Drum Care And Tuning

Joshua Westbrook | home

Drum Care And Tuning

When you take your new drumset home from the store, unpack it, and set it up, those drum's sound awesome. But after you've been playing them for a while--especially if you've been using them on gig's--those wonderful new drum's start to sound a little... well, a little less new.

The longer you have your drum's, the more you have to take care of them. You need to clean them, repair things that break, change head's from time to time, and do whatever else is necessary to keep them in tune. This is standard operating procedure for any drummer, and this page shows you what you have to do to keep your not-quite-new drums sounding brand new.

Time for a Cleaning:

Keeping Your Set in Tip-Top Condition Basic drum care is really as simple as keeping your drum's, cymbal's, and stand's clean and in good working condition. (The latter also involves replacing worn-out drum heads.) If you make a habit out of cleaning your set regularly, it won't be much of a bother--and it will save you a lot of grief later.

I recommend doing basic cleaning once a week--just pick a day and time, and spend a half- hour or so doing the basic tasks. More intense cleaning doesn't have to be done quite as often; once a month is fine for the "strip 'em and clean 'em" routine.

Cleaning Your Drums

Cleaning your tom's, bass drum, and snare drum should be a regular affair--just like dusting your house. (You do dust your house, don't you?) Take a clean, soft cloth--as soft as you can find--and carefully rub down all your shell's, lug's, and rim's. Try to wipe out any accumulated dust from that little area where the head meets the rim; use a small brush to clean out the crack, if necessary.

If your kit has a lacquer finish, you can use a high-quality, non-abrasive, non-wax furniture polish to put a little shine on the shell's. I use a product called Glas, and Groove Juice. You don't want to do the furniture polish on non-wood shell's, or on shell's with a plastic wrap finish, though. If you have a wrapped covering, you can use Windex to polish up the shell's--but make sure you don't leave any streak's.

For a more thorough cleaning, you'll want to disassemble each of your drum's. This means not only removing the head's, but also removing the lug's and any other mounted hardware. When you're down to the naked shell's, go through your normal cleaning routine--only now you can work on any gunk that was wedged around or behind the lug's.

While you have your drum's disassembled, take the opportunity to clean up your lug's and other hardware. Use a high-quality chrome-cleaning compound--like that found in most automotive supply store's--to put a shine on all your chrome part's.

If you use a chrome cleaner on your set, make sure to follow the direction's on the label. Do not use a chrome cleaner while the hardware is still attached to the drum--the chrome cleaner can actually damage your wood shells! Drum Tip If you find your drum's squeaking or rattling, you can probably fix the problem by "packing" your lugs. Remove your lugs from your drum's, and then stuff the inside of the lug's with either pipe insulation or plain cotton balls. When you put your lug's back on your drum's, you'll find that all the noise is gone! (Note that some high-end drum manufacturer's, such as Drum Workshop, pack their lugs at the factory as a matter of course.)

Cleaning Your Cymbal's

Basic cymbal cleaning is a lot like basic drum cleaning. Just use a soft, clean cloth to wipe down your cymbal's once a week, or whenever you're tearing down from a gig.

You should also perform a more strenuous cleaning and polishing on a less-frequent basis. Once a month or so, you should head over to your local drum shop and buy a bottle of Brite Stuff or one of the many other cymbal cleaner's. (If you polish your cymbal's less frequently, you may need to use Comet or some other commercial cleanser to scrape through the built-up gunk--although you should know that some manufacturer's warn against these harsher cleanser's, as they may be so abrasive as to actually damage the cymbal itself .)

Drum Don't If your cymbal's have a "brilliant" finish, make sure that you pick a cymbal cleaner specially formulated for this type of cymbal. Using a regular cleaner on a brilliant finish can damage the finish.

Before you polish a cymbal, spread out some old newspapers or towels, that so you don't get old cymbal gunk on your clean carpet or wood floor. (Trust me on this one; I still have "cymbal spots" in my mom's basement carpet.) Now apply the cymbal cleaner per the label's instructions, and use a soft, clean cloth--and a lot of elbow grease--to wipe off the cleaner and apply a nice shine. Heed the direction's to clean only a small area at a time; if you tackle too large an area, the cleaner may dry on the cymbal before you get a chance to wipe it off.

Once you've finished a cymbal, grab a clean cloth and go over the cymbal one more time. Use a lot of pressure to get rid of any remaining residue, and you'll end up with one shiny, great-looking cymbal.

Drum Note Clean cymbal's sound different from dirty cymbal's. All the stick residue that builds up on a cymbal actually affects the cymbal's tone--and, to a lesser degree, its sustain. Some drummer's like the bright, shimmery sound of a clean cymbal; other's like the darker, slightly trashy sound of a dirty old cymbal. If you're one of those that likes all the overtone's that build up as you use a cymbal--kind of like the way the flavor's build up in an old cooking pot over time--then you don't need to worry about polishing your cymbal's; a quick wipe with a soft cloth is the right method for you.

Cymbal's really benefit from preventive maintenance and careful handling. You should always wipe down your cymbal's before you pack them up, --and make sure that the cymbal's don't rub against each other in transit by inserting a towel or plastic bag in between the cymbal's. If you do a lot of packing and unpacking, you should invest in a good quality cymbal case, as well. When you're setting up your kit, make sure that you have the cymbal's mounted properly. Always check the cymbal sleeve's, felts, and washer's to make sure they're in good condition and not too worn away from use. (If the felt's or sleeve's are worn, the cymbal mayke rub up against the bare metal of the stand, and slowly carve a new groove inside the hole of the cymbal, called a Key Hole.)

When you set up and tear down, always handle your cymbal's by the edge. This keep's you from getting oil from your hand's in the groove's up the cymbal. (You can always wear glove's during set up/tear down, although this might be a tad excessive.)

Cleaning Your Stand's and Pedal's

You clean your stand's and pedal's the same way you clean the hardware attached to your drum shell's. For casual cleaning, wipe them down with a soft, clean cloth. For more serious cleaning, use a commercial chrome cleaner--and disassemble each stand before you start. You can also apply a thin coat of Vaseline to the surface of your stand's, let it sit for a day or two, and then buff it off; this will help prevent pitting and rusting.

Your bass drum and hi-hat pedal's need a little extra preventive maintenance. All moving parts should be periodically oiled, per the manufacturers' instruction's, to keep things properly lubricated. Make sure that you wipe off excess oil when you're done, to keep the oil from getting on your drum's or head's.

Drum Tuning Explained, by Professor Joshua!

This is my reference for complete and total drum tuning, anything and everything you need to know, if you are a drummer, or just love drum's is in here!

Truth's of Drum's

1. The interval between drum's is more important than many realize and size is the key to get even resonance and the incremental notes between drum's. Diameter has a greater impact on tuning that does depth.

