Drum Heads for Studio?

[rodreb]

First off, I am not a drummer but, I bought a kit for my studio. PDP LX series maple kit. They still have the original PDP heads on them.
I'm curious what heads people are using for recording. I'm kind of partial to a really dry sounding kit in the studio and right now, they are totally unmuffled and ring way too much for me.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

[biggator6]

What kind of music?

There's a LOT of different heads out there from thin single ply to hydraulics.. then coated vs clear or black. Brands are pretty personal, but honestly you'll be fine with any of the name brands (Remo, Evans, Aquarian.. I know people who swear by Attack as well).

I have one kit set up with Remo coated ambassadors, which is a more classic, open sound. My other kit has Evans G2 clears, for a more focused, modern sound. Kicks and snares are a whole different thing.

[.:On The Rock:.]

I personally like clear heads in the studio over coated because you get more stick slap in the 3khz region from them. I'd rather play on coated for everything else.

[rodreb]

Type of music..... Mostly I get blues-based rock, indie, acoustic, some alt-country-ish.
Like I said, I favor recording really dry sounding drums. Not a huge fan of the real ringy, sustainy sound.
I always thought white coated heads were supposed to be dryer sounding. True?
Love the vintage "look" of the Fyberskin heads but have no clue what they sound like.
I'm guessing I'll need some form of "controlled" sound head?
I'm a total "know-nothing" about this area.
Oh, also, I've been told to get an Evans Generra Dry for the snare.
The kick has a brand new Aquarian Super Kick II batter and a brand new Remo Powerstroke III resonant.

[KickSnareHat]

Clear heads sound great in certain applications, but based on what you're shooting for, I suggest going with coated heads. For maple drums and a similar range of music as you described, I've had good luck with coated emperors. The 2 plys help focus the sound a bit more and coated heads definitely get a dryer, tighter sound. I still use some gaffers tape or moongels to control the sustain as needed.
The Evans Dry heads don't sound bad, but are extremely dry and really make the snare sound dead. I personally don't like it that dead and prefer to adjust muffling on a coated emperor or ambassador to get a nice happy-medium.

[rmedek]

Remo coated Ambassadors and a roll of gaff tape will get you so many places.

[rodreb]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I really appreciate it.

[erniegrinds]

Here is a cool bass drum combination you might want to give a shot. Try a coated Powerstroke 4 on the batter side of the kick. Try the fiberskyn on front. The fiberskyn ambassador will usually wind up being a very resonant head BUT they make it in a Powerstroke 3. Try using a sheet cut in half, fold it up into a rectangle, slide it in where its putting light pressure on the batter and resonant side. This should reduce the "bouncing basketball" effect that so many people struggle with. That small amount of dampening should suppress that frequency without sacrificing tone or volume. Remember that the more killing and dampening you do, the less this conversation about head choice is going to be relevant. This is a good safe head combo that can get you through almost any setting.

[rodreb]

Here's a drum sound I'd love to achieve.

WILCO - "I Love My Label" (Nick Lowe cover) - YouTube

[dimag333]

hey I did a bunch of drum head demos here
RussoMusic1960's Channel - YouTube

[suedesound]

my usual go to is remo coated emporer on top and clear ambassador on bottom for toms, i like pinstripe clear on top for live though. kick and snare depends, i'm a fan of powerstrokes on beater side for kick and emps on snare top, diplomat snare side. it's better to moon gel or tape up the heads as needed rather than having them too muted from the start. i have and do record similar music to what you described. nothing against other brands but i've been using remo for 20 years so i'm just not familiar with evans etc.

[rodreb]

dimag333 Nice! Thanks! As you can tell, I'm after a really dry sound.

[dimag333]

gotta go with some thick, coated power strokes, pm me sizes and I may have something laying around from the demos I do

[suedesound]

a trick i learned from the mother hips drummer is use thinner heads but tape a sheet of thick printer paper on them. if you're playing softly it works well, if you're wailing on them it don't work for long. gets a cool stick attack and keeps it pretty dead but still lets the drum resonate a bit.

[thepilgrimsdream]

emperor coated top ambassador clear bottom for toms is the classic formula for me

You could go with clears if your looking for a punchier sound(dream theater)

I sugest powerstrokes to those who don't or are not good at tuning.


Its nice to have moon gels and gaff tape around as well

[dcrigger]

Originally Posted by rmedek

Remo coated Ambassadors and a roll of gaff tape will get you so many places.

+1 on this. Even more so for the styles you mention. IMO beware of overly muffled BD heads (which for me, the SK's definitely are) - unless you happen to love the one sound they tend to make. So much more versatile to use a PS-3 or even a regular Ambassador Bass Drum head and have more range with which to adjust the muffling and more tone coming off the drum that can be eq'd to taste.

In general, shoot for a broader, wider frequency range coming off the drum, instead of dialing things down too much through head choices - the idea being it is easy to make the sound smaller or in any way less - with muffling and/or processing than to try to dial back in stuff that for instance a too dry/warm/factory muffled head has already sucked out of the sound.

A good drummer should be able to tweak up a nice set of drums with regular single-ply heads (Ambassadors or the equivalents from the other companies) in good shape all around for any style of music from cocktail jazz to the most aggressive rock.

David

[mrmike186]

Originally Posted by rodreb

Here's a drum sound I'd love to achieve.

WILCO - "I Love My Label" (Nick Lowe cover) - YouTube

To me it sounds like coated Emperor and as you can see in the video there is some moon gel involved. It also sounds like the bass drum is mic'd outside of the drum.

[_Mark]

I personally wouldn't judge from the video, as those heads are pretty much spotless, meaning that it was probs recorded in a different session. Go to 1:10, and you can tell.

That snare has been choked quite a bit, so I'd say (for the length of time it would last compared to just a normal coated head, and less overtones) a Remo Controlled Sound X on top, and always a Remo Snare Side Ambassador. If you wanted even more durability/dampening, go with a Remo Emperor X.
For the toms, I'd say on all clear Remo Pinstripe top and bottom. If you wanted one to ring a little more than the other, I'd put an ambassador on the resonant (bottom) head.
Lastly, for the bass, Remo Powerstroke Pro batter head. For the front skin, I wouldn't bother with it, if I were you. I've used a stock front bass head for a very long time now, and am getting great results from it. Although, if you really feel the need, I'd say a Remo Fiberskyn 3 Ambassador would fair well.
Of course, get some moongel to get rid of the rest of the tone you don't desire. If moongel doesn't feel quite right, go with a pack of donut rings.
Shop Drums & Percussion | Cascio Interstate Music
Interstate Music almost always seems to be the cheapest route to go, and have all those heads.


Mark
Sorry for the slight necropost, I just didn't see a reply stating it was properly solved, so I felt need to add my input.