Coated Heads, Heavy Sticks, and Heavy Music

[gumplunger]

I'm a pretty hard hitting drummer and I play pretty heavy music. I've been using clear batter heads on my toms, but since they seem to lose their punch fairly quickly the way I play em, I was thinking some coated heads for the toms might be in order. Am I on the right track here? I can't say I remember seeing many metal drummers with coated toms...

[Bulls Hit]

What about 2-ply heads. Pinstripes, hydraulics...?

[donkeystyle]

Originally Posted by gumplunger

I'm a pretty hard hitting drummer and I play pretty heavy music. I've been using clear batter heads on my toms, but since they seem to lose their punch fairly quickly the way I play em, I was thinking some coated heads for the toms might be in order. Am I on the right track here? I can't say I remember seeing many metal drummers with coated toms...

try it. if you dont like it, try something else. what other metal drummers use doesn't matter really. i have 2 friends that were in metal bands at one time that have both used coated heads for a really long time. they both had very metal drum sounds. my band is a heavy'ish band......i don't know if i would go as far as calling it metal, but we use coated heads. everyone in the band seems to like them.

[tmix]

Remo has a newer head out called the smooth white.
It is a tough 2 ply head that has a brighter harder sound, and they are nearly bullet proof. My son plays them in his metal band. He is the type of hitter that breaks those metal drumsticks and beats the coating off coated heads within 20 to 30 minutes.

I think you will like them.

Tom

[spariam]

Kenny Aronoff is a pretty hard hitter and he uses (or has used) coated Remo Emperors (as well as Ambassadors in the studio):

http://www.remo.com/portal/artists/4...y_Aronoff.html

I prefer coated to clear, but I've never cared much for pinstripes/hydraulics. I've used both Ambassadors and Emperors, depending on the gig. You might check out the Remo Emperor X.

From Remo's web site:

"The Emperor X™ drumheads are the most durable Mylar® heads in the world. They’re made with two free-floating plys of 10 mil Mylar® film with a 5 mil reverse black dot, which gives consistent focused warm tones which accounts for their popularity among many of today’s hardest hitting Rock drummers. "

[gumplunger]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody. I'll give those Remo's a shot.

[RecordingMaster]

If you play metal and you want a metal sounding drum kit, coated heads isn't the proper route. Use clear 2-plys (this is if we're talking about the toms and kick). I use Evans Genera G2s (go to their site), and play quite hard myself at times, and I could stay with the same heads for a year and have no breaking (OK maybe denting).
Coated sounds fatter and more dead, which is probably not what you should use if you're looking for the punch. They sound more retro. Someone on here said pinstripe or hydraulic, but those types are for a deader sound too.
The point I wanted to get to was maybe it's not the heads that need changing, but it's the way you're playing. A lot of drummers are too stubborn to admit it, but a lot of problems with their gear is because they are not using it correctly (breaking sticks frequently, cracking cymbals, denting china cymbal edges, breaking skins, etc). You may want to re-evaluate your mechanics of your playing. Don't raise your arms so high (you should be playing with your wrists anyways), etc. It may seem difficult to reconstruct the way you play because you've spent so much time building it, but in the long run its better on your wallet, your body, and most of all, your sound.
If you play hard like that all the time, you'll really screw your wrists and you won't be able keep doing the thing you love: playing.
Besides, there are proper techniques to get a louder sound out of each piece in your kit without actually damaging them.
Check out Mike Portnoy (Dream theatre), Vinnie Paul (Pantera), Nick Menza (Megadeth)...none of them bash their equipment, they play it...and quite well. They get crazy loud, fast, and obnoxious sounds from their kits and I bet they could keep using their gear for a whole tour without replacing it (if they weren't rich). Don't be disillusioned, even if you see a pro drummer play hard with his arms high in the air, he's not actually pushing all that force into the drum, it's just for show. How fun would a drummer be to watch if he didn't move his arms only moved his wrists? (Except for Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa).
Good luck