2. The tiniest of movement's on the tuning lug "can" make huge difference's and raise pitch drastically, more so with a rigid hoop, such as cast. Moreover, tweak's of the lug's on the resonant side are more prone to raising pitch than are one's on the batter side.

3. A sound or tuning, which work's for a small venue will not work as well for a large venue. You have to consider what component of your sound will carry through to the audience. For example head selection for microphone's will likely be different than without. A highly resonant kit may be your sound tech's worst nightmare. While the drummer can be inspired by this tone, a large venue or recording may result in a very muddy sound due to the overtone's and lingering decay of the drum mixed with all the other instrument's or acoustic's. In large venue's under close micing technique's, its typical for drummer's to use 2-ply head's because the sound is more muffled or controlled. You get a shorter burst of energy, which by virtue of the hall or venue, reverberate's or becomes delayed to the audience. Much the same as large venue's require a more selective or simplistic placement of note's and fill's because the audience does not hear the detail.

4. Get to know the utilization of microphone's well if you're going to use them, even slight alteration's in placement make a huge difference. For example, placing a mic near the outside edge of a drum can bring out the high-pitched overtone's. But move it in just a half inch and those diminish dramatically.

5. All drum's sound different at 0, 15, 50, 150 foot or differing distance's. So what sound's good to the drummer while playing may be terrible to the audience, in whatever forms the audience take's. It's important to go out and listen to what your kit sound's like while the other instrument's are playing. Move around and make head selection's and tuning's accordingly. A higher pitch enable's the drum to carry more, lower pitche's less so.

6. The sound heard from a CD at home is not what a drum really sound's like but on few occasion's. What you hear is usually an altered version recorded according to what the producer and the artist want's it to sound like through alteration's and to fit the recording at hand. Sometime's you just cannot duplicate your drum god's sound without the electronics.

7. This tuning method works for ALL DRUM'S.

8. Less expensive does not mean inferior, in some case's, it may be far superior to achieve the desired end-result. For example a birch shell or beech shell with flanged hoops, while less expensive than a maple shell with cast hoop's, may provide the feel and penetrating sound you need on a snare drum.

9. The air hole or vent in the shell is to allow the shell to breath when two head's are used and atmospheric changes occur, thereby helping to eliminate moisture build-up. This is a typical problem moving from cold to hot environment's much the same as glass window's can sweat in your house. The vent's have little effect on tone. 10. Yes, you should stretch head's (within reason) on all drum's; it's called "seating" and is the most important and often most overlooked step in getting quality sound and consistency out of a drum.

Fundamental's of Tuning

1. The batter head control's attack and ring while the resonant head produces "resonance" and aids in sustain, it has a major effect in the overtone's and enhance's the timbre of the drum. While the drummer focuses on the sound coming from the batter side, an audience hears something completely different and many time's, something inferior to what the drummer hear's. If using microphone's, this problem is lessened to some extent because the microphone is usually placed on the top. But without mic's, the audience hears a reflection of what the resonant head produce's, more so if you are sitting above the audience, such as on stage.

2. When the drum is hit, the ear hear's mostly the attack and the fundamental pitch of the drum, overtone's are washed out at a distance. Overtone's are also an essential component to making the drum sound carry through other instrument's and to the audience. The drummer should focus on the sound they create, as the audience would hear it rather than how they hear it in an otherwise quiet and stale environment. High-pitched overtone's are essential to making a dull drum come to life in the audience.

3. A drum placed upon a soft surface, such as carpet, and tapped very lightly allows you to hear the point of clarity in a drum and isolate the overtone's and point of resonance.

4. The most inherent sound created from any given head will be heard by placing a head of identical specification's on the resonance side. This is due to the ability for polymers of equal thickness (specification) to vibrate reasonably equal to each other, thus eliminating phase cancellation's, which can cause a tight head to sound dead or lifeless.

5. As you tune the drum with one side either higher or lower, you go through "zone's" producing one of either clear pitch, phase cancellation, no sound or a Doppler effect. "Doppler" is where the drum when hit, descends in pitch from the point of initial attack to a lower pitch. This also becomes more pronounced when the head is of a different specification (weight/thickness) and the batter head is higher/lower in pitch than the bottom head.

6. If the drum is tuned wrong or "seated" incorrectly the first time a head is mounted, you will likely ruin the head beyond it's use or it will never sound it's best. Seating wrong does not always mean uneven tuning, such as one side tighter than the other. It can also mean the utilization of bent or distorted hoop's and/or poor bearing edge's. Even though the drum has been equally tensioned, inferior hardware and shell's problem's cause unequal stretch of the head polymer and/or force the head out of round.

7. Generally, you do not use anything other than single ply on the resonant side, but there are exception's.

8. Coated head's are considered "warm" or "mellow" sounding meaning generally void of the real bright overtone associated with the "clear" version of equal brand and specification. Clear head's are considered "bright" or "clear" sounding meaning they bring out as much of the high-pitched tone's of the stick attack and resonance of the drum. In between these two coated and clear head's in tone quality is the "ebony" series' of heads and is often described as being a "thicker" or "darker" sound than that of a clear head of equal specification. Ebony colored head's, while usually chosen due to aesthetics, has the virtue of being both warm in the overtone area, yet bright in the stick attack. Coated is probably required if doing brushwork.

9. Even if you know how to tune, you may not be able to achieve the pitch and/or resonance desired due to drum sizing and shell weight. Any given shell has a fundamental pitch and timbre associated with it and you cannot change that without major alteration's. Head selection can only make the most of the natural character in the drum. Your job when tuning, is to find that "fundamental" shell pitch and enhance or detract all the inherent sound's of that particular drum, it's character.

10. Timbre and note/pitch are not the same. Timbre refers to the overall character of the drum vs. the fundamental note, which is the point at which the drum is likely to be most "open" or "resonant" in tone quality. Know that pitch can be raised or lowered in reference to say a note on the piano, but the shell resonance doesn't really change. So a 12" drum of a given material and depth may produce a note of G up to say a D-sharp ("pitch"), but it may really stand out around an A-flat ("fundamental" note of shell). The fact that one drum is "brighter" vs. "warm" is the Timbre.

11. Most Important step in tuning is seating the head. When the head is first mounted, the objective is to get the head to seat itself in the hoop and form that all-important bond between the bearing edge of the drum and the head itself; this is called seating the head (explained in great detail below). If the head is pulled tighter on side or is forced out of round, it is no longer centered and will not vibrate correctly, meaning evenly in tune at all point's around the shell ("in-tune with itself").

12. Bearing edge's are hidden from view, little understood by most drummer's and are, without a doubt, the single most important aspect of the ability (or lack thereof) for the drum to produce a clear, resonant tone. Even cheaper drum's can produce acceptable tone, provided the bearing edge is true, flat and properly formed. The most expensive, high-tech set available will produce poor tone is a bearing edge has been damaged or poorly tooled.

