Drum Muffling...

Pearldrum0 · Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:09 am Post subject: Drum Muffling...

One thing I hate.......hearing a great overtone in my mounted toms... I'd apprecciate it if anyone could help me on this one. I have 12 and 13 inch pearl forum mounted toms and would love to get advice on muffling and drum heads. I've tried dead ringers and cutting out a donut from an old head. I haven't exactly experimented greatly on my drums at all. I've also tried taping gauze in one corner of the drum head (it does work a little, but its not my kind of sound. I know you should have a little ring in the drum but you'd hate it if you heard my rings. Currently I have Evans g2 coated heads on and I absolutely hate the sound. I don't know maybe I should take them to a music store and see what they can do with them. Thanks much for any help.......

NoirDeath · Little Hamster Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 75

try changing your heads to Remo Pinstripes.....or for even more control.....use coated pinstripes. if you dont wanna go THAT thick.....and still want control but with a dryer sound (pinstripes are deep and wet sounding), go with Remo coated emperors. they are thick, but still resonate and give you a jazzy tone.

MilkmanZ14 · Pit Bull Joined: 14 Aug 2002 Posts: 352

in my practice room, i use pinstripes with the remO's rings and a moongel on top and one on bottom. This gives me the sound in the room, but when im on stage or on a different sounding room, i can just add on or take off what i do/don't need
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Human_Jeans · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 8:15 pm Post subject:

I switched to Evans Hydraulics to lower the pitch of my toms and to reduce the overtones and decay time. The black heads look really cool, too! (I can't believe anyone would buy the blue ones!!!!). A couple of other thoughts:

1. I seem to get more overtones if the batter and resonant heads are tuned differently.

2. Whatever drumhead I use, there will be a couple of pitches at which the overtones will be loud, and decay slowly, and a couple of other nodes at which the overtones will choke each other and cancel out (and the drum will sound quite dead).

3. You really need to work on one drum by itself --take the tom you use most frequently (probably the 12") off the kit and take it to a small room -- to find the right sound, then remount it and work on the intervals for the rest of the toms.

4. If all else fails (or if you simply don't want to spring for new heads until the current set wears out), attach a paper dinner napkin flat against the bottom of the batter heads with duct tape. The overtones will be be history. Smile

It can be frustrating, that's for sure! But the sound you want is in there. If you've got good bearing edges and a variety of head types to switch in and out (plus some duct tape), you can make ANY drum sound like it belongs in Steve Gadd's kit. Razz

drum_solo · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 7:20 pm Post subject: Re: Drum Muffling...

Remo Pins work for me bro !
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mfran · Fierce Puppy Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Posts: 230 Location: CT

Hit the drum, but then put your finger on the resonant head... I guarantee, that is causing much of that resonance. A piece of moongel inside the drum, on the BOTTOM head, near the edge helps a lot too for controlling overring. I do this on my floor tom, even if there is a remo pinstripe or aquarian studio x on it---there is just so much ring from that drum!

I've also heard you can use a few cotton balls inside the drum or a used dryer sheet. This way, when you hit the drum, the stuff inside comes up off the resonant head for a half-second with the impact, but then quietly drops down again to muffle the bottom head. I never tried this, but darn it, I love the idea, and may go for it one day.
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