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Standard Drum Riser size?


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From 8' x 8' up to (12' x 8') is very common.

 

I have seen 6' x 6' but this is pretty small for a drummer that also has some percussion of extra pieces.

 

Heights depend on the situation, but typically start at 1', and go up in 6" increments to as much as 4'.

 

The professional risers are typically metal, specifically aluminum frame w/ composite decking. As they get taller, you will see proper braces and clamps too.

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Couple of things to throw in here:

 

Agedhorse is right about sizing...6'x6' is pretty tight. It'll fit a small kit, but if the kit is even minorly complicated, or if you have to make room for mic stands, it's nice to err on the side of 'too big' rather than too small. Also, I can't imagine playing on anything smaller than 6' in depth without having to worry about falling off the back. An 18" deep kick drum with a pedal attached will eat up 2 1/2 feet of depth right away, which puts you almost halfway into the riser before you even add the drummer.

 

Another thing I've noticed is that some venues have pre-fab multi-purpose risers that are used for staging different things (I'm thinking college theatres, and other venues that put on a variety of different kinds of shows). Most of these that I've played on are plenty long enough but aren't deep enough. If memory serves, it seems like 8'x4' is a fairly standard size. So if you want to use these for a drum riser, you usually need two and end up with an 8'x8' total area.

 

Finally, there's a new and fairly cool product out that might suit your needs without having to build anything. Check out Pro Riser. Basically, this thing is an ultra-portable riser that consists of a folding top board, and a series of "buckets" that nest into each other that are placed under the board for support. The whole "professional" look is completed with a flexible wrap that surrounds the support structure of the riser. It comes in several sizes, heights, and configurations. IF I wanted to haul around more stuff (no thanks) and was in the market for a riser, I'd probably give these a good long look.

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Originally posted by Old Steve

Finally, there's a new and fairly cool product out that might suit your needs without having to build anything. Check out
Pro Riser
. Basically, this thing is an ultra-portable riser that consists of a folding top board, and a series of "buckets" that nest into each other that are placed under the board for support. The whole "professional" look is completed with a flexible wrap that surrounds the support structure of the riser. It comes in several sizes, heights, and configurations. IF I wanted to haul around more stuff (no thanks) and was in the market for a riser, I'd probably give these a good long look.

 

 

Wow! $599 and up for a sheet of 3/4" hardwood plywood ($40 at Home Depot), nine spackle buckets ($3 ea) and some hardware to keep it together ($20 for 1/4"x2" bolts and wingnuts).

 

The lawyers have officially made it impossible to market a simple product economically.

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LOL! You're right. The difference is, if/when the Proriser collapses and you get the shaft of your drum throne thrust up through your spine, you can sue them for a faulty product. If you're using Home Depot spackle buckets, you're obviously going against the manufacturer's recommendations.

 

While this probably isn't a big deal for if the only person using the riser is yourself, but if you plan on letting other people use it, it might be something to consider.

 

Finally, you have to admit that the Proriser is a little bit more 'professional' in appearance than a bunch of orange buckets and a hunk of plywood. Like most things, once you factor in the carpet, hardware, the fact that the 'support shells' all nest into something that will fit into a drum bag, and the 'skirt' looks pretty decent, you'd probably end up spending more than you originally thought. If you ended up having to drop $200-$300 for identical materials, and then had to throw in a couple hours of work, the $599 price tag (call it a convenience fee if you will) isn't any different than paying for cables rather than making your own.

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Originally posted by Old Steve

LOL! You're right. The difference is, if/when the Proriser collapses and you get the shaft of your drum throne thrust up through your spine, you can sue them for a faulty product. If you're using Home Depot spackle buckets, you're obviously going against the manufacturer's recommendations.


While this probably isn't a big deal for if the only person using the riser is yourself, but if you plan on letting other people use it, it might be something to consider.