Construction Guideline's, All Drum's

To pick the right head to achieve desired sound, you should consider the inherent character of your drum. All of what I consider the important aspect's of construction is covered in greater detail as you read through this. Here are some simple rule's to know:

1. The rougher the interior, the less resonant the drum. Just like putting carpet on a wall, rough interior's break-up and absorb reflection's.

2. Thinner shell's are more resonant. Because there is less mass, they are easier to excite, much the same as bending thin wood is easier than thick lumber.

3. Sharp bearing edge's means more overtone and resonance.

4. If the drum is void of obstruction's inside, that is, no reinforcing hoop adhered to the inside; the drum will be more open and vibrate more freely. Conversely, if the drum has reinforcing hoop's inside, it will have a shorter decay/sustain and a more mid-ranged presence or attack than unobstructed shell's. The reinforcing or counter-hoop stifles the ability for the drum to resonate, thus decreasing the low-end along with the very high-end response to a small degree. Therefore, the unobstructed shell is usually brighter or with more high frequencies, while the thin unobstructed shell increases low-end resonance as well.

5. A "better" sound is what you want the drum to sound like and despite the marketing propaganda; less expensive does not mean an inferior sound. Low cost drum's are usually a "punchy" type sound due to wood grade's used. If recording, this may be exactly what you want in a drum.

6. Mainstream Material, Wood Sound Explained: First, these are general guideline's, which are greatly enhanced by the thickness of the wood used. So if you apply the rules given above, and some common sense, the following will hold true or aid in choosing a drum. Maple compared to African Mahogany: Mahogany will have an approximate 20% increase in low frequency resonance over the Maple drum, mid and high frequencies will be the same from a reproduction point of view. Maple compared to Birch: Birch will have about a 10% loss in reproduction of low end compared to Maple and about a 20% increase in the high end, with the mid range remaining about the same. So the Birch kit will definitely be a "harder" and "brighter" sounding kit. Beech is in between Maple and Birch. All other Maple colored wood's used in laminated shell's are basically there for either structural integrity or look's and do not have the desired qualities (meaning density and grain structure) of the above. Mahogany has earned an undeserved bad reputation due to the use of inferior grade's such as Luann on low cost drums for appearance reason's.

For many reason's, this is a very misunderstood area of the drum. The bearing edge is the part of the drum that the head should be in contact with at all times and is the essential element to gaining resonance, or the lack thereof. The problem is, they are hidden from view most of the time. If you are using a "vintage" set of drum's, or any set of drum's for that matter, first take into account the era or how they were manufactured and realize that the set was designed to produce a sound that reflects the designer or that, which may have been popular with the time's. Anyone can very quickly determine whether his or her set will be able to be tuned to a point where it can be very resonant, excluding the abilities of the tuner and head used. If upon further investigation you determine that your set has been constructed so that a built-in problem or construction technique exists, rethink your desire to put new head's on your drum's in hopes it will sound like something in your head because it simply may not be able to be achieved by changing head's, in other cases certainly changing head's may work. By simply removing the drumhead on any given drum, the answer will be visually right there, staring you in the face. Many older set's were manufactured with a bearing edge that has anywhere between a 35 to 60 degree chamfer cut on the interior side of the shell. On the outer side of the shell, in many case's the bearing edge is rounded over on the outside and crown area as opposed to that of the newer manufacturing technique's. Now add a bent or deformed hoop to this and I don't care what head you pick, it will always have a "thud" element to the sound. The closer you move to flatter bearing edge or a bearing edge of 35 degrees on the outside or inside, or rounded as the case may be, the drum will exhibit more of the "thud/cardboard" sound. With newer drum's, which usually are a 45 with a very small radius of less than 1/16 of an inch (some kick's very as do snare's), resonance is easy to achieve and the head selection's I have given will hold true. It is the designer's tool to get the drum to produce it's signature sound. The key is not the shape of the cut as much as it is what interacts with the head under tension. It's that fine line of an area right after the head break's towards the inside of the shell and what remains in contact or can contact the head underneath and interfere with the tone around the circumference. If you take your finger and lay it lightly on the surface it has an impact on muffling the sound. If the bearing edge has a contact patch of say .03125" or 1/32nd of an inch, the contact area on a 12" drum head is 1.17 square inches, or the same thing as taking the tip of your first index finger to the first joint and laying it on the drumhead. Now if you double that to what seems to be an insignificant 1/16" (twice my 1/32nd example) can imagine how little a' change in the contact of the bearing edge surface has on the impact of the sound. In our example, it would be like laying two finger's on the drum. These kinds of differences can make big change's in the tone of the head. So again, its not so much the angle or being double cut (although this can determine where the bearing edge fall's on the head), it's what contact's the surface at tension and the treatment of the crown of the edge. A 35-degree cut allows greater contact thus a drier sound vs. a 45, which can be a more resonant sound. Many snare's purposefully use a 35-degree cut. Sharper or steep is not always better; it depends upon what you want. Then you have the limitation's of what the wood and how it will tool to consider, which ply it falls on, etc. I leave any tooling of a bearing edge up to a professional because it's easy to get flat spot's or inconsistent angle's without proper tool's or fixture's. So my advice is that before you spend, spend, spend on new head's, take 10 minute's and really observe what you have in the bearing edge department. It will not be enough to see 2-45's degree angle's on the drum. They must be even, very even. The drum must be round, very round. They must be consistent in that the profile is the same all around. For example, a round over of 1/16 in one area and a round over of 1/8th in another is a sure sign of trouble. If one of the chamfer cut's look's wavy, the round over will not be consistent nor will it be truly round. The drum must also sit flat on a hard surface. Lay black paper on a flat hard surface and shine a light from the inside to check. If everything is consistent, this is the mark of a good candidate to get tone from the shell. If not, before you spend money on head's, consider spending the to per drum to have the edge's re-cut. It's money well worth it.

Shell Depth versus Diameter

The shell depth while having an impact on the warmth or resonance of the drum has a greater impact on volume and articulation. The diameter has a far greater impact on creating lower pitch. Greater depth increases volume or power by having an impact on resonance of the fundamental note of the shell. A shallower shell creates a shorter burst of tone and makes a drum more articulate by virtue of the fact that the quantity of surface area of the parent material (i.e. the shell) is lessened and therefore cannot resonate as much as large surface area. Less distance between head's means the opposite head (i.e. Resonant head) reacts quicker, or gets excited faster when striking the batter head, it responds better to softer playing. For instance, a 22" diameter kick drum of 16" in depth has a shell area of approximately 1,106 square inches. A 22" diameter kick drum of 18" in depth has a shell area of approximately 1,244 square inches, or a 12.5% increase in area to resonate. Take that same thought to a 10" tom with a 9" depth. This results in a shell area of approximately 282 square inches versus one with an 11" depth, which results in a shell area of 346 sq. in. That 2" increase in depth is now a 22% gain. The deeper the shell, the more likely they are to produce a deeper or warmer sound because of resonance ability, but this should not be confused with a low tuning. As for diameter, you have to think about your approach to tuning and overall sound desired.

