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.