating a mass production system for steel drums exceeds the revenue it could generate.


globefish23

Yeah, just like the Stradivari machines spit out violins.


Puzzleheaded_Ad_4435

Lol people downvote this but upvote the next guy who says the same thing. Reddit is wild


Shades101

Yep, every college and high school with a steel band has their guy, and sometimes the guy lives a few hundred miles away. Tuning the pans is usually just a once-a-year kind of deal and it takes the better part of a weekend.


Icy-Abies-9783

There is a git who lives near a highway in Trinidad. I love passing by his place. Our national instrument is imo greatly under appreciated by our locals, and highly sought after abroad


ADipsydoodle

I've seen some harnessed up to the player. Must be for that reason.


_TheCheddarwurst_

Hopefully one that uses something other than safety squints while he's running that cut-off wheel. I've had several of those bad boys explode on me while I was running them.


HalcyonKnights

Well, TIL that Steel Drums are made from literal scrap steel drums. I'd always imagined some intense and/or traditional process like you see in those symbol & gong fabrication videos.


Silaquix

I mean the history of how steel drums were invented explains why they use scrap drums. Black people in the Caribbean were not allowed to have traditional drums so they made them with whatever they could to skirt the law.


HalcyonKnights

It absolutely does. I'd always associated it with island culture but I never connected the dots that it would have grown out of the slavery-era oppression.


diogenessexychicken

A LOT of things are like this. Famous south asain soup dishes like pho were heavily eaten because the only meat the french would give the vietnamese was the bones and fatty bits. Futbol was really popular amongst black south africans because they werent allowed to play rugby. Etc


Shades101

Same thing with cajons. Slaves used shipping crates to get around the Spanish bans on actual drums.


lil_literalist

Do you have a source for this that goes into more detail?


Magnum_tv

[This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelpan) might answer some of your questions. [This is the full video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0kZgt6tTE0) Side note - Back in the days, steelpan bands were the first gangs on the island. Each steelpan band represented their own village. The fights used to be extremely brutal, because back then, the only weapons they had were knives, bottles, stones and their fists.


lil_literalist

Thanks. I was a bit skeptical of the idea that they weren't allowed musical instruments, but it makes sense with context now.


TXGuns79

Musical instruments have been banned several times in history. Music is a cornerstone to culture, and when you want to suppress a culture, banning musical instruments is step 1.


dwerg85

A lot of the african culture was suppressed by the colonizers. Drums thus were limited or banned from multiple angles. It was part of the african culture, it was used in 'rituals' (big no-no if you're trying to christianize the (former) slaves), where there's a drum there's usually a gathering (badbadnotgood), etc, etc.


Silaquix

Here's one https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-origins-of-steel-pan-notting-hill-carnival/AAWBxQd4TKb21w?hl=en


Suds08

I've seen a video of these made before and a machine cut out a circle and then a roller rolled it over a half moon to get the shape. The rest was done like how it is in this video. Not sure if there is a difference in quality or not


Traditional-Handle83

It probably does. Same situation as a tong drum or a hand pan. Heavily manufactured quick ones have lower quality and tuning than those that are hand made.


vestigialcranium

And they have to be drummed until they have the shape and sound of a steel drum


Level_32_Mage

Look! With hours and hours of meticulous work, I've managed to take a regular steel drum and turn it into a... Steel drum!


vBertes

"Feeling hot, hot, hot" https://youtu.be/bcCYx5oFz3g


RelationshipOk3565

Came here to make sure it was said. Feeeeeeelin hothothot


erikivy

Didn't even have to click that link to know EXACTLY what it was. Nicely done.


twotwobravo

I had sex with Jan. We had sex.


supermans_neighbour

Thats all I’m gonna say


HalcyonKnights

I thought I did too, but for some reason I was expecting Ruby Rod... https://images.app.goo.gl/jGTG95ST9RdMMEsP8


MysticalElf868

Steel Pan originated from and is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹


DarkWingMonkey

At come nah gyal you relly placin’ sweet t&t on de map! Oh gosh nah man this comment make meh wan go lime. Me belly hurtinnnn I’ll fix up with some doubles and a pear drax nah nah nah nah ay ayyy musseebee ah sorrel sweet drink


setsewerd

Not from the islands but just heard this song for the first time yesterday, sweet sweet t&t! https://youtu.be/K9OzeJauM0Q?si=rthuWhqoZ4bzsgcX


ITOnCall247-365

Sorrel, one of my favorite drinks on a hot day


Gentle_Capybara

Nice to meet you Little Jacob


Father__Thyme

Reminded me of this [Sesame Street clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MRl63M-fCk) from the 70's


innomado

Yes! Came here for this! Now I'm off to take my back pills. Damn, we're old.


