Animal Skin-ish drum heads?

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Kasey

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My friend was telling me about drum heads that you can get that are basically fake leather... I'm not sure what the affect of this is on the sound... does anyone know anything about these? He was telling me i should look into getting them for my bass drum.
 
Was he talking about Remo's Suede heads (I haven't seen or heard them, or read anthing about them - I'm just guessing based on the name)? Or perhaps Fibreskyn3's.

What they will give you is a warmer sound, with a lot less of the impact sound that a stick makes when it strikes the head, so it would be more like the sound you would expect from say...the natives beating a large, skin-
covered drum in a Tarzan or King King movie.

Or perhaps more like a sound of Indian drums on the warpath in an old movie about Cowboys and Indians.

Actually - you can still by animalskin heads - but I wouldn't waste my money on one - the temperature and weather changes will totally mess with the tuning of it. When I first started playing, I bought a drum from the 1940's that came with a leather head on it. I should have kept the head when I gave the drum to a friend for Christmas. (It was an old Leedy 7"x14" drum. I picked it up for something like $35 at a yardsale.)




Tim
 
All my drums have Fiberskyns. It's a very complex sound, and a real pain to tune. I like 'em though, because I wanted a dark, complex sounding kit. Now if only I could afford K Customs :o

I don't think my first priority would be the bass drum though--the skin sound on the toms is a lot more prominent.
 
i've used fiberskyns on my bass drums for years and love them. easily the best bass heads i've ever used. i recently got fiberskyns for my toms, and they're ok, but i'm not as happy with them as i have been with the bass heads.

if you stuff your bass drum with blankets, pillows, or other crap it really doesn't matter what head you use. fiberskyns seem to work best when you use very little muffling.
 
mshilarious said:
All my drums have Fiberskyns. It's a very complex sound, and a real pain to tune. I like 'em though, because I wanted a dark, complex sounding kit. Now if only I could afford K Customs :o

I don't think my first priority would be the bass drum though--the skin sound on the toms is a lot more prominent.
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I use Fibreskyn 3's on the resonant side of my kicks, and they work well there. I still prefer Pinstripes on the batter side.


Tim
 
Tim Brown said:
I use Fibreskyn 3's on the resonant side of my kicks, and they work well there. I still prefer Pinstripes on the batter side.


Tim
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well then, i will at least experiment with them on the resonant side of my kick - if i like that i just might try the batter side as well. This is for the 28" kick, and i get the impression the fiberskins are common on concert bass drums... so maybe it'll be better for my bass drum than a normal bass drum, eh?
 
Fiberskyn On Snare?

I have a Remo Fiberskyn on my Sonor Hilite 14X7 snare and it sounds awesome. I never even though about putting one of these on my snare until I read on Steve Smith's website that he uses one on his snare because they produce a great sound when using brushes.

I tried one on my snare and I'm totally hooked. They are really tough heads too. I haven't even been able to put a mark on it yet and I play Led Zeppelin covers and Queens of The Stoneage covers in a couple of rock bands!

Unlike coated heads, which feel like fine sandpaper when they are new, the texture doesn't wear off after a few sessions.

If you use them on the toms, the sound is perfect for classic rock or Jazz, but I prefer Evans G2 coated on my toms as they are so easy to tune!

Contrary to what Tim Brown said, I reckon you get quite a bright attack when you hit the head (click sound) because the suface is quite hard and textured which is why brushes sound so good on these heads.

Great heads!

Never tried them on my kick drums though!
 
Earthtone heads...

are easy to find and made of goatskin. They are a class above any of the Fiberskins, but comparatively fragile and pretty expensive. They are nice though, and really very different in sound from a plastic head. Try them on your snare, or one tom if you want to experiment and save a little money before you go whole hog. You may hate them, but I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
 
c0r1n said:
are easy to find and made of goatskin. They are a class above any of the Fiberskins, but comparatively fragile and pretty expensive. They are nice though, and really very different in sound from a plastic head. Try them on your snare, or one tom if you want to experiment and save a little money before you go whole hog. You may hate them, but I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
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i probably would like them - but i'd imagine that theyd be a pain to tune..no?
 
i play the dhol drum!!! STRAIGHT GOAT SKIN. real goat skin heads...recently i got one that is one side roped and one side hooked. basically the roped side always has a real animal skin cuz thats how u tune them..by making the ropes tighter...i have yet to hear a better bass come out of a skin than the bass that comes out of a nice thick goat skin. I actually like the skin sound so much that i purchase a fiberskyn 3 thin kind and put it on my hooked dhol...nothng beats animal skin...NOTHING...and they can be a pain to tune just cuz u need to have precise tuning...but with ropes the tension usually equals, but if u get synthetic (fake) animal skin heads like the fiberskyn, then u gotta be on target with ur tuning...just take ur time tuning and ull be fine.
 
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PhraseMMX said:
Contrary to what Tim Brown said, I reckon you get quite a bright attack when you hit the head (click sound) because the suface is quite hard and textured which is why brushes sound so good on these heads.

Great heads!

Never tried them on my kick drums though!
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I used them on my toms and they had much less attack than pinstripe, but not as dead as a leather head.



Tim
 
My bodhrán has a real goatskin head, I don't have a tunable one though. I just wait for days when the humidity is right :o
 
mshilarious said:
My bodhrán has a real goatskin head, I don't have a tunable one though. I just wait for days when the humidity is right :o
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I read that you can get those wet and then dry it with a hairdrier to tune it. I've never tried it though.


Tim
 
Tim Brown said:
I read that you can get those wet and then dry it with a hairdrier to tune it. I've never tried it though.


Tim
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You can, but it's an inexact science. I used to use a mist spray bottle, but it ends up right for about 15 minutes.

Ireland cooperates with lots of natural humidity ;) I have no idea how players here in America cope, but they seem to manage.
 
we used to use the fibreskyn heads on our bass drums in marching band back in high school. very round and complex tone with a good, solid "thwack". pretty much exactly what i would look for in the tone from a marching bass drum.

no experience with em on a kit, though.....but i bet they would be a REAL pain to tune (as they were on the basses).


cheers,
wade
 
they're harder to tune than a coated ambassador, or something, but it isn't that difficult to get them in tune. i've been trying to figure out what it is about the sound of the fiberskyns on my toms that i don't like. i think i've concluded that it's the decreased attack. oddly enough, that's why i bought them. i guess i never appreciated how much the attack and the tone work together to produce a pleasing sound.
 
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