Assessment this year is definitely much more versatile due to the pandemic outbreak all around the world.

Examination boards, such as Trinity College London, have gone on to arrange recorded clips of your graded drum pieces. We understand that many of you are considering to postpone taking your examinations due to such an arrangement but do not worry, there are actually more ways than one in your solutions.

We would assess 5 different methods with 5 different qualities, and with that lets begin!

Recording Methods and Assessment Factors

(Video Quality, Audio Quality, Cost, Ease of Use, Feasibility)

1) Do it yourself with mobile phone / tablet camera 

Video Quality:

Audio Quality:

Cost:

Ease of Use:

Feasibility:

With Smartphones, due to the advancement in camera technologies in recent years, video quality is rather fantastic but if you are using a smartphone of an older model, video quality might not be comparable to the newer models. 

For audio quality, it has been ranked as such, largely due to the fact that although it can capture the audio sufficiently, it does not capture the intricacies of your playing clearly.

In this day and age, almost everyone has or knows a family member/friend who has a smartphone imbued with camera functions which explains why it has a 5-stars rating in terms of cost as you do not need to buy a new set for yourself. 

In terms of ease of use, due to the large amount of time we are exposed to our smartphones, (I am making the assumption that you would have explored the functions of your smartphones) it would be relatively easier to record or learn to record using your smartphone.

Feasibility, in this case, is measured with the range of uses this mode of recording can be used for. E.g. Smartphone recordings are great for social media videos such as Instagram or Facebook but are not well suited for examination recording or audition submissions due to in-built mics being unable to capture your playing with full clarity.

Overall Rating: 3.2 / 5.0

2) Do it yourself with DSLR camera setup

Video Quality:

Audio Quality:

Cost:

Ease of Use:

Feasibility:

With a DSLR camera, there are many available types of lenses as well as mics available in the market for add-on, (with some lenses costing much higher than the camera body itself!) the video as well as audio quality are more or less assured when using the suitable lenses as well as mics for your recording!

In terms of cost, a good DSLR camera can cost anywhere from between 1000-2000SGD, just about as much as a brand-new smartphone these days and I would advise against it, if you are not ready to make such an investment.

A DSLR camera may come with challenges for users that are not used to handling cameras as it does come with its own functionalities that needs to be learned and familiarized with to produce quality video shots, however online tutorials are readily available on sites such as YouTube. 

Feasibility, in this case, is measured with the range of uses this mode of recording can be used for. 

DSLR cameras with its range of equipment available can make quality video recordings of you playing the drums but as for the audio recording, if you do not have a dedicated mic setup for your drums, using the DSLR mic itself would slightly decrease the audio quality in terms of clarity.

Overall Rating: 3.2 / 5.0

3) Do it yourself with an Action camera (GoPro) setup

Video Quality:

Audio Quality:

Cost:

Ease of Use:

Feasibility:

Action Cameras (one popular type is also known as GoPro) are good in terms of Video Quality when it's recorded in warm lighting, and fares poorly when recorded in cool and poor lighting. 

The in-built microphone for the action cameras are good for outdoor sports (especially extreme sports) but its in-built microphone is definitely not the best option to record audio with. There is however, the option to use an external microphone for the recording but you would have to merge the audio and video post-production. (Graded Drum exams do not allow editing for the videos).

Cost-wise it is definitely much more affordable in comparison to purchasing a mobile phone or even a DSLR camera, but it is still a bit pricey for many. 

In terms of ease of usage, the action camera definitely has a much lower learning curve than some of its comparison on this list, allowing it to achieve a 4-stars rating in this aspect.

The action camera has gotten such a low rating for feasibility due to its in-built microphone that cannot compare to its counterparts on this list for drumming examination recordings, especially if it is unable to capture the audio of the drum recording clearly!

Overall Rating: 2.4 / 5.0

4) Do it yourself with a Professional-Grade Video Camera setup 

Video Quality:

Audio Quality:

Cost:

Ease of Use:

Feasibility:

A professional-grade video camera setup is actually one of the best recording setups available in the market. Its audio and video quality would be one of the best in this list (recordings done in television stations and news channels use cameras of this grade). 

Cost-wise, this would also be the highest costing option amongst the rest here as a good professional-grade video camera would easily cost between 6000-20,000 SGD. 

2 stars were given to the ease of use as there are also YouTube videos out there that teach the use of professional grade video cameras as well hence it might not be as hard if you were to be doing it alone.

In terms of feasibility, professional grade video cameras are definitely not easy to use and definitely might put a dent on the budget of many however the video and audio quality when produced from such cameras would be the best there is.

Overall Rating: 3.2 / 5.0

5) Do the recording with King George's Music Academy (KGMA)

Video Quality:

Audio Quality:

Cost:

Ease of Use:

Feasibility:

Video Quality has been rated as such due to the fact that although the video cameras used are not to the best quality as compared to some of the best in this list, the lighting as well as cameras are more than sufficient for the recording of the examination pieces.

Audio Quality is rated highly as well, as the facilities used for the recording (namely the drum kit) is mic-ed up and tuned up to the best possible quality to achieve the utmost clarity when recording for the examination.

Cost-wise is rated just below mobile phones, (taking into account mobile phones being free as almost everyone already has one) but do note it is not low cost, just much more affordable as compared to the rest on the list.

Ease of use is rated at maximum stars as all you have got to do is perform the recording you would want to perform! All that is left to do after, is letting the staff work their magic.

Feasibility is ranked with drummers who would rather learn to do this themselves in mind. However, time may be limited for the examinees preparing for the exams and would still have to learn recording on top of their school/work commitments. With that, this would be much optimal choice!

Overall Rating: 4.4 / 5.0

Thank you for coming to our KPI this week!

Do share this article to all your friends and family, especially if they are taking the drum examinations this year!

Thank you for supporting us thus far, but the Knowledge Pearls Initiative will be having a name change soon. Look forward to it!

In the meantime, do drop us a like, share and comment on any “what if” or “how to” knowledge pearls you would like us to take a crack at !