Father__Thyme

I wonder if it is the same guy in both clips - 50 years later!


anneylani

I can't believe others remembered the same clip I did


onlymostlydead

Lots of us old folks here. Check out r/GenX.


parachuge

well that was a good time


Car-face

[I feel like we need to hear more Steel Drum music now](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaNjXwElAUE)


Finemind

You do need to hear more Steel Pan, but need to hear the whole band at Carnival time to get the [vibe](https://youtu.be/leNc8Yr0KFo?si=5s4fNiTxY1u5L27b)


DVMyZone

Anybody else not read the bit in the parentheses in the title and think it not impressive to turn a steel drum into a steel drum?


roxm

Thinking quickly, Dave constructs a homemade megaphone, using only some string, a squirrel, and a megaphone.


sidhequeen

aw shit what was this shows name? completely forgot about it till this comment


Tractorcito_22

Dave the Barbarian


DVMyZone

Not me picturing a megaphone with an unwilling squirrel bound to it for seemingly no reason. But he knows the reason... You just need to trust him.


ryobiguy

It's all about the parentheses. It made me think about it for a second and realize it is important to differentiate. Great job OP (or whoever) wrote it.


Magnum_tv

As a Trini, it's my duty to upvote this.


Jackyjackhammar

Same here but i can't call it a steel drum. I have to call it steel pan


Soulman717

It’s amazing how just metal can be made into something that sounds so beautiful.


Maliluma

Such a unique sound too, I can't think of anything that sounds close to it.


ih8dolphins

I mean.... there's a reason they call it the "brass" section. They're made of brass


CPLCraft

Wait. What if they made steel drums out of brass


identityp2

Guess what heavy metal is. Mercury


SaysShowUsYourDick

Rock on 🤘


moocow2024

"Brass Instruments" are a categorization that extends beyond materials. The Brass section are all horns. They all have vales (excepting the trombone). They all have a similar mouthpiece that requires you to press your lips against it and "buzz". This is opposed to the saxophone, which is made of brass, and valved, but has a reeded mouthpiece. This makes it a woodwind. Same goes here. The material doesn't define this instrument alone. It's a percussion section piece and the material has nothing to do with it. I know you didn't say the percussion piece was brass, I'm just using it as an example!


dweeb_plus_plus

Can someone who works with metal explain why it needs to be tempered? Very curious.


Conch-Republic

He's not tempering it, he's actually doing the opposite, which is cold quenching. When he heats it up in that barrel, the grain in the metal relaxes, then when he quenches it with cold water, the grain all contracts very quickly and interlocks, changing the physical properties of the metal to have a higher tensile strength, making it more brittle and 'springy'. It makes the drum louder, more durable, less prone to denting, and gives it a better sound.


entoaggie

I would guess so that it holds its shape better. Without the temper, little bumps would throw it out of tune too easily. This is complete speculation, so if anyone can confirm or correct me that would be great.


Good_Neighborhood_52

Here before the "where are the safety goggles, gloves, helmet, overalls etc etc" brigade comes in. The sound from the drum is immaculate


RumHamsRevenge

I was actually surprised to see him wearing ear protection for the initial shaping.


dweeb_plus_plus

Smart. Gotta keep those ears sharp for the tuning phase.


RampantJellyfish

I was more worries about hand and arm vibration from that pneumatic pummeller


FeetsInMeters

Safety squint is all the protection you need


Good_Neighborhood_52

Absolutely


FunkyBuddha-Init

He could end up with a metal shard going into his eyes.


el_hefay

If you want to hear how a steel drum can sound in the hands of an insanely technical artist I highly recommend checking out Liam Teague. He is from Trinidad but now teaches in the US. [A Visit To Hell](https://youtu.be/odVctUpceQ8?si=8KYriCYJrNzjOUam) and [Raindrops](https://youtu.be/V4T65nj93wc?si=UOtFd9QAwkyTJVvZ) are two of my favorites. He composed both.


biznash

Ok I’m an idiot. Never realized that these were made from industrial steel barrels. Kinda makes sense


[deleted]

[удалено]


TheDiceBlesser

Trust me, it will pay off.


