Dead Ringers? Good or bad?

Freudian Slip

Freudian Slip

New member
What do you think? Are dead ringers good or bad in general?
If I throw these on my drummers set am I compensating for another problem like bad tuning? You tell me:)? Drums are my biggest stumblinng block.


Thanks alot

F.S.
 
if they are the same thing as zero-rings, then they are terrible, they are those head type thingies with the middle cut out right? that is the quickest way to kill a snare drum, perhaps mess with the heads and tuning, they are good if you want that phil collins compressed gated and verb-ed to mars sound.... perhaps a little gaffer tape (i mean a little) will help without killing the sound, but if we are on the same wave length here forgetaboutit!
 
Actually, I think dead ringers are something different than you're talking about colossus. They are FAR worse. If these are the things I'm thinking of they go on underneath the head and press foam up against the under side. If you think those little rings kill a drum's sound, these things destroy it.

Freud, even if you want a tight sounding drum, it is far better to start with a nice full resonant drum, then take out the resonance, ringing, etc. that you don't like with gates, comps, etc. Does this drum set really sound that bad? Have you tried new heads?
 
Not the weather strip...

I'm talking about the ring of drum head material that just sits on the drum. I would never use it on a snare. Just maybe on the toms. I am reading alot and I think I will be looking at new heads. Only problem is it's not my set. But you know that one guy who has to buy everything if he ever wants it to get done...... That's Me:). I think the set it's self is good. It is a slingerland 7 piece. about 10 years old I think. I know the kick head has to go. It has one of those weaved kevlar heads on it and he has a rock hard head protector on it to.....:(. I am having no luck getting a kick sound worth a crap.


Thanks for the input. Sounds like I need to let them ring.


Later

F.S.
 
Well, I guess I was the one talking about something different. :rolleyes:

Personally, I find those rings you're talking about pretty useful when playing live, but they just don't sound very good for recording. They're really cheap though, so maybe its worth a try to see how they sound with your setup.

I attached a picture of the things I was talking about, they are called muff'ls. My drum set had them on it when I bought it.
 

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those muffling rings are crap. Pure crap. I hate them. Coated ambassadors or emporers should do the job without killing resonance. Thinner head (like ambassador) = more resonance.
 
Bad substitute for bad tuning. I think they should be in the record books for the worst ratio of cost vs. usefullness.
 
gnarled

gnarled: I do know what you are talking about and have seen them uses. You can buy a roll of cheap weather stripping for $3.00 at the hardware store and do the same thing. Back in the day of very crapy drums we our drummer would do it once in a while. They work well to bridge that all important ground between the sound of beating on tin cans to the sound of beating on plastic buckets:).

These aren't quite that drastic, They leave the initial hit but pretty much wipe out any ring.

well, thanks again guys. I am looking at a retune and then maybe some head. At least the kick drum.

Later

F.S.
 
MONTE said:
Bad substitute for bad tuning. I think they should be in the record books for the worst ratio of cost vs. usefullness.
Click to expand...

No, that's not true, they do have their use in live situations, especially if quality noise gates aren't available.


Tim
 
quality gate? What's the difference between a bad gate and a good gate? don't they do the same? either let stuff pass or not let stuff pass depending on the db level....well, then there's the weirdos like me that have a drawmer gate that has the freq knobs, but i don't use those anyway.
 
Zero rings and tuning

Hi guys I just thought of jumping in,

Here's my bit. I'm using Sonor Force 2001's with the factory heads.
The tom heads are unplayable out of the box. Sound like sh*t.
I know a bit about tuning. But I can't get any thump on them.
Just lots of thin ringing, droning, unfocused overtones. So I
got myself some E-rings ( by Evans, similar to zero rings)
and got a more familiar tom sound, with a bit of thump.
So I guess in that case the rings worked some magic.
But I begin to wonder how most drummers get a great
sound without the rings. Everybody's talkiing about open
unmuffled heads, but I think the rings actually give drums
a boost in lows buy cutting the highs. I don't know if that's
good or bad. But again wouldn't a good quality head
simply do away with the need to use these rings in the first place?
Somebody please shoot me or kick some sense into me.
 
Quality head and quality tuning should be enough to deaden those overrings. I use the remo coated stuff and get good results. I have tried the evan's coated stuff, but I think the evans deaded the drum too much, but it sounds like evans coated is kinda the sound you are looking for without using the rings.

i dunno...just experiment.
 
fenix said:
quality gate? What's the difference between a bad gate and a good gate? don't they do the same? either let stuff pass or not let stuff pass depending on the db level....well, then there's the weirdos like me that have a drawmer gate that has the freq knobs, but i don't use those anyway.
Click to expand...


I hear guys talking about Drawmers all the time as being "great", but I've never liked them. I've tried two of the 4 channel units, and I suspect the one these guys are touting as being great-is the 2-channel unit, and that thing is about $1,000...not economical for me.
I have Berhinger noise gates, and it's the Drawmer design-stolen. It's not a design I'm very fond of. I alos have an Omnicraft noise gate that is a much better gate, and the best on the market is the LT Sound....but it's quite expensive.

Well, a Quality Gate is smooth, while a cheap gate is a damned nightmare! Hahahaha I actually prefer Expander's over actual "gates"....since it seems to track the sound instead of just chopping it off.


Tim
 
Re: Zero rings and tuning

Deen said:
Hi guys I just thought of jumping in,

Here's my bit. I'm using Sonor Force 2001's with the factory heads.
The tom heads are unplayable out of the box. Sound like sh*t.
Click to expand...

I'm a newbie to recording, but I've more experience with drums. Most factory heads will sound like crap. Most that I've seen are one ply, also.

I suggest that you buy some two ply heads like Remo Emperors or Evans G2s. The coated versions will warm up the sound a bit, also. A good place to start tuning them is just above wrinkled. The closer the bottom head is to the same pitch, the more sustain you'll get, so experiment with bottom head tuning too. Someone else already mentioned that you can take the sustain out but you can't add it back in.

If you still can't get the sound you like, try even deader heads. The Remo Pinstripes will have a deader sound, and the Evans Hydraulics will turn your nice drums into pretty cardboard boxes.

Have you tried them with no bottom heads? Removing them will cut down on sustain.

Glenn
 
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