# Crack the Skye Drum Setup: Brann Dailor's Gear on Mastodon's Masterpiece

> Discover the exact drum kit, cymbals, and gear Brann Dailor used to record Mastodon's Grammy-nominated Crack the Skye (2009). Full breakdown of the DW Collector's Series kit, Meinl Byzance cymbals, DW 9000 double pedal, and the melodic polyrhythm approach behind progressive metal's most musical drummer.

**Type:** Album Drum Setup
**Drummer(s):** [Brann Dailor](/llms/drummers/brann-dailor.md)
**Band / Album:** Mastodon — *Crack the Skye* (2009)
**Genre:** Progressive Sludge Metal

## Overview

Released on March 24, 2009, Mastodon's *Crack the Skye* is the album that elevated the band from cult progressive metal favourites to one of the most critically acclaimed acts of their generation. A Grammy-nominated concept album built around time loops, astral projection, and the story of a paraplegic boy whose soul travels to the early twentieth century, *Crack the Skye* demanded drumming that matched its conceptual and compositional ambition. [Brann Dailor](/drummer/brann-dailor) delivered what many consider the finest drum performance in progressive metal's modern era.

The album was recorded at Doppler Studios in Atlanta, Georgia — the band's home city and creative base — with producer Brendan O'Brien, whose credits include Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and AC/DC. O'Brien's experience with large-scale rock production gave *Crack the Skye* a sonic depth and clarity that allowed Dailor's drumming to breathe without being buried in the mix. Where earlier Mastodon albums prioritised density and abrasion, O'Brien opened up the sound, placing Dailor's kit at the centre of the album's emotional architecture.

What makes Dailor's performance on *Crack the Skye* extraordinary is not technical speed — though the playing is fiercely demanding — but melodic conception. Dailor approaches the kit as a melodic instrument. Tom patterns on tracks like "Oblivion" and the title track function as melodies rather than rhythmic punctuation, responding to guitar harmonics and vocal lines with musical intelligence. This is the [drummer as melodist](/techniques/polyrhythms) — a role almost no heavy music drummer had occupied before Dailor refined it into a compositional philosophy.

This article breaks down every piece of gear Dailor used during the *Crack the Skye* sessions: the DW Collector's Series kit that provided his melodic canvas, the Meinl Byzance cymbals that coloured the album's atmospheric passages, and the DW 9000 double pedal that drove the album's most complex rhythmic architecture.

## Gear Breakdown

- **Drums:** DW DW Collector's Series (Natural satin / maple finish finish)
- **Snare:** DW DW Collector's Series Steel or Brass Snare, 14" x 6.5"
- **Cymbals:** Meinl — Meinl Byzance Series
- **Hardware / Pedals:** DW 9000 Double Pedal; DW 9000 Series Hi-Hat Stand; Roc-N-Soc Nitro Throne; Vic Firth 5A American Classic
- **Heads:** Evans UV1 Coated (batter), Evans Hazy 300 (resonant)
- **Snare tuning:** Medium tension — tuned for warmth and sensitivity, projection without aggression

### The DW Collector's Series: Brann's Melodic Canvas

For the *Crack the Skye* sessions, Brann Dailor used a DW Collector's Series kit in natural satin maple finish — a departure from the Tama Starclassic setup that dominated his earlier career with Mastodon. DW's Collector's Series represents the company's flagship custom offering: shells built to spec from premium hardwoods, assembled with the tight tolerances that DW's California workshop became famous for.

The maple shell construction was central to Dailor's needs for this album. *Crack the Skye* is Mastodon's most atmospheric, melodically complex record — a concept album where the drums had to function as melodic instruments rather than rhythmic machinery. Maple shells resonate with warmth and fundamental tone, producing pitches that register as musical notes rather than percussive noise. When Dailor cascades through tom patterns on "Oblivion" or the title track, those patterns read as melodies because the shells are capable of producing melodically usable pitches across a musical range.

The three-rack-tom configuration (10", 12", 13") provided the dense melodic resolution that Dailor's playing demands. Three toms in adjacent pitches close enough to form melodic shapes without large intervallic jumps between strokes — combined with the 16" floor tom, he has a four-drum melodic palette spanning a full musical range. This configuration is the instrument that the [polyrhythm techniques](/techniques/polyrhythms) of *Crack the Skye* were built around.

The double kick configuration on this album is notable because it differs from Dailor's better-known single bass drum approach on later records. *Crack the Skye* features some of the most rhythmically complex bass drum work in his career, including the 7-over-4 patterns on the title track that require the independence and stamina that double kick provides. The DW 9000 pedals (detailed below) drove this configuration with the consistency needed for those extended polyrhythmic passages. For how this setup compares to his current rig, see the [Brann Dailor drummer profile](/drummer/brann-dailor).