1. Die Cast Hoop's: Thicker and stronger than triple flanged stamped hoop's with an ability to allow more even tuning of the head and as a result, the head is usually more responsive throughout the tuning range with less varied overtone's. As such, may create a slightly drier sound on thin shell, small sized drum's due the weight of the rim causing the drum to vibrate less freely. They can also be made out of differing material's such as nickel or aluminum and all aid in changing the sound of the drum.

2. Triple Flanged or "stamped" hoop's come in a variety of metals, which affect the tone of the drum. The thinner they are the more difficult they'll be to tune with. Many drummer's prefer these on toms because of the ability to tune "fatter" or "warmer" than with cast. Aluminum make's for a higher pitched tone than does steel and as a result is used on snare's quite a bit for a great "crack". Brass make's the drum more musical and aids in the presence or high-pitched overtone's.

3. Wood Hoop's have the virtue of being either rigid or flexible, depending upon the manufacturer's thickness of the hoop. As a result, they can take on the tuning characteristics of a cast hoop if rigid or flanged hoops if thin in construction. However, the rim shot sound is considerably different and act's like an extension of the shell so the drum is usually both more resonant and brighter.

4. Less lug's means fatter tuning and more complex overtone's. The longer the interval between lug's the less likely you are to get the head tuned evenly between lug's.

5. A hoop of "rigid" nature result's in a head, which can be tuned more evenly between lugs's and will accentuate the imperfection in your drum if out of round or bad bearing edge's. Sometime's, this causes a drier or more muffled sound as a result of inferior bearing edge's.

Drum Gauge's/Dial's as opposed to keys

These are essentially tension or torque measuring device's that do have their place in the scheme of thing's. But the best gauge on the market comes packaged on each side of your head, which are your ear's (god forbid your missing one). Some of the best drum's on the market are being intentionally manufactured with lugs that cause resistance. The resistance induced by the lug itself can fool a gauge that measures torque. Further, device's that measure tension can and are fooled by thicker versus thinner head's. Especially when you consider the film used is not always exact in thickness from edge to edge, due to manufacturing issue's. And, finally, if you've spent much time tuning by ear, you know that it's not uncommon to have a few lug's feel loose compared to other's, it's the pitch at each lug, NOT THE TENSION OR TORQUE that count's. So where do the gauges's fit in? Gauge's can cut several minute's to hour's off of tuning time, and here's how. The seating of the head cannot be effectively accomplished by the use of a gauge; it must be done manually, and then detuned. At this point you should find the tuning of the desired drum without a gauge and use your ear's. Place the gauge on the drum and record the setting's created at tension and pitch. When replacing head's, you can seat by had, detune, place the gauge of your choice on the drum and very quickly get the drum reasonably in tune. Tweak by hand and even the head out to itself so that pitch is the same lug to lug. Know that anytime you change brand of head, drum, thickness of head, or the manufacturer change's it's manufacturing technique, you should start over by hand and record the setting's. And remember, the bigger the venue, play less and tune higher, so you might have several gauge setting's.

When to Replace Drumhead's

There are several indicator's that determine when a drumhead should be replaced. Now keep in mind, I'm talking a "purist" and "practical" point of view here. Outside of the obvious, when there's a hole in the head, most head's will always produce a sound. The question is, what sound? So in some case's, you'll have to be the judge of when, enough-is-enough. But here are some simple guideline's:

1. When the coating begins to wear off. If you have used the head to the point the coating wear's, it's very likely that you are tuning to a very high-pitch, are a very heavy hitter or the head has just been on the drum a long time. As a result, point 2 (below) now come's into play.

2. When the head is removed from the drum, it exhibit's a dished-out or dented appearance. This is the indicator that the head has been stretched beyond it's limit's, tuned to the point where not much elasticity is left, or it's just been abused. Without a doubt, it's time to replace that head.

3. When attempting a low-pitched tuning (assuming you have properly seated the head's) the drum will not give the desired pitch due to a distorted sound or buzz. This is an indicator that the head has begun to stretch and as such, is no longer capable of remaining in constant contact with the shell. On 2-ply head's, this can occur sooner due to the upper ply stretching at a different rate than the bottom ply. The head may not be completely spent, but you may have to use a higher tuning from this point forward or as an alternative, you might try reseating the head while using the hair dryer as explained in the procedure's.

4. When you have changed venue's such as now playing either a smaller, larger, less or more reverberant venue. A sound or tuning, which work's for a small venue will not work as well for a large venue. You have to consider what component of your sound will carry through to the audience. For example head selection for microphone's will likely be different than without. A highly resonant kit may be your sound tech's worst nightmare. While the drummer can be inspired by this tone, a large venue or recording may result in a very muddy sound due to the overtone's and lingering decay of the drum mixed with all the other instrument's or acoustic's. In large venue's under close micing technique's, its typical for drummer's to use 2-ply head's because the sound is more muffled or controlled. You get a shorter burst of energy, which by virtue of the hall or venue, reverberate's or becomes delayed to the audience. Much the same as large venue's require a more selective or simplistic placement of note's and fill's because the audience does not hear the detail. 5. When you just want to experiment.

Tuning and Seating the Head's, All Drum's

This tuning procedure works on all drum's, tom's, snare and kick. Below, after this Tuning and Seating the Heads section, are specifics related to each drum. That is, a section for tom's, kick and snare that gives specifics about the tuning trick's and head selection. To get to know how this procedure works's, I recommend you typically start with a 12" drum. Do not get learning how to tune confused with the tuning of the set. When tuning a whole set, you may want to begin differently and that is covered below under "Tuning Sequence's, Suggested", but first you need to understand how to get the most out of your drum. That is the focus.

Learning How, Resonant Side Tuning - The beginning

Assuming you have inspected your bearing edges as described under of all thing's the section entitled "Bearing Edges", you can begin as follows:

1. Pick the head's you wish to use from the section related to Tom's, Kick or Snare Drum.

2. Read that section completely, then return to this section and apply any specific's you wish from the respective Tom, Kick or Snare Drum section.

3. Remove both old head's completely, it's important for this procedure to work. Once you know the relative tuning capability of the drum, you will not always have to remove both heads. Remember, the objective is to find the true capability and tuning range of each drum.