Finally, you have to admit that the Proriser is a little bit more 'professional' in appearance than a bunch of orange buckets and a hunk of plywood. Like most things, once you factor in the carpet, hardware, the fact that the 'support shells' all nest into something that will fit into a drum bag, and the 'skirt' looks pretty decent, you'd probably end up spending more than you originally thought. If you ended up having to drop $200-$300 for identical materials, and then had to throw in a couple hours of work, the $599 price tag (call it a convenience fee if you will) isn't any different than paying for cables rather than making your own.

 

Oh, I agree on all points, I think. So to the $87 initial investment, I add a $7 quart of black paint for the underside, a $15 6x9 carpet remnant, and three yards of black fabric, for $20. Some velcro to attach, $5.

 

For $134 I can make the same appearance, leaving me with $465 to invest until I need to hire a lawyer to deflect any claim of negligence to Home Depot and Weyerhauser, who in their negligence failed to warn me not to bolt 9 buckets to the bottom of a sheet of plywood. I'm not an accomplice, I'm a victim!!:D :D

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Thanks steve!!

 

Actually, if I build it, very sturdy somewhere along the same concept. I'm figuring it will cost about 100.00...

 

I've wanted to do this for a long time, but didn't know how to make the most effecient one. Then one day several months back, someone on here posted pics of a drum riser being put together that was basically made of plywood and PVC..

 

After research, (last night) adding all the parts up, MINUS "pretty up" items (paint, carpet, etc) it would add up to around one hundred smackers.

 

This is using 2 sheets of 3/4 plywood hinged together with 2 "piano" style hinges. The hinges are 48 inches each.

 

For the support or legs.. I'll be using 4 inch PVC. They will attach to the plywood with 4" Closet Flanges.

 

I'll start off with putting it at 1 foot off the ground. But I think this would be safe for up to 3 feet. The next step would be to get some form of PVC adapter to go from 4 inches to 3. Then I would use the 3 inch PVC for being a foot off the ground. Then use the 4 inch PVC for anything higher. This way, I could carry the 3 inch PVC inside the 4 Inch PVC.. saving a little bit of space.

 

I'll use a standard black sheet with velcro on it for a skirt. Atleast untill I can find something else. I might just spray paint it all black and use my drum mat for awhile untill I decide on a good and cheap carpet.

 

Steve, now that I saw that link. I'm wondering if I should hinge it in another spot to make it fold one more time for even easier transport.

 

hmmm.. Well heres the pic that started this idea..

 

Any more ideas or thoughts on how to make this work better, are appreciated.

 

jason

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I'd can the PVC and look at pipe and flanges for legs. Steel doesn't break and shatter like PVC. It bends. In a pinch, you can fix a bend.

 

Reinforce the plywood with standard 16" on-center 2x4's and fill the framing underside with batt fiberglass insulation. Carpet the entire thing with commercial-grade so none of the stands slip.

 

It's going to be heavy, but it won't resonate and ruin what you like to hear.

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Personally, I think the best (smallest but still big enough) size for a normal kit is 6'x8'. What I usually see is 2 4'x8' risers together, but that always seems a little bigger than needed. I've never seen one larger than that, other than really big ones.

 

When I worked a show for Alison Kraus, the risers we had were 12". The BE asked for shorter risers (around 6"), which we didn't have, so he ended up just using the 12" ones. That is still by far the best sounding show I have ever seen, it was at the Santa Fe Opera.

 

The ones I usually see around here are 18", and that feels high sometimes.

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Despite Craig's crankyness (maybe he just likes playing Bob Villa) I think the Proriser deal is a pretty neat little package, and at least you know what weight range it's rated to hold. Whatever...I don't want a riser, just throwing my opinion out there.

