New Drum Heads?

[jonny deep]

When I move in a couple of weeks, I'll be near a drummer friend of mine and I thought I might have a go at tracking drums with him.

My Pearl Export kit has pretty battered old heads on them, so I think replacements might be in order. I wonder if any drummers on here can recommend some or guide me as to how much I should consider spending. I'm not after totally professional results - I just want something of the quality to allow barely passable recordings. Are the coated and uncoated varieties just preference, or is one better for studio recording?

My kit came with these Remo donut ring thingies that tame the skin vibrations, making the drums a little quieter and more bearable to sit near - is it better to record without these to capture the full drum sustain?

Thanks in advance!

[JG96]

Drum heads are highly subjective. What kind of a sound are you going for? If you are replacing all the heads on your kit expect to spend about 150.

[jonny deep]

Drum heads are highly subjective. What kind of a sound are you going for?

Hey - thanks for your response.

You know what, I like the sound of the standard kit in Addictive Drums (which I use all the time). I don't know much about drums and can only play a bit - not well enough to track myself.

I guess you mean 150 USD? Which would be around £100. There are drum head kits on sale for around £50 (like this one Remo Ambassador Coated Drum Head Pack Rock | Dawsons Music). Would something like this be a bad choice? I'm not sure the kick drum head needs replacing - that one is the best condition of the kit.

[JG96]

Ambassadors are great for snares. For toms I would recommend emperors just because 2 ply's are a bit more durable and sustain a bit less. More of a rock sound. Personally I would track without the rings and add tape/moongel if needed. The ambassador pack is definitely a solid choice though. Good luck with your recordings!

[Greg_L]

I prefer Ambassadors over Emperors because they are more open. Dead drums sound dead in a recording. Let em breathe and they'll sound better in the mix. You can moongel Ambassadors to calm them down if you need to, but you can't do anything to Emperors to make them more lively if need be.

[Guitargodgt]

I went with powerstroke 3s on the toms, if I had to go again though I would switch to emperors. I did G1s on the bottom which are 10mil. I did this after hearing what effect thicker resonant heads had on toms and liked it. I don't think Evans made the G1 as a reso head (could be wrong though).

Using a evans reverse power center coated for the snare top and a genere reso on the bottom.

Kick is superkick 2 (aquarian) and EQ3 ported on the front.

The whole thing sounds pretty good (toms especially actually). Sort of what to try out something different on the snare though.