### The Snare: Presence Without Aggression

On *Crack the Skye*, the snare drum occupies an unusual position in Mastodon's mix: it needs authority and projection to anchor the album's complex rhythmic architecture, but it cannot dominate the way a thrash metal snare does. Brendan O'Brien's production philosophy on this record was to let each instrument breathe — the snare is present and musical, not punishing.

Dailor's snare on the album — matched to the DW Collector's Series kit — delivers a full, resonant crack with enough depth to register in the album's atmospheric passages without overwhelming the melodic content of the guitar and tom work. At 14" x 6.5", the deeper shell provides more body and projection than a standard 5.5" snare while maintaining the sensitivity required for Dailor's ghost note-heavy playing style.

Ghost notes are essential throughout *Crack the Skye*. Songs like "The Czar" feature passages where Dailor weaves ghost notes through the groove to create rhythmic texture and forward motion. These ghost notes must register clearly in the mix — not as noise, but as intentional rhythmic content. A well-tuned 6.5" steel or brass snare at medium tension gives the resonance for ghost notes to speak without disappearing, while the die-cast or flanged steel hoops provide the snare wire tension and rimshot definition needed for the album's harder accents.

On the supporting [Brann Dailor licks breakdowns](/drummer/brann-dailor/licks), the snare tuning from this era is studied as an example of balancing sensitivity with projection — one of the key technical challenges for drummers working in mixed prog/heavy contexts.

### Meinl Byzance: The Atmospheric Voice of Crack the Skye

Brann Dailor's use of Meinl Byzance cymbals on *Crack the Skye* is one of the most musically deliberate gear choices in modern metal drumming. Meinl's Byzance series uses B20 bronze — 80% copper, 20% tin — hand-hammered and lathed using traditional Turkish techniques that produce cymbals with complex overtone development, dark fundamental tones, and a musical warmth that distinguishes them sharply from the brighter, more aggressive cymbal choices common in heavy music.

For *Crack the Skye* specifically, the Byzance series was the correct choice for reasons that go beyond personal taste. The album is Mastodon's most atmospheric and melodically sophisticated record — a concept album where mood and musical colour are compositional elements as important as riffs and rhythms. Bright, cutting cymbals would have imposed an aggressive top-end character that contradicted the album's emotional range. The Byzance series' dark, blooming crashes and warm, complex ride bring an orchestral quality to the drum sound: cymbals that add musical content rather than simply punctuating rhythm.

The 14" Traditional hi-hats, hammered in Meinl's Istanbul facility, produce a sound that is simultaneously clear and complex — useful for the intricate open-and-close patterns that appear throughout songs like "Divinations" and "Ghost of Karelia." The crashes bloom rather than slash, adding wash and sustain that suit the album's slower, more atmospheric passages. The ride cymbal doubles as an atmospheric layer during quieter sections, providing texture rather than pure rhythmic information.

For drummers looking to understand how cymbal choice shapes album character, the comparison between *Crack the Skye*'s Meinl Byzance palette and the more abrasive setups on earlier Mastodon records like *Leviathan* is instructive. Different gear, same player — dramatically different emotional result. See the [obzen drum setup breakdown](/articles/obzen-drum-setup) for a contrast in how Tomas Haake approached cymbal choice for a different kind of progressive metal darkness.

## Key Facts

- Recorded at Doppler Studios, Atlanta with producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden)
- Grammy-nominated; Rolling Stone Top 100 Albums of the 2000s
- DW Collector's Series maple shells — natural finish, warm and resonant for melodic playing
- Meinl Byzance cymbals — dark, complex, Turkish-forged bronze for musical atmosphere
- DW 9000 double pedal — Brann's era-specific double bass choice before switching to single kick
- Polyrhythmic architecture including 7-over-4 patterns in the title track
- DW Collector's Series — premium custom maple shells for melodic warmth
- Natural satin finish — era-appropriate for 2009 sessions
- Three rack toms (10", 12", 13") for dense melodic resolution
- Double bass configuration for the album's polyrhythmic demands
- Used across the Crack the Skye studio sessions and supporting tour
- Estimated kit value: $4,000–7,000 (DW Collector's Series shell pack)
- Estimated snare value: $500–900 (DW Collector's Series snare)

**Source:** https://metalforge.io/articles/crack-the-skye-drum-setup

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*Last updated: 2026-06-25 · Source: [MetalForge.io](https://metalforge.io)*