 

As for the PVC pipe idea, I tend to agree with Rick. PVC is designed to carry water, not necessarily support loads. Based on that, you're really guessing when it comes to how much you need to support any weight. In addition, looking at the photos, it looks like the PVC pipes are pretty long compared to the closet flanges. Like anything long and narrow attached to a comparitively shallow flange or hole, it looks like a very small amount of leverage would be needed to jerk the pipes out of the flanges (i.e. would you do chin ups on a bar attached on one end with a closet flange and unsupported on the other end?). My fear would be that if somebody bumped the riser horizontally and got all of the pipes to lean a little bit, the whole thing would come down. Granted, using shorter pipe sections would change the whole "leverage" issue.

 

When I did a search for the proriser, I also saw some plans that I'd seen a few years ago. Again, the top was 3/4" plywood, but the "border" was a frame of 2x lumber. This "border supported the outer edge of the riser. The interior was supported by four notched pieces of 2x lumber that could be put together to form a pair "X" shaped supports. They were held together simply by the notches...no additional hardware. The outer fram was hinged and collapsed into two sectons. The "X" shapes came apart easily, and the top was hinged. The whole thing packed flat.

 

Anyway, another cheap and easy way to skin this particular cat.

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I've had exactly these problems organising a podium for conducting. The basic choice for materials is 'heavy and strong' or 'light and weak'. If you choose the latter, it takes more material, so if you want it portable you have to find a way to stack it together. Hence the attraction of buckets. When I worked in the paper trade, I used to build platforms with paper tubes and a thin board on top. Works excellently, but you still have to cart round a whole lot of paper tubes - bulky, even if some fit inside the others. Plywood panels are probably as good as anything as they look OK on the outside and wood generally has as good a strength to weight ratio as most materials. Just be careful not to have a lot of support round the edge and not much in the middle - unless your top board(s) is/are very substantial. I use a podium that is supported well in one direction, not the other. It's like dancing in the loft; you never know if your foot's about to go through something.

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What are you going to haul this in?

 

I'm sketchy in usung anything with plastic in it for holding a human, a bouncing one with flying sticks and pointy metal at that!

 

What you want, are standard 6" 4x8 risers. Two of them infact.

 

I don't know about your local building codes (its always a good idea to meet/exceed it), but here, any kind of audience seating is 16" centers for supports. It used to be 2'-0".

 

This here will cost you 3 sheets of 3/4" plywood, a whole box of screws (at least 2-300), prefereably 2-1/2" in length (not Drywall screws, too brittle), a lot of white/ carpenters glue (500mL), and anywhere from a few hours to days depending on carpentry skills/equipment.

 

So anyways, you want to do to make a standard 6" box riser, 24" centers, is cut the following (for a pair):

All Ripped to 5 1/4"

4x 7'-10 1/2"

4x 4'-0"

6x 3'-10 1/2"

 

The 7'-10 1/2" butts into the 4'-0" length on edge (glued, and 3 screws) to make a 4'x8' rectangle. Its easiest to leave 1 edge off.

 

Now you take the 3'-10 1/2" peices and glue&screw them on 2'-0" centers in the middle of the riser (again 3 screws per joint). The top fits on, and you can square the riser to the 4x8 (measure to make sure it is 4'-0"x8'-0", sometimes it may be 1/8"-1/2" bigger depending on the material, but for standard plywood, it should be within 1/32").

 

I find it easiest to glue all the joints, and plop the top on, start at 1 corner, and work your way across the 4' span, putting in screws 3" from each joint, and spaced 6-9" apart. Then I work down the 8' span, doing the same, keeping 2" away from any joint, and then finish up the other 2 sides, and then down the middle sections.

 

Now you have a 8'x8'x6" riser. I suggest using rachet straps (preferably the same colour as the riser - if you paint it pink, use pink straps, black = black, etc) to keep them from splitting apart.

 

For legs, rip more 3/4" plywood down to 5 1/4" and 6" x (riser height)-3/4".

 

Attatch the edge of the 5 1/4" into the side of the 6" to make 6" on both sides, again, glue and screw every 6-9" and keep 3" from the ends. I'd make a minimum of 6 per riser = 12 legs/hieght.

