The best option for an optimal viewing height, that would also allow you to use the fireplace, would be to position the TV so it's against the same wall as the windows. Hanging a TV above the fireplace is always horrendous. Your living room isn't a sports bar or a doctor's office. If you're going to use your living room for watching TV, position is so that it's the right height for couch viewing.

If you're never going to use the fire place just stick it on a stand in front of it.

The real issue is the idea that a living room needs both a fireplace and a TV that seems to be so pervasive. When you have both in the same room, they compete at being the focal point of the room. So people compromise and hang the TV above the fireplace (which led to the founding of this subreddit). Imho, ideally you'd have one or the other in a living room.

So the question people need to ask themselves is this: Do you wanna watch TV? Or do you want to sit around your warm fireplace? People are going to be scrolling through social media on their phones anyway, so if you want to enjoy your fireplace and have the room look nice, I'd just move the TV to another room.

I've tried a "low-volume" acoustic kit with mesh heads and low volume cymbals. Ironically the problem I had with the low volume mesh heads is that I can't hear them! Essentially, it's hard to play with dynamics with mesh heads because you don't get the typical response you'd expect from real drum heads.

I used to not be a fan of low volume cymbals, but now I don't mind using them. The feel isn't exactly the same as a full volume cymbals but they're the closest you're going to get.

I've never used an expensive e-kit before so I can't really say much about them.

I'll say I'd prefer an expensive e-kit over a low-volume acoustic drum set. Being able to actually hear your drums is really important to playing musically. With a low-volume acoustic kit you just don't get the same sort of response that allows musical playing. They're fine for practicing mechanics, co-ordination and going through the motions. But, for playing things with dynamics that sound musical they aren't great.

On of my drum teachers would use an old school canister drum throne. Zero wobbling to be had. Of course the downside is that you can't adjust the height.

Yeah, so this guy was specifically trying to get a microphone that didn't cost as much as the Sanken CO100k and so he ended up learning how to make an ultrasonic microphone. He talks a little bit about it here.

So this is a different talk that doesn't go into as much depth as the talk the person gave at GCAP 2023, but they still provide some cool insights.

So it was an in-person talk at the GCAP Conference 2023 and they're yet to upload that specific talk to youtube. However, the presenter also did a talk a few days earlier at a separate conference during which they talked a little bit about the microphone. You can watch the specific segment here.

If you wanna record things above 20khz you'll need a ultrasonic microphone that's capable of capturing frequencies that high. Most microphones top out at around 20khz. Even with ultrasonic microphones there's still a limit to how high of a frequency they can capture.

I saw a sound designer do a talk on recording things with an ultrasonic microphone that he built himself. Really interesting stuff.

EDIT:
Here's a different talk to the one I mentioned from the sound designer where he talks a little bit about his processing of trying to learn how to build an ultrasonic microphone. The full talk, which he gave at GCAP 2023, where he goes into more depth is not yet available online unfortunately.

PDF mostly. When all I have is Sibelius playback to hear most people would rather not hear it at all haha!

We have to remember the purpose of the EAD10. It's not supposed to create professional level sounding recordings, it's supposed to a be an all-in-one package that can you can record your drums with easily without too much fuss. Of course it pales in comparison to multi microphone setups. I honestly don't think it sounds all that great either, and yes, there are noticeable areas lacking in the sounds it can capture.

If you're a pro wanting to record drums for your next record / demo, the EAD10 isn't the best option. But if you're a student or a teacher and just want to create recordings of drums with minimal equipment and "good enough" sound quality, the EAD10 is the obvious choice.

As a side note, the EAD10 isn't actually the most affordable option for recording your drums. The most affordable option would be to purchase second hand consumer grade recording equipment (e.g. Audio interface, XLR cable, microphone stand, cheap SDC microphone) and to use those with your own laptop / computer. However, you then have the downside of needing to take the time to learn how to setup up and use all this equipment. In terms of ease of use and the time to setup and start recording, the EAD10 wins easily.

It's user focussed and lets you use it how you want (unlike other pieces of audio software).

It's multi-platform (Windows, MacOS, Linux), has a small install size, receives regular updates (which can be installed in less than a minute), you can install it on multiple computers with ease, it doesn't contain restrictive DRM, has a fully featured trial and has an affordable option for those who need a discounted license.