4. With head's off, thump on the shell with your hand or butt end of a stick and trace down any abnormal vibrations. If the lug's buzz, you can remove them and see if stuffing cotton (backed by some felt if the spring or lug thread's are exposed) into the lug retainer will help stop the buzz. You can also look at putting some thin sheet rubber or felt and placing it between the lug casing and the shell.

5. Set the drum on a carpeted surface, batter side down and either put the bottom head on or proceed as follows.

6. It's important to tighten all rod's just to the point where contact is made with the washer or rim. If your lug's move freely, you can use your finger's here or in the case where the lug is manufactured where there is resistance in the turning of the lug beyond a few turns, you'll have to use a key. In any event, once contact is made with the washer/rim, back-off 1/4 turns.

7. Next, take two key's 180 degrees apart and tighten in half turn increments together until you've put 3 complete turn's on all rod's of the drum. We are now "Seating" the head, the musical note is not important.

8. Lift the drum up a few inches and hit the head once and see if it is a distortion free sound. If not give each lug another 1/2 turn and repeat until the drum is distortion free. Do not be afraid to really tighten the head above a normal playing pitch, it is essential that the head produce a clear undistorted tone before proceeding.

9. Next, with the drum back down on the carpet, tap with the drum key, lightly, about 1 to 1-1/2" from the edge, in the same place at each lug. LISTEN to the resonance of the tap and even out the lugs so the head will be "in tune with itself", the order is not very important here. DO NOT EVER TUNE DOWN TO A NOTE, TUNE UP. By this I mean, if a lug is too high detune below what you are trying to achieve and then bring it back up to pitch.

10. If your head's are not made by Remo, go to the next step. If you are using glued head's such as the Remo head's, remember the current pitch the head is currently at. Now push down with light force directly in the center of the head to crack the glue joint. You aren't trying to push the head through the drum, so ease up. We're talking about maybe a quarter inch depression here. Then tune back up to that pitch you so willingly remembered and even out the head so it's in tune with itself again.

11. Next, either let the drum sit 12 hours or take a hair dryer and warm (not real hot) the perimeter of the skin. Go around 2 to 3 revolution's with the dryer on high with the dryer about 2-3" off the surface. It should take maybe 8 second's to go around a 12" drum one time with an average hair dryer. This set's the skin/hoop/collar and finishes the "seating" process. Note this make's a difference, especially on 2-ply or thicker head's, try one with and one without and I think you will agree.

12. Once set and cool, with the drum still on the floor, loosen as you tightened with 2 key's in quarter turn increment's just to the point of no resonance.

13. Place the drum up in/on it's stand or hold by the rim. Begin tightening evenly and successively on each lug in quarter turn increment's. Go around once, even out by tapping and then strike once in the center. Don't be afraid to use 1/8 or 1/16 turns either. We're looking for the point where you tune just until you get a low and clear tone. STOP AT THIS POINT. For the head you selected, this is the lowest pitch this drum will ever go. If you haven't got a clear tone, go back to step 5 and tighten it up higher and reseat the head. If you've gone around several times and the head is moving up in pitch but the tone is distorted, something is wrong. Either it's a bad head, bearing edge's or the head didn't seat. I'd leave the head under tension for 24 hour's and try again. I have found that the problem will go away many time's overnight, I don't know why. If you can't wait, try another head or try taking the pitch way up and use the heat again before you tune it back down. In any event, if you achieved to lowest clear note, STOP! I suggest you not tune any higher than this lowest note at this time.

Batter Side Tuning

Assuming you have inspected your bearing edge's as described under of all thing's the section entitled "Bearing Edges", you can begin as follows:

1. Pick the head's you wish to use from the section for the Tom's, Kick or Snare Drum.

2. Read that section completely, then return to this section and apply any specific's you wish from the respective Tom, Kick or Snare Drum section. Remove the drum from its stand and set it (now the resonant head) down against a carpet to void the drum of the newly installed resonant head from what else, resonating.

3. Seat the Head: Install the top head in the same fashion as you did the resonant head and seat the head. Remember to push on glued head's.

4. Detuning procedure: Loosen as you tightened with 2 keys just to the point of no resonance.

5. Set the drum on a carpeted surface, batter side down and either put the bottom head on or proceed as follows.

6. Hold the drum by the rim and hit it, ideally, it should sound the same once back on the holder. If it doesn't, try extending the position of the tom out a little more on the holder. If this doesn't help, you might be a good candidate for something like the aftermarket R.I.M.M.'s mounting system if it sounded better by holding in your hand.

It's time to proceed up through the tuning zone's to get the most out of the drum. Focusing on the batter or top head, proceed and tune, never go in larger increment's than 1/4 turn on the way up, 1/8 turn per lug preferred. Always stop and hit between a full round of lug tightening and make sure the head's in tune with itself. You will go through phase's where the drum sound's good then sound's bad for a couple of turn's and then suddenly the sound open's up again. You can usually do this for 2 zone's and then the top head will go dead and have a high overtone/ring. While pitch may continue to change, the drum continues to have no real life to it. At this point you've gone too far with the top head, back off 1/4 to 1/2 turn (again make sure you tune up to the pitch not down). 1. If you want a pitch higher than this "high" pitch you achieved, go to the bottom head and tighten each lug 1/8 to 1/4 turn each lug. After this you can increase the pitch of the top head again for another 1-2 steps. When tuning in this manner, you'll experience the "Doppler" effect at certain phases in the tuning meaning the drum when struck will have a descending pitch. This tells the drummer/tuner that the effective pitch for that drum has yet to be achieved, but some like this sound and stop here. As you move up out of that phase of the zone, you'll reach a point where the drum evens out, the Doppler is gone and the drum becomes open and even in sound. This is the point where both head's are or are close to being identical in pitch. 2. Beyond this point, the drum will go dead again and you have to repeat with the 1/16, 1/8 or 1/4 turns on the bottom or resonant head to effectively raise the pitch of the drum and move up again to another zone and repeat the procedure.

Result's What They Mean

1. Somewhere in the tuning there is a point where each drum will sound most resonant when everything is related. At this point, that's the fundamental frequency of the shell, the sweet spot. Each drum will have one of these. If two different sized drum's are close in this fundamental pitch, you'll likely better understand the importance of the increment sizing from one drum to another. You'll likely have to compromise and change the tuning of both drums +/- in pitch as a result to make them the same in character.

2. Learn to tune to intentionally make the most resonant drum less resonant thereby eliminating muffling device's such as "moon gel". That is, detune or raise pitch slightly on both head's. For example you might lower the batter and raise the resonant (or vice versa) by equal amount's causing a phase shift and the drum may go either deader or more open depending upon where you are in the zone. People often refer to this procedure as "loosen one lug". Although I find it is better to move all the lug's by a certain amount. This way you don't run the risk of destroying the head.

