drum heads?

Which company do you guys use?

  • Remo

    Votes: 58 53.2%

  • Evans

    Votes: 36 33.0%

  • Aquarian

    Votes: 12 11.0%

  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 3 2.8%
  • Total voters
    109
Guitarmaster said:
The rule of the thumb for me is either tune you skins so they match each other(ur idea. Tune top as tight as it will go and then match the top. (Much like a snare does work very well). Or just put the skin on as loose as possible but without any wrinkles.
Click to expand...

I like to find the resonant pitch of the shell and tune the drum to that. I don't like a drum that goes "thud"! I want it to have a nice round "boom" that carries. Very musical!

Not much toms in this test sample, but medium tuning and no muffling. Nothing in the kick but a rolled up towel and a paint can. All ambassadors.

Guitars are rough tracks, so ignore.

 
PhilGood said:
I like to find the resonant pitch of the shell and tune the drum to that.
Click to expand...

Ive been playing drums for 7 years now and ive always heard people say to find the resonant pitch of the shell, but how do actually go about doing that? Sorry if thats too much of a newb question. btw philgood, i always love when you post samples. Your drums always sound amazing!
 
i havent tried too many evans heads or any aquarian heads, right now i got coated ambs on my toms and snare. I think my next snare head will be a coated g1, and when i go for toms, il do like coated g2s
 
NegadivOne said:
Ive been playing drums for 7 years now and ive always heard people say to find the resonant pitch of the shell, but how do actually go about doing that? Sorry if thats too much of a newb question. btw philgood, i always love when you post samples. Your drums always sound amazing!
Click to expand...

2 ways! You can take the hardware off and tap the shell. It should ring a bit. Have a guitarist or keyboard to match the pitch. Then you know what note to tune it to. Or you can just keep bringing the pitch up until you find the note where the drum just "sings". You will know it when you hear it.
 
You know that rattle you get on your snare with specific notes from the bass/guitar? Same sort of idea. If you have access... you can literally take the heads off the drum and sweep through pitches to see where it starts to ring. If you are really really serious about it, get a sine wave generator and sweep through frequencies until it rings. (This is the same thing that breaks all those glasses in cartoons... :) )
 
hey thanks for the help. i think ill look into the evans. i use remo on the toms and bass drums but i use the evans hd dry head on the snare. but ill check out evans. evans now has a new set of heads (EC2) the edge control if you go to the website you see it in the home page. http://www.evansdrumheads.com/. check them out see what you think.
 
Heads: Remo
Snare: Coated ambassador batter/ambassador snare side
Toms: Clear Pinstripes batter/clear ambassador reso
Bass: Clear Pinstripe batter/ebony PS3 reso

Cheers!
 
Eww, do NOT get hte HD dry for the snare, that is waaaaaaay too thick, its a 2 ply head, always go 1 ply for snare. Get a coated G1 or a powercenter or reverse dot.

I think the EC2's woudl be too muffled as well, look a lot like pinstripes, id go with coated G2s, but whatever, they might be ok for recording.
 
Pinstripes on tom batters, clear ambassador resos on snare and toms, Emporer coated on snare and Ebony emporer reso on bass with Evans Emad on kick batter. I've found that this combination of heads is the most versatile for me- it's just the tuning that counts. I remember back in the day when I had to first re-head my kit, all that was available at our local music store was hydraulics, Ludwig coated and silver-dots....so that's all I used for the longest time while growing up. What a difference it was when I finally got some pinstripes on that kit...it was like breathing for the first time!
 
just like some of you suggested the clear G2's on top and clear G1's on the bottom what do you guys think of clear emperor's on top, and clear ambassadors on the bottom?
 
Aquarian superkick II on batter. Pretty much any single ply head on toms. Coated remo powerstroke on snare.
 
Evans. Never had great luck with Remo, or a little Aquarian, and I found my new fav heads within Evans, so now I'm satisfied.

EDIT: specs...
clear G2s over clear G1s on toms, coated G2 over Hazy 300 on snare, and EMAD batter over stock Pearl reso (which might become EQ3 + a Pearl sticker in the future).
 
well...

I just changed to Evans clear EC2s on the batter side, with G1s for resonant heads. So far I like them, but this may be the last time I used a "pinstripe" type head. I'm getting more and more into an open sound, and the G1s are pretty impressive in that regard. My favorite Remos are the ebony pinstripes, and these EC2s are almost identical, but a bit more lively. I like the Powerstroke3 on the kick though. Wide open, that one is hard to beat.

The Earthtone heads are pretty great as well, but very pricy. I love them on my snare though.
 
just a quick passing by question....i didn't want to start a new thread :p

which heads (batter AND reasonant) should i use on my 20 inch kick to get a good LOW END thud?

not that clicky punchy thud, but a low freq. thump with little attack.

any suggestions for heads?

PS : Im not a hard kicker....i actually kick very lightly, so i guess this is something to take into consideration when choosing.

thanks
 
Use yer heads

The heads you want will depend on the drums you have and the sound you want. Put simply, cheap drums are ringy with an unpleasant tone. The higher quality snare and toms, the more pleasant the tone and the less ringy-ness. The heads you choose can mask the bad qualities of your drums or enhance the inherent good qualities of your drums.

Hydraulics are good for live music in heavy-metal or classic rock genres. If you play blues or indie type music, you may want a more vintage tom and snare sound with more tone than what hydraulics give you. BUT, if you have cheap ringy drums, hydraulic heads will mask it the best. The only other option is getting heads with dampening rings and applying sticky moon-gels.

If you have higher quality drums, don't clog them with hydraulics or external dampeners. Instead, focus on tuning them correctly and either a Evans or Remo head, neither will take anything away from a good drum that is properly tuned.

As far as the kick drum, I use the Aquarian Superkick II with an impact patch. It produces a deep, focused sound. I only use a single pillow in my kick, the more stuff you put in there, the less volume you'll get....which is fine for recording, but not so great for live sound.

If you're still not sure, go to a music store and try playing on a few different kits that have different heads, or ask the drum guy his opinion.
 
Pearl MLX (Rock) -
Remo coated Ambassador on the snare batter, clear diplomat snare side
Remo Pinstripes on Toms and Bass, stock pearl heads on the resonant

Ludwig Brass Label (Jazz/Funk) -
Coated Ambassador batters with coated Diplomats all round

Fuck Evans.
 
Just to re-awaken this thread, i use Millenium DRUMHEADPACK 1, from thomann for live. Simple, single ply, clear, and to my ears, if tuned well, sound decent. And at only £10 a set of 12", 13", 16", 22", and 14" coated snare, extremely good value. Shame they don't have a set for 10", 12", 14", 20", and 14" snare kits.
 
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First off I am not a drummer but I do have a kit for my studio. It is 100% birch. I tried Aquarians but for some reason some of the skins didn't fit. So I went with Remo Pinstripes on the toms. They tune easy and they are a two ply. I get alot of hard hitters in the studio so the Pinstripes hold up. Evans Dry vented on the snare. Good attack and not alot of ring. Kick, single ply Remo clear with a Slam Pad. :)
 
I've gone to all calf heads in this last couple of years. If you tuck your own, they are about 1/2 the price of plastic heads, and they last a long time - my kick head is from the 1940's. It's the difference between a plastic jacket and a leather one.

There's something about the sound and feel of wood against leather that once you experience it, plastic just isn't the same.

I think the main reason the major drum companies switched to plastic around 1960 was because it was easier for them to pump them out and make money.

Pretty much everything I heard about calf heads - expensive, hard to tune, awful in humid weather, hard to tuck... it was all untrue.
 
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