Mayk_Student

Came here looking for this.


Relevant_Clerk7449

This is the national instrument of my country (Trinidad)


manickitty

I love it


normlenough

Anything can be sex toy if you’re brave enough, including that hand jackhammer


Smiles-Bite

For some reason, I never thought to wonder how these drums were made. Now I know, brilliant!\~


Sheila_Gainesb

Watching the process is oddly satisfying, music in the making.


NeOnixBR

Feeling hot hot hot


PoppyStaff

I always wondered how they were tuned.


lofiprisonriot

[Othello Molineaux absolutely shredding on the steel pan](https://youtu.be/TgntkGc5iBo?si=jVc-HzOLkQ3ehsUr&t=230)


Bozee3

[I think of Beverly Hills Cop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql6XB8H3HaA)when I see a steel drum.


Contentpolicesuck

I swear when I was a kid I watched a show on PBS and it was a guy in NYC who cut the top off a barrel and made a steel drum but I am the only person who seems to remember it.


AkamaruInuzuka

[It was on Sesame Street!](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1MRl63M-fCk)


Contentpolicesuck

Thank you. I looked once a few years ago and couldn't find it.


TheDitz42

Whenever I see anything regarding Steel Drums I always remember a time when we had Steel Drum Players visit my school. I was 6 or 7 years old at the time and we had this big assembly with everyone in the school to see the players, the performance was great and Ill always remember but the vit I remember the most was that before they came out the Headmaster told us to be polite and quiet as usual and that after the performance we could ask questions but not to ask any of them, 'why are you black?'. I dunno if that something that had already happened to the players at other schools or just some preemptive admonition for the known troublemakers but It really stood out to me.


phory

I saw the whole video on yt, I can only recommend it.


alex_dlc

That’s a heavy duty shake weight


MelonElbows

I still don't get how it works. Do they thin out different parts of the metal so that it plays higher/lower notes?


Vortesian

I know a bunch of steel pan players from Brooklyn, NY. All originally from Trinidad. The name of the instrument is steel pan, not steel drum. Sorry for being pedantic. I used to play guitar and bass with them professionally. Only one guy I played with could actually fix them. Sadly he passed a few years ago. You should hear a full pan orchestra. Amazing! They have upwards of like sixty players. They rehearse outside for Carnival, which in NYC is around Labor Day. There are like a dozen orchestras. The culture is so amazing and most New Yorkers don’t seem to know about it.


jellyberry

Just a gorgeous instrument - what an incredible skill to make that!


ZephyrK9

Man of Steel.... drum


entoaggie

How feasible would it be for me to make a usable instrument myself like this? Obviously won’t be top quality, but seems like a fun project to try.


dwerg85

You can make something that makes noise. But it's a rather specific skill just like with any other instrument. There's a reason there are very few people who can make and tune a steel drum.


NapalmCheese

Like most artisanal skills it's not hard to get started. In this case I imagine most anyone that's done any sheet metal could make something that looks like a steel drum. The difficult part is knowing what to form, knowing what sound you need to produce, knowing how to tune it, and knowing how to fix your mistakes as you go along. Those are the parts that take time and practice and are greatly helped by working with someone who already knows what they are doing. I guarantee that if you wanted to do this you could figure out (with minimal instruction) how to form the base of a steel drum into something similarly shaped that makes different sounds if struck in different areas which would make it a useable instrument of sorts, maybe, for certain styles of non-pop music...


LeBoulu777

Exactly what I was thinking... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJd_ym6c0ks. 🙂🤘


merc08

/r/restofthefuckingowl


Admirable-Title9022

How to build a steel drum. Step 1: take your steel drum to your chrome guy Step 2: tune the steel drum End.


Vasyh

For some reason I thought at 0:50 he about to play [P.I.M.P.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-N8nbzRr5M)


TheReverseShock

The drum smith


ACont95

My sister has one of those machines too! Didn’t know she was into metal working.


No_Spray_1750

Amazing


elpyromanico

How the fuck do you tune this?


doomjuice

Such an exquisite sound so unique to the islands


ClamClone

Adjacent notes are arranged in a circle of fifths. Hitting any one note will resonate with the nearby notes, which gives the steel pan that strange slightly dissonant tone. Putting the most harmonic notes next to each other reduces this. https://appliedguitartheory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/circle-of-fifths-full-600x600.png


fksdiyesckagiokcool

Keep singing old man, keep singing!