3. Taking the resonant head and tuning to the lowest note, and then detuning a slight amount (1/16 to 1/8 of a turn) creates a "fat, loose or dark" drum sound. The batter head is then used to alter the pitch. Note that the pitch for a "fat" tuning can be somewhat limited.

4. For more "punch or attack", the resonant head is raised in pitch by a small degree (1-3 note's) over the pitch the batter head is at.

5. To create an "open, resonant" sound, both head's should be of equal pitch. Use of a clear head will result in a more "open" tone.

Tom's, Drumhead's - Batter Side

I have, for simplicity, categorized the drumhead's into 5 different categories. Certainly within each category there are difference's in the timbre of the head used. Most are subtle to very subtle tonal differences within each category, and usually can be used interchangeably. For example, a Remo Ambassador coated will sound very similar to an Evan's G1 or Aquarian Satin Texture coated. However, there are differences in the wear factor of the coating's. It is widely accepted that the coating on the Aquarian head's does last longer than those of the other's, but keep an open mind because manufacturer's are improving their lines all the time. Coated head's are considered "warm" or "mellow" sounding meaning generally void of the real bright overtone associated with the "clear" version of equal brand and specification. Clear head's are considered "bright" or "clear" sounding meaning they bring out as much of the high-pitched tone's of the stick attack and resonance of the drum. In between these two coated and clear head's in tone quality is the "ebony" series of head's and is often described as being a "thicker" or "darker" sound than that of a clear head of equal specification. Ebony colored head's, while usually chosen due to aesthetics, has the virtue of being both warm in the overtone area, yet bright in the stick attack. Coated is probably required if doing brushwork. Hazy head's are generally both "bright" and have a stronger "midrange presence" to the sound. In all cases thicker head's will be mellower and more sensitive than that of the exact same thinner counterpart. For example, a Remo Diplomat Clear will be brighter and more sensitive than a Remo Ambassador Clear, the Ambassador being thicker than the Diplomat and both being single ply.

Single ply, unmuffled medium weight such as Remo Ambassador, Renaissance and FiberSkyn FA, Aquarian Satin Texture Coated, Classic Clear and the Evans G1 series, to name a few.

Single ply muffled or Heavy Weight such as the Remo Emperor, PowerStroke, FiberSkyn F1 and the Aquarian Studio-X series. The sound here goes more mellow compared to single ply with overtone's becoming less prevalent on the initial attack and less or minimal sustain.

This category is sort of a mixed bag, which I was tempted to separate. But everyone has his or her idea of what "muffled" mean's, and these are all muffled to some degree. Two-ply muffled or wear resistant head's like Remo Pinstripe, Aquarian Response or Performance II or Double Thins and the classic Evans G2, or anything with a "Power dot" on it, these produce a very short initial attack coupled with a very short sustain. Characteristic's can be quite different in this category due to the application of control ring's or the lack thereof around the outer circumference. For example a Remo "CS" or Controlled Sound head can have a thick sounding attack and be wear resistant, but still contain high-pitched overtone's due to the applied dot but no other control ring's. Whereas an Aquarian Signature series' Carmine Appice Tom Tom and Bass Drumhead's feature an extremely thin Power Dot on top and a Studio-X muffling ring underneath, which have both a thick sound and stifle high-pitched overtone's. Both are suitable for heavy hitter's who need wear resistance but the resulting sound is quite different. Another example would be the Aquarian line. In order of most resonant to least would be the Double Thins, Response 2 followed by the Performance II's, all are muffled, all can be had with a wear dot. The difference in weight alters the muffling characteristic's.

Heavily muffled with an oil barrier such as the Evans hydraulic. These head's are the most inherently "boxy" or "dull" of any. Almost void of much inherent sustain on their own. However, with higher tuning, can exhibit some form of sustain and resonance, depending upon the type of bearing edge you may have on the drum.

Single ply, unmuffled and thin in weight. The Remo Diplomat pretty much locks up this category for tom batter head's. These are usually only suitable for a light touch or Jazz type situation where feel and sensitivity are of the utmost importance.

Tom's, Drumhead's - Resonant Side

Note, you can obviously use any head but it is usually preferred to use a single ply head.

1. Thin resonant head's: Head's like Remo Diplomat batter, FiberSkyn 3 FT/FD, Aquarian High Frequency and Evans Genera Resonant or Glass Resonant head's.

2. Medium weight head's: Head's such as Remo Ambassador, Ambassador Ebony and FiberSkyn FA, Aquarian Classic Clear or Satin Texture Coated and the Evans G1 series'. These will have less sustain than the thinner counterpart's such as the Remo Diplomat or Evans Glass or Genera Resonant. Knowing the inherent sound of each head and how to combine the head's and tune makes the batter head all that much more adequate when trying to achieve a sound.

Tom's, General Head Guideline's

1. To get the volume and as much sustain back as possible when using muffled, two-ply or hydraulic head's, use thin head's on the resonant side.

2. For a warmer sound use texture coated version's of the above and warmer still, move into the single ply medium weight head's such as the Ambassador, Evans or Aquarian Coated head's.

3. Use a muffled head on the resonant side to kill sustain and overtones yet retain the stick response and attack of a single ply head on the batter.

4. The sound of the ebony series' of head's is between clear and coated. It is usually described as "darker", which to my ear means not quite as prevalent in high pitched overtone's as a clear head, but more prevalent in overtone's than texture coated.

5. The more coating without muffling the warmer the sound will get.

Some selections and characteristic sounds

1. Medium weight, single ply such as Remo Ambassador, Aquarian or Evans G1 coated top/same on bottom. Very resonant, high ring can be very prominent, very good sustain, excellent stick response. Clear on top even more open. This is what a large portion of jazz, country and light rock guy's use. Tuning can control ring easily. Popular recording choice. Coated provides a nice sibilance to the stick attack while clear provides predominate midrange attack.

2. Remo PowerStroke 3, FiberSkyn FA or Emperor, Aquarian Studio X; Coated or Clear on top with Remo Diplomat Batter Clear or Evans Genera Resonant Clear bottom. Very resonant, almost void of high ring but very good sustain excellent stick response. A classic light jazz studio sound without mic's. For a little warmer sound, use a medium weight coated head on the bottom or Ebony series'. Used with some lower end bass heavy mic's in close mic situation's, the sound can be almost too round due to "proximity effect."

3. Emperor, FiberSkyn F1 or Aquarian Double Thin on top with a medium weight single ply on the bottom. Good combination that sort of bridges the gap between medium hitter's and hard hitter's without much of a sacrifice in sound and stick response. Warm sound yet can be resonant with some high pitch character.

