Back To The Future - Jaren Angud

Jaren Angud’s drum-set setup up for the 1st National Tour of Back To The Future at the Proctors Theater in Schenectady, New York.

Jaren's write-up and gear list below photos.

Above: "I have the Front of House monitor on the left, the Conductor Cam on the right, LED stand light in the middle, and good ol’ fashioned sheet music. This show just felt more comfortable to me with having open pages to flip, and there’s a few songs where I have pages taped together to allow for three pages to be seen at once."

Above: "Shure A98D Microphone pointed right at the rim of the snare drum. The placement of this allows me to get a fuller cross-stick sound for those 80's pop ballads in the show."

Above: "The Roland KT-10 Kick Trigger Pedal is used specifically to trigger an 808 kick drum sound needed for the song '21st Century' at the top of Act 2.

Above: "For this tour we are using the Allen & Heath ME-1 as our personal monitor. What I like most about the ME-1 is that it’s easy to use and I can create and save multiple mixes. Since this show goes between various musical styles and genres, I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all mix for this show. Sometimes I want to hear more strings and reeds for the orchestral moments. For the pop songs, I want to hear more click and rhythm section. So I decided to create tailored mix for almost each song in the show, and save it as a preset. The ME-1 allows me to save up to 16 presets."

Above: Pearl 12” x 7” Maple Piccolo Snare Drum.

Above: Pearl 14” x 6.5” Maple Philharmonic Snare Drum.

Jaren:

"Rodney Howard is the original drummer for Back To The Future on Broadway. I tried to configure my setup to be as close to his as I could, mainly because I was used to it (I subbed the book) and it felt comfortable. This show contains a lot of musical elements that switch back and forth between orchestral film score and pop genres of different time periods, 80's rock, 50’s doo-wop, swing, reggae, etc.

The arrangement of each instrument makes the drum set the main focal point of my setup (with music stand in view above the hi-hat), but allows for the ergonomic switches and reaches to each drum/cymbal; from the far left suspended cymbal, to the far-right bowing cymbal.

Periodically, I have to swivel my throne and change my foot position to make the far-left concert snare the focal point. Either way, the music stand and conductor cam is in a good position where I have clear line of sight and I’m not having to turn my head to any extreme degree to see the music.

I feel so fortunate to play Pearl drums for the Back To The Future tour. These drums sound and look absolutely amazing and the tone I get from the drums are just so robust, focused, and warm, which is the sound I love!

I’ve always been a big fan of Sabian cymbals ever since I started drumming in middle school. Each of the cymbals in this setup serves a unique purpose in the show, and these cymbals have been delivering night after night!

There are drum triggers (Roland RT-30HR and 30H) on each batter drum head, including the kick drum. These are used in the show not to trigger different sounds from the drums, but to serve as noise gates. I’m not a sound engineer (bare with me), but the best way I can explain it is that the triggers allow some noise to pass through the corresponding microphone for a short time, but once that drum is no longer being played the triggers inhibit any signal from going through. For example, you hear the snare drum when it’s being struck, but this will stop the sound of a cymbal being picked up by the same snare mic. The end result, is a cleaner image of the drums coming through the mics with a lot less bleed, similar to what a sound engineer would do to a drum mix in the studio.

The drums are typically set up remotely away from the main pit. The drum booth comes on the road with us to each city and is loaded in/out, built and broken down, by our props department. Padded sound isolation and dampening on all four sides and ceiling, with plexiglass windows on two sides, and build-in air conditioner - thank goodness!

Playing drums on the Back To The Future 1st National Tour is a dream come true! It’s a fun, fast-paced, heavy hitting book, and I’m so grateful to be playing this show each night. To perform excerpts of the original film score, written by Alan Silvestri, and all of the original pop songs/arrangements written by Glen Ballard is an absolute surreal experience, and I have to pinch myself just to make sure it’s real!"

Drums: Pearl Reference One

• 10” x 8" Rack Tom
• 12” x 9" Rack Tom
• 16” x 16” Floor Tom
• 22” x 18" Bass Drum

Snare Drums: Pearl

• 14” x 6.5” Duoluxe Chrome over Brass
• 12” x 7” Maple Piccolo
• 14” x 6.5” Maple Philharmonic

Remo heads on all drums, except the piccolo snare which came with an Evans head. Currently, Coated Smooth White Ambassadors on toms over Clear Ambassadors. Powerstroke 3 on the kick drum. Clear Ambassadors under all three snare drums. Remo Smooth White Ambassador on top of the Duoluxe Brass snare drum. Remo Diplomat on top of the Philharmonic concert snare drum.

Hardware:

• Pearl Single Rack
• Pearl Redline Double Pedal
• Pearl Cymbal Stands

Cymbals: Sabian

Currently all Sabian, although I had one Dream cymbal in the photos.

• 15” HHX Complex Medium Big Cup Hi-Hats
• 18” Artisan Suspended Cymbal
• 18” HHX Legacy Crash
• 18” AAX X-Plosion Fast Crash
• 22” HHX Legacy Heavy Ride
• 10” HHX Evolution Splash
• 10” AAX Splash
• 20” Sabian China
• 14” Complex Medium Bottom Hat (not pictured - for bowing)

Electronics:

• Roland SPD-SX Sampling Pad
• Roland KT10 Kick Trigger Pedal
• Allen & Heath ME-1 Personal Mixer

Percussion:

• Miller Machine (with Pearl Triangle)
• TreeWorks Chimes w/dampening bar
• LP Blue Jam Block
• LP Cowbell
• Slapstick
• Bass Bow (for bowing cymbal)

Sticks:

• Vic Firth 5B American Classic Wood Tip
• Vic Firth 5BN American Classic Nylon Tip
• Vic Firth SD12 Swizzle General
• Vic Firth American Classic 2B
• Vic Firth Brushes
• Cooperman Model 1 Graham Johns Concert Model Drumstick

Back To The Future - Tour - Jaren Angud
June 06, 2024 thru Present