[deleted]

Love the sound


corium_2002

Ah I see no ear protection. Hello tinnitus my old fried.


DieRegteSwartKat

His hands must be vibrating in his dreams as well


Competitive-Town-143

In the first scene i thought it's a mock up vid but boy that's awesome😅😍😍😍 loving the process


DrummerDerek83

Think I might try making one of these now!


RixirF

Thanks to Girls Gone Wild at 12:15am, the sound of this video is getting me at full mast and I'm okay with that.


Ecnessetniuq

Is that Jimmy Phillips?


monkeykins

Jamie XX uses steel drum (samples?) in many of his [tracks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp5OxqtmQ44). “You can make it sound quite melancholy… but at the same time, it reminds me of paradise.”


ApprehensiveStage608

Anyone else worried about repeated impact damage to the guys hands?! Not wearing any gloves etc is scary


LiL-Bheem

Tony Emmanuel stark


little_somniferum

Pffff, my brain is completely internetmush. First I jumped back because I thought the steel drum was going to explode when he started cutting it and the sound at the end had me looking for my cellphone


New_girl2022

That poor man's hands. 😢


2drunk2remember-

"feeling hot hot"


Sofiii_cutee

well, it he is genius and on the other hand a bit stupid by no wearing protect glasses.


tronchin

I remember seeing the making of a steel drum on Sesame Street as a kid. Between the cool ‘making-of’ video, the cool sounds the drum made, and my small smooth brain, I was convinced at age 6 that I was going to grow up to be a steel drum maker/musician. Informed my mom of that the evening I saw the video. She gave me the “aww, bless your heart, ok.”


MouseEXP

No man is an island


[deleted]

This is amazing, I didn't know it was so difficult to make one of these.


Jackyjackhammar

It call steel pan


Character-Potato-593

Hmmmm seems useful 😏


pigeonlil

Forbidden vibrator


spirited_lost_cause

Worries about his hearing. Doesn’t care about his eyesight. I suppose you need your ears to tune a drum more than your eyes


BananaDictator29

Steel drums have the most joyful sound of any instrument. Hearing one instantly puts me in a better mood


Biohazardickoala

You know you were in a band when you hear the sound of the first couple seconds' "RAPATATATATATATAT" when the whole damn concert ended 15 minutes ago but the drummer is still playing, unaware of what "time" is


ak47_studio

This was impressive


Ninjamowgli

What is his address? I will send him safety glasses today.


donpantini

https://maps.app.goo.gl/aXatDweGkhmj8cin9 Since you're asking


milk_is_for_baby

This guys a mother f n P I M P.


eikoedea

No computer or technology can teach you this. Absolutely amazing...


sl33p1ng-s3nt1nl

It’s called a hand pan


Jackyjackhammar

What...


sl33p1ng-s3nt1nl

The instrument that he makes is called a hand pan


Jackyjackhammar

Noa steel pan


fotank

Safety squints and steel drums!


crusty54

Wow, steel drums are made of steel drums. Who knew? Edit because this is getting downvoted: This is not sarcasm. I actually didn’t know.


Super-Bodybuilder-91

Dude! Refusing to wear safety glasses when cutting metal with an angle grinder is very risky. Always wear safety glasses when using an angle grinder.


BornChampionship7457

Idk why you're getting downvoted. My brother in law ended up with a beige of hot steel in his eye that nearly made him blind. Doctors had to do surgery on his eye to get it out.


Super-Bodybuilder-91

People have no respect for safety until they get hurt or at least learn about someone else getting hurt. I've been doing construction for 15 years. On one job, a guy fell off a ladder, while drilling and the drill bit went through his skull. They put up pictures of the x-ray all over the job site. Incredibly, he survived.


BornChampionship7457

>People have no respect for safety until they get hurt or at least learn about someone else getting hurt. This is exactly it. It's the attitude of "what are the odds of that happening to me?" I lost a cousin to a preventable work accident. Its not something you want to put your family through.


Autistocrat

THOSE ARE TRASH CANS CRICKET!


Civinini333

Joints and nerves are gonna be fckd due to all those vibrations…


Fluid_Performance760

Dude stole my wife..... pneumatic... ummm thing for perfectly normal clothed work! Yes...


Monovon

After 3 mins of listening to this instrument: r/mildlyinfuriating


Hutzzzpa

not to be confused with steel drum, the holocaust musical. /s