making my toms sound better (softer)

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wes480

wes480

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i have a Yamaha YD series drumset..which..in my opinion is decent.

the snare and kick I am fine with...but, the toms never sound too good to me...they are tuned to the best I can...the tuning is ok. The problem is....they are too loud. Like, I get the levels of the mics set right...and get a good level...

but then the toms will shoot right through the overheads..and clip the hell out of them....

what I am wondering is if there are some different kinds of heads for the toms that i could try...that would make them a little less powerful....or...if there is something different i could do to them.

I am not a big tom user....I would just like more of a set back non-overpowering tom sound...for when I want to do a little fill or something...

right now its just like "boom!" feels like it just shoots out sound like hell...I need to dampen it some...just more of a mellow sound.

any suggestions?
 
You could start by telling us what kind of heads are on there now and what size the drums are.
 
My toms have muffle rings on them, the thin plastic ones that sit on the top of the head. That should help with the more mellow tone. As for the volume, I have my ovh turned down and I boost it in Nuendo after it's down. I also have my toms turned down. I have them low enough so that I have to normalize them for good volume, and I'm sure I'm going to get scolded for that one by a bunch of people. The funny thing is I've never had static problems or anything, just a really good individual mic track with very little bleed through for a very mixable mix. :) I'm pretty new to all of this, so maybe my advice isn't the best you're going to get... All I know is that it sounds good for you then it's right, at least that's what I've read alot on this board.
 
cool, I will look into the rings...

the toms...I am not sure on their size actually...let me check out the yamaha website and see about that....

the heads though, are clear, and they are "Yamaha U2" heads...made by Remo, if I am not mistaken.
 
ok, here is what I found out:

Remo Heads: To obtain maximum tone and volume, each YD drum is supplied with Remo drumheads. The bass drum is equipped with a U2 PowerStroke 3 type on the batter side, while a UT Ebony PowerStroke type is found on the front. Floor toms and mounted toms utilize U2 clears on both top and bottom, and the snare drum comes with U2 coated on top and UT snare on bottom.

>>hmm, obtain voume eh..not good! :)

as far as the toms...

The YD 5pc drum kit includes (1) 22"x17" bass drum, (1) 12"x10" rack tom, (1) 13"x11" rack tom, (1) 16"x16" floor tom, (1) 14"x5.5" WOOD snare drum

there we go, that should help...thanks much.
 
Maybe try Remo Pinstripes on your toms. They have a bit of built-in deadening. I use them, and properly tuned (with Diplomats on the resonant side), they provide a nice 'dummmmmm'.
 
Yeah, you have the crappy factory heads on there. You should totally get new heads for every drum. I have Evans G2 clear for my top tom heads, and Evans Gerera Resonant heads for my res side. I used to have pins on my toms, but now I'll never go back after my Evans. For snare I have a Evans G2 coated head, and a Remo Snare Resonant on bottom. For kick I have a Remo Powerstroke III, which is an awesome head, but I'm going to snag some Emad heads when I need to replace these. I don't think you can go wrong with either, it's all just what sounds you're going for.
 
yeah I cut a hole in the front of my kick...which, I assume is fine...

but, I was always wondering about that. Yeah, I will replace all the heads on all of the drums...

do you know of any good bass drum head that has a hole already cut in it? my exacto knife cut leaves something to be desired...heh
 
The hole is definitely the way to go, otherwise mic'ing that drum will be tough. I looked around for heads with pre-cut holes, and decided the best option was to get the head I wanted and one of those $3.00 drum hole template rings from the music store. You put the head on, tune up, stick the ring where you want the hole, and cut. The ring gives you a guide for cutting and also reinforces the edge so the head doesn't get torn up from sticking mics in and out of there.
 
One thing that I do since I do a lot of fill in work with several bands is use small sticks in small clubs. For instance I'll use 7A's with little combos and 5B's in larger rooms. This seems to help a lot because you don't have to concentrate so hard on playing quieter. Many drummers find this constant stick switching hard to deal with, but I think it's a lot easier to deal with this than to deal with the band, club, or sound man alway telling you to play quieter. :(
 
do you really think that the heads are the problem? maybe you want to try and reposition your overheads and/or set your OH levels more accurately? when you set your OH levels - you should be taking into account toms, etc. - since they are obviously picked up by those mics....have the drummer play on the toms a bit at the leve he'll record at and make sure that there is no clipping....

I would definitely invest in some new heads, anyways...coated heads on your toms can 'deaden' up the sound a bit as compared to a clear head...if you're going to go with clear heads though - Evans G2s are great sounding...they are not going to be any 'quieter' than what you already have on there, though
 
yeah, no kidding, back your gain down or something. then your cymbals wont sound quite so harsh either. how long have you played drums (or whoever is playing them)? part of it may be learning how to hit the toms dynamically instead of hitting the full charge in a gigantic fill.
 
see i don't like toms much to start with...

so I don't want to sacrifice the recording resolution of the cymbals and such just for those few tom hits that i could really do without all together..heh.

nothing is going to sound "harsh" unless you clip it - or unless the mic is going to sound that way at any volume.
 
Although I agree the U2 factory installed heads are "cheap" heads, and Pinstipes or Evans G2 are better batter heads that can control overtones - I also agree that changing heads will not result in a significant reduction of volume.

YD drums, like many entry level kits tend to have a harsh sound compared to "pro level" kits. Entry level is designed to be loud, with less warm tone. Certainly some treatment of the tones (o-rings, muffling, etc. may help, and tuning the toms lower can eliminate some or the higher harmonics - but loud is loud, and you can't treat that. The idea to go with a lighter stick (7A) could also help.

It seems clear you need to work on placement of the overheads and adjusting the gain.

If you do replace heads, I would start with the batter side only (the top head) the U2's should be OK for the resonant side (at least for now.
 
ideally, toms should be pretty much in balance with the level of the rest of your kit. In fact, I usually find that the loudest drum in overheads is a snare. If your toms are a lot louder than your snare in the overhead recorded tracks, maybe they're tuned wrong, or maybe you are placing your mics too close to them. Try micing from over the back of the drummer.

Another quick and easy solution is to remove the toms and just record without them. Many songs don't require them, and most drummers have much better snare technique anyway.
 
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