Ringing toms...

F

FromtheSOUTH

New member
So, drummer plays his tom or snare, and The other three toms ring, annoyingly.

Is this because of the tuning of the drums? I believe most of the ringing is coming from the bottom heads. What is the best way to deal with it? Tone control rings, moongel (or whatever it's called), new heads, or is it simply a matter of tuning?

My idea was to tighten up the resonant heads a bit, but I feel like it would just change the pitch of the ringing.

BTW, I'm a bass player who put himself in charge of the sound of the drums - My drummer needs some help, and I guess I do to.
 
I would leave the drum tuning alone, if it is good, moongels or any of that stuff will help, different heads, perhaps; heads with a tone control ring like Studio x, or something heavy and dead like a blue Hydraulics from evans.
What I started doing years ago when I first noticed this problem, was to inject silicone caulking into the "pipes" of my tom arms. You don't have to fill them up. I put about 3 inches deep worth of caulking in all my tom arms or hollow pipe style of mounts,I found this works good for most of the unwanted ring, but even then, you may still need some duct tape or something,good luck!
 
There are probably two things going on.
1. You should be able to tune the tom so they don't ring
2. The drummer isn't hitting the tom very hard when he does hit them, which forces you to turn up the gain and the ringing along with it.

Tuning: if its the bottom heads that are ringing, try dropping the pitch of one lug to make it stop. The way I tune tom is to tune the top and bottom head to different notes that cancel each other out, but that is really hard to describe on the internet. But, generally, if the bottom heads are ringing, they are probably too tight and/or tuned to a pitch that is couples with the pitch of the top head (or the pitch of the snare).
 
Farview said:
There are probably two things going on.
1. You should be able to tune the tom so they don't ring
2. The drummer isn't hitting the tom very hard when he does hit them, which forces you to turn up the gain and the ringing along with it.

Tuning: if its the bottom heads that are ringing, try dropping the pitch of one lug to make it stop. The way I tune tom is to tune the top and bottom head to different notes that cancel each other out, but that is really hard to describe on the internet. But, generally, if the bottom heads are ringing, they are probably too tight and/or tuned to a pitch that is couples with the pitch of the top head (or the pitch of the snare).
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. It's like when I play certain notes on my bass, the snare goes wild with vibration, the same is happening with the pitch of the drums. Same wavelengths or something.:confused:

I think the drummers getting new heads today, this should be a lot of fun.
 
When I first got the Arbiter flatlites kit, the middle tom used to ring like goodness knows what. The ambient sound was lovely but the ring used to drive me nuts. My mate who is a drummer from Zambia just taped a small wodge of tissue to a small part of the head next to the rim and bang ! No ring but still that lovely ambient tone.
Sometimes, the ringing disappears when the bass and other instruments are mixed in together with the drums, but I just wasn't taking the chance !
 
Are you sure its the other toms ringing when the snare or a single tom is played? Or are you hearing the snare ring when it is hit? And the tom that is being hit ringing? Tuning top head and bottom head in certain ways makes em ring. Some snares ring a lot, one of my DWs does and I hate it. A little moongel helped, but with the snare tuned to give a good crack it would ring.

If you are playing together in a room the snare is going to "snare" with the bass.
 
mdainsd said:
Are you sure its the other toms ringing when the snare or a single tom is played? Or are you hearing the snare ring when it is hit? And the tom that is being hit ringing? Tuning top head and bottom head in certain ways makes em ring. Some snares ring a lot, one of my DWs does and I hate it. A little moongel helped, but with the snare tuned to give a good crack it would ring.

If you are playing together in a room the snare is going to "snare" with the bass.
Click to expand...


I'm sure of it. We have the snare sounding pretty dead, I believe its a coated evans head, with moongels. I really think it's the tuning, and maybe some dampening of the toms is in order as well.
 
You could try tuning all the batter really low, until the batter head doesn't really resonate any more. This gives a dead and snappy sound if you do it right, but lots of drummers don't like the sound of that kind of tuning.

Just be careful, to low and it will sound like a piece of cardboard. Also, If your drumer is getting new heads, save the old ones and you could make O-rings. Just cut circles out of the edges of the old ones and put em on the new drums. cheaper than buying new o-rings, and it helps take out lots of vibration.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top