4. Pinstripe, Aquarian Performance II or Evans G2 top and a thin single ply like Remo Diplomat or Evans Genera Resonant Clear bottom. Less resonant than above, much more stick attack sound, some light to no high ring but very good sustain and attack with good stick response. For a fatter/wetter sound, try keeping the bottom head at or slightly below it's lowest fundamental note. This combination or the one below is a very good selection for fat sounding drum's. Again, for a little warmer sound, use a medium weight coated head on the bottom such as an Ambassador or equivalent. Another good recording choice for a more isolated sound.

5. Remo Ambassador, Aquarian or Evans G1 coated top and a 2-ply head on the bottom such as Evans G2. Longer fundamental note than the above combination and almost completely void of high ring with short sustain and excellent stick response.

6. Evan's G2 or any other 2-ply muffled head on top and bottom, close to the dead sound of late 60's early 70's, a very short tone and not real great stick response. Tuned high in pitch, overtone's can come back with a vengeance.

7. Hydraulic head's top/bottom, like throwing a towel over the drum, "boxy" sounding, thud. Using a highly resonant head such as the Evan's Glass or Genera Resonant adds back some life. Some report this work's good in high-pitched tuning situation's although I have no personal experience with drum's tuned this way. I have however, used them in the low tuning range's and the sound is as I have described.

Tom's, Tuning Procedure

Follow that listed above under "Tuning and Seating the Head's, All Drums". Specifically you should proceed in this order:

1. Learning How, Resonant Side Tuning - The beginning:

2. Batter Side Tuning:

3. Time to Zone:

4. Then follow-up with Result's What They Mean:

Kick Drum, Drumhead's - Batter side

Coating's and material type are as described in the section "Tom, Drumheads - Batter side". There are some similarities here to that which is used for a tom. But there are also some real difference's such as the Evan's EQ and Aquarian Regulator series.

1. Single Ply No muffling: Any head on par with the like's of Remo Ambassador, Ebony series', FiberSkyn 3 FA, Aquarian Classic, Aquarian Signature Series' Jack DeJohnette, Evans EQ1, EQ4, etc.

2. Muffled head, 1-ply: Any head on par with the like's of Remo Ambassador, Ebony series', FiberSkyn 3 FA, Aquarian Classic, Aquarian Signature Series' Carmine or Vinny Appice, Studio X, Impact I, SuperKick I, Evans EQ1, EQ4, etc.

3. Muffled head, 2-ply: Any head on par with the like's of Remo Pinstripe, Evans EQ2, EQ3 or hydraulic, Aquarian SuperKick II.

Kick Drum, Drumhead's - Resonant side

1. Single Ply No muffling: Any head on par with the likes of Remo Ambassador, Ebony series', FiberSkyn 3 FA, Aquarian Classic, Ported Bass Drum Head, Evans EQ1, UNO 58 1000, etc.

2. Single Ply With muffling: Any head on par with the like's of Remo PowerStroke 3, Aquarian Regulator, Evans EQ2, EQ3, etc. Note that most of these come with a choice of a 4-1/2", 5", 7" or no hole.

Kick Drum, Hole's in Your Head or Not

1. Any hole larger than 7" is like having no head at all on the drum.

2. A 7" hole creates the feel of a one-headed kick drum, feed's more beater attack direct to an audience and provides some of the tone of the resonant head. Further, it's easy to position a mic and change internal muffling device's, if used.

3. A 4-1/2" or 5" hole, or even 2 such hole's, offset, allows some relief for rebound control of the kick beater, contains more of the drums resonance so that the resonant head is more pronounced in the tuning of the drum. A 4-1/2" hole is difficult to get large mic's positioned within (but can be done) and/or internal muffling altered.

4. No hole, very resonant, creates more bounce or rebound from the kick beater. It can become difficult to get the "slap" of the beater and resonance of the drum both when miced with one microphone. The muffling remains inside. The resonant head is very predominant in the overall sound.

Kick Drum, Pad's and/or Pillow's

1. One pad or pillow, or anything that cover a calculated 15-20% coverage against Batter head only: Beater attack accentuated, tone and sustain linger.

2. One pad or pillow, 15-20% coverage against resonant head only: Beater attack will be lessened, tone and sustain develop as a short burst of energy followed by some bright overtone's. 2. One pad or pillow, 15-20% coverage against Batter head and Resonant: Beater attack accentuated, overall volume diminished a bit, tone and sustain become focused, overtone's diminished.

3. One pad or pillow, 25-30% coverage against Batter head and 15-20% coverage of Resonant: Beater attack becomes much sharper and accentuated, overall volume does not diminished much more than the above, tone and sustain become even more focused, overtone's all but gone. When used with a single ply muffled batter head, easy to get very sharp sound. Good choice for mic use.

4. One pad or pillow, 25-30% coverage against Batter and Resonant: A very focused sound, which becomes ideal for close micing of a kick drum. Beater attack becomes as sharp as it gets, overall volume does not diminished much more than the above, tone and sustain become short burst's of energy that when listened to without a mic, seem lifeless. A distinct "punch" sound.

Kick Drum, Sound of Characteristic Pairing of Drumhead's

Note all tone and muffling characteristic's from the following head's can be altered by the use of pillow's/pad's described in the section "Pad's and/or Pillow's" or the use of a hole in the drum head described under the section "Hole's in Your Head or Not". Coating's and material type are as described in the section "Tom, Drumhead's - Batter side". There are some similarities here to that which is used for a tom. But there are also some real differences such as the Evans EQ and Aquarian Regulator series'.

1. Single ply unmuffled Batter and Resonant: Open tone, bouncy feeling, highly resonant, ringy.

2. Single ply muffled Batter, Single ply unmuffled Resonant: Attack of the beater pop's out, open tone, highly resonant, overtone's diminished a bit on the initial attack but linger on the sustain

3. Single ply muffled Batter and Resonant: Attack of the beater is heard more, a dense but not quite a focused sound, overtone's controlled but still there. Typical combination is the Remo PowerStroke 3 batter and resonant, or for a bit more low end try Evans EQ4 Batter paired with Remo PowerStroke 3, Evans EQ2 or Aquarian Regulator Resonant.

4. Single ply muffled Batter and 2-ply muffled Resonant: Attack of the beater pop's out, wide focused sound, overtone's controlled. Typical combination is the Remo PowerStroke 3 batter with Pinstripe, Evans EQ3 or Aquarian SuperKick II Resonant.

5. 2-ply muffled Batter and 2-ply muffled Resonant: Very focused and punchy attack, narrow focused sound, overtone's very controlled (may need no pillow's/pad's). Typical combination on both the batter and resonant would be Remo Pinstripe, or Evans EQ3 or Aquarian SuperKick II.

Kick Drum, Tuning Procedure and Trick's

1. The same tuning procedure work's on the kick drum as well. Simply follow the procedure listed above under "Tuning and Seating the Head's, All Drum's" and take into account the following points as well.

