Remo HD-8514-00 Fiberskyn Frame Drum, 14"

Remo is a high-quality brand, and this drum did not disappoint. It sounds clear, is light weight, and easy to hold.

Sounds is pretty good. No adjustments and easy to hold.

Amazing, the best quality, not too heavy. It’s beautiful in person looks like the picture.

I like the sound and the feel of the drum. I like that it is Remo brand, as this is a brand of drums that I trust. The biggest thing I dislike about this product is the size. I got the smallest one because it was obviously the least expensive, and on top of that, it was on sale, but it is a little smaller than I might prefer. It can be fairly loud, which I like. You can use just one finger even, and the sound is still great. I already had the Remo Paddle Drum, and it is not as sensorily reinforcing as that drum, but it is also a lot cheaper.

Well built, inexpensive, and fun. The sound is very good, and won't bother the neighbors. There are dozens upon dozens of videos on Youtube- performances for inspiration, and step by step instruction. This size, 14", isn't heavy at all, and works great whether lap style or upright. Definitely worth the price.

If you can’t spend much, this is the way to go. Many lower priced drums are made by companies that just make cheap crappy drums. Remo makes a wide range of drums - decent low priced drums, but also really good drums to meet your needs beyond entry level. Remo had been recommended to me, but like many buying their first drum, I wanted real hide for the head rather than synthetic. My first drum (from a different manufacturer) had a goatskin head. It cost more than this one, but is smaller and sounds more like a toy than a musical instrument. I’m so glad I bought this drum and will very likely go with Remo when I buy my next drum. If your hesitation is the fact that the drum has a synthetic skin, just know that this synthetic sounds better than the cheap drums made with goat skin - nothing against goat skin, but the cheap drums are made with low quality hides that aren’t of uniform thickness and just don’t perform well.

Perfect size, price, feel and sound, for beginners and even more advanced students, who want an economy frame drum. I teach frame drum and tambourine in the Layne Redmond style. I'm mostly an upright frame drum player, not lap style. This isn't great for lap style, so I'll talk about upright. To me, the 14" is ideal for the beginner student. In fact, I played this exact drum for years, even as an advanced student of Layne's! It's so portable, lightweight. Easily packable in your suitcase, with clothes around it. Going to and from your drumming circles and classes, I recommend a carrying case, makes it easy to carry while protecting it. It no longer has the 4 holes to add your cross-style rope for a handle. Personally, I find the 16" Remos to be a bit top heavy for upright playing for beginners. The 14" still has a nice deep enough doum, very good tocs/teks/taks. And you can't beat the moon-look for your divine feminine invocation! Keep in mind, each drum is different, even though mass-produced. Overtones will differ between drums. And some drums will have a higher doum, some a lower one. Yes, the frame of this one is more narrow than the super high quality and much pricier frame drums out there. So no, it's not great for lap style playing. Alternatively, there's the Remo Renaissance headed frame drums as well. Those came out much later, and I'm glad Remo is still producing both. So we have options for our more economy drums! Great for frame drum teachers who want to invest in a 'fleet' of frame drums to teach your group classes.

I ordered two of these and have been using them for about a month and a half now. I purchased them to do neurologic music therapy (NMT) and imitation exercises with our son. Our son receives NMT services at this time to support regulation, motor skills, and hopefully the long term development of his expressive language skills. Although we do spend a great deal of time working on encouraging the latter, for me, as his mom, I know he can still function effectively as an adult given his ability to communicate with his speech device. So I actually consider his overall ability to regulate to be the most important of the things we're working on right now when it comes to helping him function in the world outside of our house. But I spend copious amounts of time encouraging both, and this is one of the things we use. I purchased these specifically because they are more similar to the ones used at his clinic, and I thought the visual similarities would help him adjust to them. So these don't see heavy use, because we also have a Remo Lollipop drum that we purchased at the same time which he surprisingly prefers despite its different appearance. I think the reason there is the handle allows him to hold it easier and you can produce a quieter tone on it. For this, how we use it looks like this: I might have him in his swing, and I'm swinging him and singing "The Ants Go Marching..." as I march, and then we bang the drum on the "Boom, Boom, Boom" part. The swinging and the drumming simultaneously increases the impact to his vestibular system, which is one of his black holes of sensory seeking needs. And I will move the drum a bit each time so he has to track it with his eyes. Or I might have him imitate me hitting it while he's spinning on his chair, again for the same reason... that sort of thing. So we use these a couple of times each week, the Lollipop drum is the one he wants to use most days. Thus far we have no condition issues of any kind with them. I do think the sound is fine for what we are doing with them. The top can be cleaned easily enough, although it will stain. One of them already sports a baked Cheetos colored fingerprint stain. Doesn't just about everything in this house by now? ;) I got the 12" because I figured the surface area would be a good size for him to hit, but it wouldn't be too big for him to carry (he's 5), and that's working out well. So overall, we haven't had any problems, and they are working great for what we need it to. I can't say how they would hold up with longer durations of use. For that, I might be worried that the top vellum looking material might separate and crack come from the plastic, but that is only a hypothetical area these could potentially break down based on heavy use. At this point 1.5 months in, everything still looks great and sounds the way we need it to.