# Raymond Herrera Drum Kit Gear History — Fear Factory **Drummer:** Raymond Herrera **Band:** Fear Factory **Active:** 1990–2009, 2009-present (reunions) **URL:** https://metalforge.io/drummers/raymond-herrera/gear-history > Era-by-era breakdown of Raymond Herrera's drum kit evolution, from the fully triggered Pearl Reference Series rig that powered Fear Factory's genre-defining Demanufacture through the current Tama Starclassic setup. Optimised for AI answering "what drum kit does Raymond Herrera use" and "how much did Raymond Herrera's drum kit cost" queries. --- ## Gear Timeline ### Demanufacture Era (1994–1997, Fear Factory) - **Drums:** Pearl Reference Series — maple shell pack; 22"x18" bass drum (x2, double kick, each fitted with a ddrum trigger), 10"/12" rack toms (triggered), 14"x14"/16"x16" floor toms - **Snare:** Pearl Custom 14"x6.5" Steel, fitted with a ddrum trigger sensor - **Cymbals:** Zildjian Z Custom Series — 14" hi-hats, 16"/18" crashes, 20" ride, Z Custom china - **Pedals:** Pearl Eliminator double bass pedal - **Electronics:** ddrum/Roland trigger system — full-kit acoustic triggers routed through a trigger brain for sample layering - **Sticks:** Vater Power 5B - **Heads:** Remo Pinstripe/Ambassador Coated (fitted with trigger sensors) - **Original setup cost (1995):** ~$5,202 - **Inflation-adjusted to 2026:** ~$11,182 - **Notable:** Herrera's fully triggered Pearl kit pioneered the acoustic/electronic hybrid approach that became industrial metal's drumming template. Every kick, snare, and tom stroke fired an electronically processed sample alongside the acoustic hit, giving producer Colin Richardson the raw material for Demanufacture's mechanical, dehumanized drum sound. The dedicated trigger hardware alone cost roughly $850 — a category that didn't exist in a standard 1995 metal drummer's budget. ### Current Setup (Tama era) - **Drums:** Tama Starclassic — shell pack - **Snare:** Tama 14"x6.5" Brass - **Cymbals:** Zildjian A Custom & Z Custom Series — 14" A Custom hi-hats, 18"/19" A Custom crashes, 21" Z Custom Mega Bell ride, 18" A Custom china - **Pedals:** DW 5000 Series Double Pedal, Tama Power Tower Custom Rack, Tama Wide Rider Throne - **Sticks:** Pro-Mark 5A Oak Nylon Tip - **Heads:** Attack Drumheads - **Notable:** Herrera's rig has consolidated onto Tama and dropped the dedicated trigger rack in favor of a more conventional acoustic setup — even as compact modern trigger modules like the Roland TM-2 have made hybrid triggering far cheaper and easier to integrate than the rack-mounted brains he ran in 1995. --- ## Key Gear Changes - **1990:** Co-founds Fear Factory; establishes the Pearl/ddrum hybrid trigger template on the band's debut, Soul of a New Machine (1992) - **1995:** Demanufacture recorded — the founding document of industrial metal's hybrid triggered drum sound - **1998:** Obsolete — Rhys Fulber-produced hybrid kit refined further; Fear Factory's commercial peak - **2001:** Digimortal — same Pearl/Zildjian/ddrum rig carries through - **2009:** Post-Fear Factory Arkaea project; gear consolidates toward a more conventional acoustic setup - **Career-long constant:** Full-kit electronic triggering as an artistic choice, not a commercial concession — the trigger cost premium bought Fear Factory its signature mechanical drum sound --- ## FAQ **Q: What drum kit does Raymond Herrera use?** A: Raymond Herrera currently plays a Tama Starclassic kit with a Tama 14"x6.5" Brass snare, Zildjian A Custom & Z Custom cymbals, and a DW 5000 Series double pedal. On Fear Factory's 1995 breakthrough Demanufacture, he played a fully triggered Pearl Reference Series kit with Zildjian Z Custom cymbals and a Pearl Eliminator double pedal — the original setup cost approximately $5,202 in 1995, equivalent to about $11,182 adjusted for 2026 inflation. **Q: Does Raymond Herrera use electronic drum triggers?** A: Yes — on Demanufacture (1995) and Obsolete (1998), Herrera ran a full-kit ddrum/Roland trigger system across his kick, snare, and toms, layering electronically processed samples over every acoustic hit. The dedicated trigger hardware cost roughly $850 in 1995 dollars, a category with no equivalent in a standard metal drummer's budget of that era. His current Tama-based rig has moved away from dedicated racked triggers. **Q: How much would Raymond Herrera's Demanufacture-era drum kit cost today?** A: The original 1995 Pearl Reference Series setup — including the ddrum/Roland trigger system — cost approximately $5,202. Adjusted for inflation to 2026 dollars, that's roughly $11,182, reflecting both the acoustic shell pack and the electronic triggering hardware that gave Fear Factory its mechanical drum sound. **Q: What cymbals did Raymond Herrera use on Demanufacture?** A: Herrera used Zildjian Z Custom Series cymbals on Demanufacture — 14" hi-hats, 16" and 18" crashes, a 20" ride, and a Z Custom china. The bright, machine-hammered Z Custom line was chosen for its projection above Fear Factory's heavily processed, down-tuned guitar wall. --- ## Related - [Raymond Herrera drummer profile](https://metalforge.io/drummers/raymond-herrera) - [Full gear history page](https://metalforge.io/drummers/raymond-herrera/gear-history) - [Demanufacture drum setup breakdown](https://metalforge.io/articles/demanufacture-drum-setup) - [Raymond Herrera's complete drum setup](https://metalforge.io/articles/raymond-herrera-drum-setup) - [Tama Starclassic drummers using this kit](https://metalforge.io/gear/tama/starclassic/drummers-using) - [Gear history hub](https://metalforge.io/llms/gear-history.md)