2. A Typical tuning method is to have the batter head control the attack portion of the sound and the resonant head to control the "sustain" portion of the sound.

3. For more punch, tune the resonant side up in pitch 1-2 notes from the batter. Tune entire drum up in pitch.

4. For a "plastic" sound, use single ply batter head's tuned just to a point of the lowest note and detune half turn on each lug. A hard felt beater without a patch works well. If you go to wood or plastic beater's, use the patch.

5. A fat kick drum is achieved the same way a "fat" tom sound is achieved. Taking the resonant head and tuning to the lowest note, and then detuning a slight amount (1/16 to 1/8 of a turn) creates a "fat, loose or dark" drum sound. The batter head is then used to alter the pitch. Note that the pitch for a "fat" tuning can be somewhat limited.

6. For a short "open" burst of resonant tone, followed by a muted overtone, try using one of the EQ pad's placed loosely against either head so that when the beater strike's the head, the upper portion of the pad (the "hinged" section) float's away from the head yet returns quickly. You can effect the duration of the sound by the positioning of the pad. This also work's when using 2 pad's where one remains firm against the head while the other on top or against the other head provided the "hinged" sound.

7. Don't have a pillow or pad? Try using strip's of felt or cotton sheet material of varying inches in width placed near the center of the drumhead, these get held on by the head, stretch them tight. As a guide try 4.5" on a 20"; 5" on a 22"; 5.5" on a 24". Used on 1 head, this is the equivalent of 25-30% coverage or like two EQ pad's per head. Also, a towel rolled up and taped to the inside bottom of one or both head's work's. An old feather pillow or folded blanket works equally well. Be creative! Anything that "lightly" touches the head will work, if done in the same percentage of cover given above in "Pad's and/or Pillow's". For that "hinged" sound, try a towel or cloth taped to the head on just the upper edge so that it floats's on and off the head with the beater strike.

8. Get the drum up off the floor as much as your pedal and spur's will allow for more resonance.

Snare Drum Tuning

The snare is not different than with any drum, it's just complicated or enhanced by the shell choice and snare wire's. Lets start with what the shell tone is because from this you better understand the enhancements and limitations inherent in the drum shell tone prior to head choice.

Snare, Construction Brief

1. Brass: A very sharp edge to the sound and very rich with mellow overtone's.

2. Steel: A step more towards bright with a very pronounced ring, allot of body and longer decay than brass.

3. Aluminum: Clear, open sound's with bright, crisp overtone's and is capable of incredibly loud rim shot's.

4. Bronze: A close cousin to brass with the overall character of wood's, can be loud, a good all around drum.

5. Copper: A close cousin to the Aluminum drum only slightly warmer.

6. Anything Hammered: Same overall characteristic's as the parent material, only slightly less resonance to varying degrees.

7. Metal Thickness: The 1mm shell's are not as low to mid range resonant as thicker shell's such as 3mm plus.

8. Metal Cast Drum's: Very Loud and Resonant due to special cymbal alloys used in the casting process.

9. Wood drum's, see "Construction Guidelines" above in the "Tom" section, they apply here too.

10. Small diameter mean's higher pitch.

11. Longer shell length mean's more power and shell resonance, longer decay.

12. Shallow depth mean's more articulate, less power due to decreased shell area.

13. Snare bed: A slight depression in the resonant side bearing edge to allow the snare to ride closer to the head.

14. Bearing edge's of less than 45 degrees are not inferior, they simply make for a different sound, usually less resonant and darker in character the less the angle, 35 degree is popular on Birch Drum's. Drum's get brighter if the crown of the bearing edge is a tighter radius (sharper) than if the radius is flatter (may be desired on the tom's and kick).

Snare, Drumhead's - Batter side

Coating's and material type are as described in the section "Tom, Drumheads - Batter side". There are some similarities here to that which is used for a tom. But there are also some real differences such as the Evans Genera Snare and Genera Dry vented series'.

1. Single ply Thin Weight such as Remo Diplomat, Renaissance, FiberSkyn FD (FD extra thin), Evan's Genera Concert Snare, all are coated and are great for very articulate, extremely sensitive, bright, open overtone's (FiberSkyn warmer), not very durable. Special mention - Evans Genera Concert Staccato Snare, a drier very articulate version of the "thin" group.

2. Single ply unmuffled/unvented medium weight such as Remo Ambassador, Renaissance and FiberSkyn FA, Aquarian Satin Texture Coated and the Evans G1 series, UNO 58 1000. Uno 58 is brightest, FiberSkyn warmest. All-purpose head, accentuated overtone's, articulate, takes punishment from all but very heavy hitters. Aquarian coating most durable. Special mention Evans Power Center, all the virtues of a single ply head but has a perforated 5" coated thin dot that will withstand high tuning's and severe abuse without the dot coming off (only 14").

3. Single ply muffled or Heavy Weight such as the Remo Emperor, Renaissance, PowerStroke, FiberSkyn F1 and the Aquarian Studio X series', Evans Genera Batter. The sound here goes more mellow compared to single ply with overtone's becoming less prevalent on the initial attack and less or minimal sustain. There is still an element of ring to the drum.

4. Single ply muffled and very "Dry" or "Vented". Evans has the most in the market for this category with the Genera Dry, Uno 58 1000 Dry, The sound has a sharper, quicker attack and is almost void of overtone's. This head requires careful attention to tuning and generally will make the midrange tone of the shell material standout while limiting the low frequencies of the drum.

5. 2 ply muffled or wear resistant head's like Remo Pinstripe, Aquarian Performance II or Double Thins and the classic Evans G2, or anything with a "Power dot" on it, these produce a very short initial attack coupled with a very short sustain.

6. Heavily muffled with an oil barrier such as the Evans hydraulic. These head's are the most inherently "boxy" or "dull" of any. Almost void of any inherent sustain on their own.

Snare, Drumhead's - Resonant side

Note: Obviously you can use any head, but it is correct to use a "Snare Side" head. If you use any head other than a "Snare Side" Head, it will be the equivalent of using a "Heavy" weight or thicker head and the result will be the lack of or absence of snare sound, buzzing, no sensitivity or all of the above.

1. Thin resonant head's: Heads like Remo Diplomat Snare Side and Evans Genera Hazy 200. These head's are great to increase snare response, sensitivity and crack while allowing ghost note's and roll's to become more articulate.

2. Medium weight head's: Head's such as Remo Ambassador, Renaissance, Aquarian Classic Clear Snare Side or Evans Hazy 300. These will have less sustain than the thinner counterpart's such as the Remo Diplomat or Evans 200, the sound becomes more focused and not as bright and articulate. The Evans Genera 300 and Genera Glass 300 go drier in tone yet retain very good snare response while the Renaissance goes warmer.