 

To employ, you can screw them into the riser @ the gig (time consuming), or you can bolt them on with T- Nuts.

 

24/riser is required. What you do is drill the appropriate hole size for the T-Nut, 2 1/2" from the corner, 2" from the top and bottom, on a diagonal on the riser itself, install the T-Nut from the outside.

 

Its best to make a drill guide, and similar for the legs. To employ, you'd need 24/riser bolts & washers that fit into the T-Nut, 1 1/2" long. Put the leg in the appropriate spot, and screw the bolt with washer into the t-nut. There you go.

 

I make these all the time for film (IATSE 873) and theatre. There are different/better variants on the above, which becomes more user specific, but this should do you just fine.

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Originally posted by RickJ

I'd can the PVC and look at pipe and flanges for legs. Steel doesn't break and shatter like PVC. It bends. In a pinch, you can fix a bend.

 

 

That's what my old band's drum riser used. It was two sheets of carpeted plywood with little steel pipes that threaded onto the flanges. The plywood was supported by an aluminum frame. It worked well and was very sturdy, but not very fun to move.

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Just 2 cents worth...

 

Because I do home repairs, I usually have a bunch of five gallon buckets around, and I am amazed at how strong they are. We are all thge time standing on them, or putting a board across two of them to make a walk plank or whatever.

 

IF you could get a piece of plywood to sit still on top of say six of them, it would be VERY STRONG. The buckets would stack together for convienent carrying, or, they could be used to carry stuff?

 

Maybe a piece of carpet on BOTH sides of the plywood... would help keep it from slipping off of the buckets?

 

This would be for personal use only of course.

 

For professional use... or for use by others where you would accept any liability, get a professional riser!!!!

 

(The drywall buckets would be a lot more stable than a long piece of PVC pipe?)

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Originally posted by windbag

...if you want it portable you have to find a way to stack it together. Hence the attraction of buckets. ...

 

 

That, to me, is one of the attractions to the Proriser concept. Instead of buckets, the tubes all next into each other without stacking. So all 9 tubes, at 12" tall can fit into a drum bag made for a 14" x 12" drum. 9 spackle buckets would have a similar circumference, but would increase the lenght by 2 or 3 inches for each bucket. 2 inches times 9 buckets would more than double the lenght of the 'stack' you'd have to pack.

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I don't know. I think 4 inch PVC (the very thick stuff) would support me, my drums, and maybe some other equipment easily. As long as I was careful and placed them good.

 

Ease of set up and Cost are the two biggest concerns. Dont get me wrong, I want it to be safe and sturdy. And for that reason is why I'd keep it at 1 foot or less. I'm not going to go out and stick it 4 foot off the ground!

 

All these ideas are great and thanks!

 

I think I'm going to build it this weekend, try it out and post some comments as to its strength.

 

Thanks!! Jason

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Originally posted by Old Steve



That, to me, is one of the attractions to the Proriser concept. Instead of buckets, the tubes all next into each other without stacking. So all 9 tubes, at 12" tall can fit into a drum bag made for a 14" x 12" drum. 9 spackle buckets would have a similar circumference, but would increase the lenght by 2 or 3 inches for each bucket. 2 inches times 9 buckets would more than double the lenght of the 'stack' you'd have to pack.

 

If you fill the buckets with beer, at least you'll be fully utilizing them for half the transit......

 

 

 

Who me cranky???:D

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Jay...

 

That riser with the pvc legs, or Ringo Riser as we like to call it, was designed to be very portable and small! We built it to look like the risers they used to put Ringo on, which were usually too high, and too small :) Our Ringo's 1967 Fab Four Ludwig kit just barely fits.

 

But, we've used it many times over the past year (about30 times) and it's proven to be quite stable. Our Ringo uses a mat on top and as long as you take along some shims to ensure it's level, it should suit your needs. Of course, Beatles music doesn't have many killer drum parts, so generally he's not exactly thrasing away as one might on today's music.

