drum head selection - place to start?

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Dethska

Dethska

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So I'm in the market for new tom heads, resonant and batter. And I can't decide what is best. I have 12" and 14" maple toms. I plan on using the kit for recording. I will be using MXL603s mics to record the toms from an overhead position. I play rock, metal, punk, etc. I want a good overall tone, without too much ring. But I do not want cardboard box tone.

I like the Aquarian brand of heads, but I'm not familiar with the different styles they offer. And what would be best for my situation.

I realize this is a personal choice, but I don't have the time or money to invest in twelve different types of heads to experiment. I'm looking to the "experts" around here to give me a starting place to look. Thanks in advance.
 
Drum Heads

Brand wise ,I like Evans or Aquarian although most brands have similar offerings.
As far as type of heads, here is what I have experianced.
Clear heads have glassy watery burp kinda punch and ring. They sound great for edgier kind of drums where you dont care as much about really strong fundamental note differentiation. The thinner head you get, the longer the sustain.thicker gets more muffled and shorter decay plus a little less stick articulation.
Coated heads have a drier more focused note sound such as Jazz / Funk and drums you want to sound close at hand. They dont ring quite as long and have a quicker decay due to the extra weight of the coating.(they also dont ding as easy and last longer).
So much depends on the type of music you are doing.

I like clear on my kick but coated on my snare.
The toms I like clear if doing Rock, Coated if Jazz / funk.
 
For what you want, I would suggest clear Aquarian Studio X or clear Evans G2.

If you would like Aquarians with more durability, either get the Studio X with power dot or the 2-ply Performance II's.

Remember that tuning will play a major factor in your "tone" as well.

Can anyone else comment on Attack heads? I was looking at them the other day in a catalog and didn't know how cheap they are. A 10" head is like $6. They make 2-ply heads with a "tone ridge". Maybe you could try out those and will the low expense, you won't be out very much for the experience.
 
Re: Drum Heads

tmix said:
Clear heads have glassy watery burp kinda punch and ring.
Click to expand...

:confused: Not quite sure what that sounds like :D

Right now I'm thinking Studio X's. But I'm not sure about coated or clear. I like the idea of getting a good fundamental tone. And the decrease in ring is good. I usually use the dampening ring-things you can get. Since most of the music I play is really fast, Too much ring just makes everything muddy. I like it when it I can get a good *POW* out of the tom. I'm thinking coated then. Good reasoning?

What do guys suggest for resonant heads? A simple clear 1-ply? Or something different? Thanks for the help so far.
 
If you want more "tone" than "thud" I would stick with the clear. For resonant heads, any good 1-ply medium weight head should do just fine.
 
Are the perfomance II's kinda like Remo Pinstripes? I guess I need to figure out how I want to tune my toms. I like the idea of the Perfomance II's but I think Studio X's will end up working better with my kit. 12 and 14" toms are pretty much already screwed for super low tuning, I'd guess.
 
I guess you could say the Performance II's are Aquarians answer to the Pinstripe, however I haven't found Pinstripes to favor lower tunings all that much - they tend to lose focus and tone a little too much. Performance II's are supposedly designed to keep the tone at lower tunings and do as such quite nicely.

Yes you really need to figure out what you are going for before you purchase. There is nothing harder than trying to coax a sound out of a head that wasn't designed for what you want. How hard do you play your punk/metal, etc? I am a little worried about 1-ply durability issues for you. If you decide on the Studio-X's I would look into the ones with the "power dot".
 
I really don't play too hard. On the toms anyway. I really find that banging the crap out the snare gets a better tone. But the toms I don't really do any heavy beating on. I think I'll start on the one-ply. If I bust right through them, then I'll guess I'll try something else. My experience with the pinstripes is they always sound too dull for me. I'm just curious if the performance II's have the same dull tone.
(Of course, I haven't changed heads in years, and this might be why I think of them as boxy. It's been too long since I heard what new heads sound like.)
Also, I've kinda gotten the impression that for studio/recording one-ply's are better than two-ply's. Is there any truth to this?
 
It all depends on the sound you are going for. There can be something said for a nice maple or mahogany vintage kit with coated ambassadors mic'd up in a nice room. Single ply heads will give a more open and almost "thinner" sound but will also exploit any flaws in your kit, tuning, room, etc. Studio X's don't really fall into this category though since they are a "muffled" head....
 
Well, my kit is a vintage 65 Ludwig. But, the room and the tuning (tuner, i.e. me) are not the greatest. But, I see what you are saying. Oh, now I'm very confused. I'm torn between maximizing the potential of my kit, and just putting some heavy duty heads on it and beating the hell out if.
 
Well being as that your kit probably has reinforcing rings and will have somewhat of a mellower tone to begin with, go with single ply. You need something to "open" the sound up a tad.
 
reinforcing rings?

open. . . yes, that's what I'm looking for. So you are recommending studio x's based on this new information.
 
Do your drums have an extra little ring of wood on the top and bottom? It should stick out from the rest of the shell a little bit. They were (and still are) used to support thinner shells and keep them round.

Based on this, yes I would recommend muffled, single ply heads. I 've pretty much been thinking out loud through this whole thing.....

;)
 
I don't know if they have the ring or not. I'll have to check when I get home. (I'm at work, can you tell, working real hard :D )

I appreciate your help. I don't mind you thinking out loud. I'm learning a lot here. I keep thinking I got it figured out, and then you throw me some more information and I have to figure it all out again.

I think I've got it now, Studio X's (I'll start with the non-reinforced ones). I'll keep the Performance II's in mind, if I find I don't like the X's.

Thanks for taking the time here to help me out.
 
I don't know if they have the ring or not. I'll have to check when I get home. (I'm at work, can you tell, working real hard :D )

If they are '65 Ludwigs they probably do. Hey what do you think I'm doing at 3:30 on a Monday afternoon???

thanks for taking the time here to help me out.

No problem...

:)
 
Thanks Freudian Slip, but I've already read the tuning bible a couple times. I still don't understand all of it, though. I read the section on head selection, but I was looking for more opinions. Thanks for the help, though.
 
Here's another thougt although it may not be right for you. Within the last few years I started using Remo Fibreskins on my toms
(2 rack, 3 floor) and they offer a very round warm tone with a quick decay (so you won't get a muddy sound from resonance overlap). You get plenty of stick definition and a very natural almost calfskin sound. I know of a few jazz musicians that use them, and I just recorded a heavy rock piece with them. You don't have to dampen them as much.
For dampening, I sometimes add a moongel to the resonator head. This allows the batter head to move
almost wide open, but the dampened resonator cuts the sympathetic ringing.
Like I said, it's just a thought.
 
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