RTOM DBS Practice Pad Review

I’ve got a bunch of different practice pads in front of me, but this one right here is the star of the show. RTOM recently released a new practice pad. Now, RTOM is most known for Moongel, and we as drummers probably go through a lot of it. This is the ROM DBS pad; it’s a newer release. I don’t know how long it’s been out, but the company decided to send one over to me so I can check it out.

We’ll cycle down and go through all these different pads here. Here’s the cheap Amazon pad. Next up is a marching-style practice pad. Let’s move over to the Vater, this red one here. The Drumeo P4 is a little bit different since it’s got a bunch of different playing surfaces, so I’ll go through each one.

Let’s check out the DBS pad. Same pattern, same volume level, same velocities from me, right? I’m really trying to hit consistently across all of these pads, and there’s no mistaking it; this is definitely the quietest pad out of all the ones I have here.

Let’s switch this over. Pretty awesome—it’s dual surface. On one side, you’ve got the Moongel-ish type side, which is like the workout side. It’s going to absorb more rebound, making it harder to play and building your wrist strength. The other side is sort of a soft rubber, kind of a quiet pad. To me, it feels like the underside of a mouse pad—really, really soft. The Moongel side is more for building strength and endurance, while the back side is for developing technique and form.

On the back, right here in the middle, we have this little target spot to make sure that we’re always hitting in the center of the drum, which is what we always want to do. It’s really lightweight, which is great, especially if you want to take this on a plane, in a backpack, or wherever you’re going. Some of these bigger 14- or 12-inch pads are just really obnoxious to bring with you, especially if you’re bringing a laptop and cameras. If you film yourself while you play or if you’re touring, having something like this is really good because it takes up less space.

Something coming soon for this pad is the RTOM Pad Grip Mount. Essentially, this clamps onto the back of the pad, no matter which side you use, and from there, you can attach it right to a cymbal stand. So, if you’re at band practice and the guys are tuning up or jamming and you don’t want to make noise, you can sit there and play without disturbing anybody. It’s just nice to have it attached to something nearby. It’s not totally ideal the way I have it set up right now on a snare stand. I kind of have to be careful because this is a very soft pad. I noticed that when I had it clamped in here, the bottom part started to bubble up after I took it out of the snare drum stand. I don’t really recommend doing that, but it was the only way I could get this pad set up in this configuration of five pads and still be able to hit them all. So just be careful if you use a snare stand.

Some pros: both sides are really, really quiet, very lightweight, and good for building chops and stamina—all these things we always want to improve as drummers. This is a good tool for that. I’d probably recommend this more to experienced drummers because, while it’s good to develop the technique of playing double strokes with your wrists and not just the fulcrum, I’d still recommend a more traditional real-feel pad to get you started. They’re cheaper and more accessible. Give it a year or so to develop basic technique, and once you want to start building chops and hand speed, then go for the DBS pad.

The workout side of the pad absorbs most, if not all, of your stick’s rebound, so you’re really going to have to work for those hits. When you’re playing doubles, triples, paradiddles, or any kind of rudiments, you really need to use your wrist strokes to get through that stuff. This tool is especially good if you’re starting at a slow tempo and really understanding how the wrist is supposed to work. It trains you not to be lazy and to play every stroke intentionally, which builds your muscles and allows you to transfer this skill to the drum set or toms. When we play on toms, the drum head is often pretty loose, making it hard to articulate notes. Using a tool like this to build wrist speed and technique makes playing on those looser drums easier.

I notice a lot of novice drummers do double strokes and bounce rolls with just the fulcrum, using the index finger and thumb, and the pinky out. The DBS pad helps correct that by forcing you to keep all your fingers on the stick and do a correct stroke. Personally, I used a pillow to develop technique because hitting a pillow gives no rebound, similar to this pad. This developed the wrist motion, but it’s a bit of a hack. The DBS pad gives a better result and is more fun than playing on a pillow.

One thing about this pad is that it’s easy to get fingerprint smudges on the Moongel side. You can wipe it off with a damp rag. I’d like to see this pad come in a 12- or 14-inch size. Portable is cool, but a bigger size practice pad feels more like a real drum psychologically. For a 7-inch pad, this one is a bit pricey, around double the price of other 7-inch pads available. However, it uses advanced technology and is dual-sided, which is a trade-off. You can find cheaper 7-inch pads, but this is the quietest and helps you work your wrists and arms to develop good technique. I definitely recommend this for the intermediate player.

Out of all the practice pads I own, this one is by far the lightest and most portable, fitting easily into my backpack. I put it on my scale, and it weighs about a pound and a half. The back comes off, but I don’t want to take it apart. It’s not glued in or anything. Thank you, RTOM, for sending me this pad to check out. I had a blast testing it. It’s a solid pad, and I think many people will get value out of it. I definitely recommend it. For more information on the RTOM DBS pad, check the description for links to Sweetwater (affiliated, so I make a commission if you buy one) and RTOM’s website. Thank you for watching, and I’ll catch you in the next video. Check out this video here—you’re going to like it. Peace!