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Originally posted by Craigv



If you fill the buckets with beer, at least you'll be fully utilizing them for half the transit......




Who me cranky???
:D

 

Finally, we're in complete agreement on something! In fact, filling the buckets with ice and beer would add mass to the whole thing, increasing the stability tremendously.

 

Jay: keeping the thing relatively low to the ground is probably a good idea. Unfortunately, it there's plenty of 'engineering' info on what wood will support safely, so it's easy to calculate what you need for a safe deck for instance. Once you start adapting non-structural things into other roles, there's very little info out there other than 'trial and error'. Hell, for all I know, the temperature of the venue could have an effect on the structural integrity of PVC. Be extra careful when you play a hockey rink, I guess.

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Drummer_Jay

 

I built my riser about 15 shows ago and I used the "waterbed frame" style. You may be able to see it on our website www.powderkegdayton.com It is 6X6X1 and I play a 6pc kit w/ a rack. I originally built it 8X7 and the cut it down (twice) to the size it is now. Depth is not a problem even with a 18X22 bass. I went as small as I could because most of our venues barley have room for a 6 pc. band as it is. I can move it all myself, and it breaks down completely flat for transport. I can set it up in about 1 min. The top is a little heavy, but still manageable by yourself. Let me know if you want pics, we play again Oct 8th or 9th, and I'll take some pics of it going together. I don't use any sound deadner other than a rubber backed rug on top, and last gig I forgot that. I don't have any noticeable sound issues. This thing is solid as a rock, so much so that I'm considering building a new top from 1/2" ply to make it a little easier on the back.

 

Keith

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Take a look at this. I was looking for a set of plans and came up with this from a search. Search "armpits studio x" under drum stuff then hit drum riser. I've seen this in action built in a 8x8 size and it worked well. Nice thing is that 8x8 there was room to put other stuff on it. You have to hit the link at the bottom for his home page.

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Is this spam bumping up a post from five years ago??

 

Anyway, since this post is now current, I'll mention again what I did -- two pieces of plywood with your standard Lowes or Home Depot 5-gallon buckets. I cut the two pieces of plywood into a 5.5' x 5.5' circle (and yes, that's a pretty small riser, but it's what would fit in my car at the time), put several very large hinges in the middle, carpeted it, put aluminum edging around it to both hold in the carpet and make it look better (the aluminum channel you can get at Lowes for a few bucks), some cheap shop-type carpet on the top held in with a staple gun, set it on top of the buckets (six at minimum, seven if you want to feel comfortable). Total cost was probably around $90 plus a couple hours labor. It's sturdy, doesn't wiggle at all, and the buckets stack in the trailer so they don't take much space. Spraypaint them black if you want.

 

riserBeta.jpg

 

qSoDqWNcwgo

 

The concept could be applied towards any size or shape riser, obviously. 5 gallon buckets are like $6-$7 brand new, they're about 15" tall which is a great height for a riser. With a skirt on it, it looks good.

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Interesting post ... the ProRiser thing ain't much more than a knockoff of the old "milk crate and plywood" riser that bar band drummers have used for eons.

 

The discussion on the product liability aspect of DIY solutions really seem to illustrate extremes of the spectrum - and the difference between the "pro" environments and "hobbyist" environment. Clearly the potential liability risk that "pros" (folks providing such products for others to use) are exposed to are real and can't be taken lightly.

 

At the same time - I've used many "homemade" platforms in the past, and

while I may not be able to provide the strength and support specifications of the homemade platforms I've used in the past - I've never had a problem being able to tell whether it was strong enough to serve it's purpose - and have never had any reservations whatsoever about risking life and limb at the whopping 12"-18" they've raised my fat ass off the floor. As DIY'er hobbyists - we've can avoid paying the huge product liability expenses that's buried in the cost of so many product - simply using a little common sense.

 

It's sad that thru no fault of their own, the pros are deprivedof that same opportunity.

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