Adding a second microphone on the neck can bring you that finger noise and string definition that can be nice. 

The final thing with definition is that comes down to the bassist's sound. If they have a boomy sound with not a lot of definition you're gonna have a hard time trying to make it sound different.

If you really wanted to know your options it'd be best to speak to a lawyer. Also have an outcome in mind beforehand.

Never really used a Chromebook, but I imagine you're mostly limited to browser-based notation programs.

Here are two (which I've never used but I found in the sub's sidebar):

https://flat.io/

https://www.noteflight.com/

4GB of RAM is plenty for Linux. It all depends on what distro of Linux you go with. There should be plenty of resources on what distros work best with Chromebooks if you just search for it.

Musical instrument tuner. Used for getting the strings on a guitar in tune.

Analog Obsession's LALA

Anime.

Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo (Nujabes sampled a tonne of dope jazz records which I later checked out) and Kids on the Slope.

There are absolutely cheaper alternatives. I've never had to go looking for them because the one I bought has worked perfectly for me.

Here's a guide I found online that talks a little bit about picking a USB isolator.

Here's a newer model of one of the more affordable USB Isolators. Again just be aware of power needs. If your audio interface is bus powered it can be a bit of gamble over whether or not your computer's USB bus will have enough power for both the isolator and your audio interface to operate. Although judging from the reviews on the website this one might be alright.

You shouldn't only rely on bounce, which is what it looks like you're doing. Your second stroke looks noticeably weaker than your first. I recommend practicing using a full stroke for both strokes in your doubles for now.

Keith Carlock has some great exercises for improving your doubles also.

I've recently been playing through DA:O again. If you're playing on a modern 64 bit system you need to patch the .exe file so that it can utilise more than 2GB of RAM.

This patch worked for me. The game still crashes on occasion (about once an hour) but it's an improvement over every 5 mins.

I played it for the first time just last year. It was okay.

The visuals still look great today. It's just a shame that the game ends so abruptly without resolving much. It feels like we're only half way to two thirds through the story when it just stops. I suspect the devs ran out of time and had to get the game shipped, so I don't blame them for that. I imagine if they had had more development time they might've been able to iterate more and get the game from an "okay" state to a "good" or "decent" one.

Yeah. At the very least a road map or a plan for how you want the song to progress. If you decide later that you want the song to be different from your initial plan that's perfectly fine! It's good to allow room for a song to develop and evolve as you write it.

If the drums are the starting point you can kind of do whatever you want! The main thing to keep in mind would be the song form. Have an idea of how the song flows from one section to the next and evolves over time. Keep in mind where the climaxes and memorable moments of the song will be. Knowing this at the start will help you write a drum part that appropriately develops as the song progresses through the different sections of the form.

Another thing to keep in mind would be to leave space for the other instruments. If you play super busy, the other instruments will need to play more sparsely, and vice versa. If everyone's playing super busy it can get very crowded. That might be an effect you're going for and it isn't necessarily a bad thing to do, but you need to ensure that all the different parts from the different instruments fit together nicely.

First and foremost, learn what makes a good drum part. A good drum part first and foremost serves the song / music.

The question of how to best "serve" the music can be answered through study. Listen to some great songs in the genre you're working in and try to play and dissect the drum parts. Try and figure out the why and how of what the drums contribute to the song.

The drums are just another aspect of song writing so it's important consider a drum part in context of what other instruments in the song are doing as well.

This is just my general cymbal setup that works for the genres I tend to play. Mostly rock, funk and jazz.

Paiste Traditionals 14" Hi Hats - Sloshy sound that's neither too bright nor too dark. The chick isn't particularly crisp compared to some other cymbals.

Paiste Signature Dark Energy Light Ride 20" (discontinued) - Dark, smoky, but controlled, "tah" sound with a prominent bell. Has a thin edge which makes it somewhat crashable.

Paiste Signature Dark Energy Crash 16" - Dark wash at lower volumes, but becomes bright and "shimmery" when it opens up. A brighter stick sound. A good crash cymbal that'll work in many genres.

As you can tell I'm a fan of Paiste stuff. I've been meaning to try out some of the Masters series at some point. They have some lighter cymbals that are very suited to jazz and would be worth checking out.

Klanghelm IVGI

Analog Obsession has some nice "modelled" plugins that you can use for saturation or distortion. Personally I like to use BritPre on all of my drum tracks.