Resonant Heads 7 Mil vs 10 Mil

JG96

Active member
I need new resonant heads and I was wondering if anyone could help steer me in the right direction. From my understanding 7 mil heads have less sustain and a brighter attack whereas 10 mils have more sustain and a less bright attack. I was wondering what people prefer for recording and which will have less sympathetic ring. Also is there a place to get 7 mil resos cheap? Packs of Ambassadors or G1s can be had for like 30 bucks but I cant seem to find packs of the thinner heads.
 
Diplomats are Remo's model for the 7 mils.

I've never used Dips for reso heads. I always stick with clear ambs for toms, and PS3/4 for bass drum. Ambassadors are just more flexible.
 
Any drum that's in tune will have some sympathetic ring. That's just the way it is. 10 mil or two ply resonant heads will have a warmer tone than 7 mil. You don't have to use purpose built "resonant heads" though. If you really wanna warm it up more and soften the sustain use coated reso heads. Coated Ambassadors make for really nice resonant heads for a "vintage" sound. When I played rockabilly drums I used coated 2-ply Remo Emperors for resonant heads. Talk about warm thump.

Currently I use clear Evans G1s for reso heads. I like their musicality and long-ish sustain.

You could also just not use any resonant heads. I hate that sound, but it's an option.
 
A little ring is definitely not a bad thing. I have heard kits that have an insane amount of ring and when added to the mix it all disappears. For me the main issue is the kick and snare mics pick up ring from the toms this makes the drums sound like they have icky overtones that aren't actually there. On the last kit I was recording everything was so dead sounding that sympathetic ring was basically non-existant. I guess now I have to start tuning the drums to sound musical together. No resonant heads is a pretty awful sound. It can work fine for bass drums but never for toms.

I did some research and learned that the stock heads resos on the kit are actually 10 mils and not 7 and they are pretty bright while still retaining sustain.
 
Stock heads are rarely any good. They might say "Remo" on them, but they're not the quality heads you'd buy separately. Like the "UT" heads that come on a lot of kits. They're cheap quick mass production chinese low level junk with Remo stamped on them. You can't even re-buy them. They just come on the kit because not many people will buy a new drum kit with no heads on it.
 
Yeah they aren't the greatest which is why they are getting replaced. But now I know that 10 mil heads work well on this kit. Now I just gotta figure out how to make the drums resonate nicely together.
 
Stock heads on high end sets are usually legitimate heads though. But yeah, on anything mid-level and lower, toss them out as soon as you can.

I've heard of plenty of guys using coated heads on toms for warmer tone. Never done it myself, but perfectly legit. 2-ply would work too, I'd almost think that would sound too dead though, but that's just me.
 
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