what skins do you use on your kits?

[sheltersoton]

any preferences or recomendations? i'm looking for a modern rock sound: what batter and resonant combinations do you use on the toms? snare skinds? kick skin?

[opentune]

Use coated skins for rock toms. Sounds fat and there´s less "weird stuff"
going on with the harmonics.

[by-tor]

Evans g2 coated on top..Evans G1 on the bottom. on toms

Evans emad for kick.

different evans for almost every snare. Some dry some power dot but all evans coated stuff on snare as well.

[ersheff]

I would actually disagree with opentune and say that I think clear heads are better for rock (except on the snare). I prefer coated heads for jazz, hip hop, or just darker sounds in general. With rock, there's less of a desire for a ringy, open sound, so even well-tuned heads will get muffled to some degree. Clear heads have more snap and attack that suit the genre.
I just helped my dad record a metal band last weekend. He asked me to come down specifically to help with drum sounds, and I ended up doing one of my more successful tuning jobs. Boy, what a difference! Be sure that the drums get tuned up into their range. In my experience, a lot of drummers tune their toms much lower than would fit their resonance characteristics, and that's when you end up with the lifeless, cardboard sound. If you want deep sounding toms, you've GOT to start with big shells!

[Tibbon]

The Evans Genera Dry head is the easiest snare head to mic in the world. No ring. No ducttape needed. It's got these funny little holes around the side that kill some of the resonance.

[warhead]

Evans G2 clear on tom batters, Evans Ebony on tom resonant. Very fat sound, and the G2's last a long time. I tune them pretty low most times.

For snare I use the Genera Reverse Power Dot coated, which gives 1 ply sensitivity and 2 ply durability. Snare bottom = Remo Embassador snare side most times. Tibbon: I like ring!

Kick = Evans EQ3 currently but I'm going to change it out soon to maybe the Aquarian. Never been quite satisfied with the EQ3.

The Drum Tuning Bible is an excellent resource for choosing heads and more.

War

[ryguydrum@netsc]

For modern rock I usually go with Remo Coated Emperors for the toms (batter) clear ambassador or emperor (resonant), coated ambassador for the snare (batter) and snare side ambassador-resonant (the thicker the head the less ring, and I like ringy snares), and a clear or coated powerstroke 3 for the kick batter. I like the evans head mentioned above on one of my snares, but I have tried it on other snares and it just sucks the life out of them. I tend to like clear heads for live use and coated for recording. . .just my opinon though. Oh yeah.. .REMO KICK ASS.

[seaneldon]

i like a good gretsch or ludwig kit with those evans HD heads. all over. ridiculous rock drums.

[RichT]

For rock/hardcore/metal stuff I'm doing here I'm liking Evans Hydraulic Blues and Emad on the kick.

[sheltersoton]

i think my faves so far have been hydraulics but i've been told [instripes on top emporers on the bottom, any one used that combo?

aquarians? are they any good?

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by warhead

Tibbon: I like ring!

Ring is good when you have a talented drummer, and someone that can tune the kit really well. I was still learning to tune the kit at the time (not being a drummer myself) and many drummers are screaming for 'tight' drums with no ring. I agree with you, but to a degree it's like giving a beginner guitar player a fuzz factory and an ebow... just noise

[jayfrigo]

Originally Posted by by-tor

Evans g2 coated on top..Evans G1 on the bottom. on toms

Evans emad for kick.

different evans for almost every snare. Some dry some power dot but all evans coated stuff on snare as well.

I usually use the same setup on toms. On kick, sometimes it's the Evans emad, sometimes it's the Aquarian. Snares get coated heads, usually a Remo coated Ambassador, but sometimes an Evans if it needs to be drier. I like to let drums speak and breath, so I don't usually use very dead heads or add damping unless it's for a specific effect on a particular song.

These comments come from the perspective of studio projects with different kits and different players, and also a kit of my own for fun (or occasionally necessity) that has the Evans G2 top, G1 bottom, Aquarian kick (with nothing in the drum), and coated ambassadors on snares.

[aetucker1]

if i am correct, kenny aronoff uses coated ambassadors on tops of toms and clears on bottoms. not quite what he uses for snares...also, this is such a hard topic to nail down because it is all opinion and also based off of what drums you are using. i have heard great drums with great heads sound horrible because of the choice of heads they chose for the drums. the only way to figure out what to do is try tons of different combonations. i personally would start with the ambassadors on tops and bottoms and see where it leads you.

[John Peacock]

Originally Posted by mopppish

I would actually disagree with opentune and say that I think clear heads are better for rock (except on the snare). I prefer coated heads for jazz, hip hop, or just darker sounds in general. With rock, there's less of a desire for a ringy, open sound, so even well-tuned heads will get muffled to some degree. Clear heads have more snap and attack that suit the genre.
I just helped my dad record a metal band last weekend. He asked me to come down specifically to help with drum sounds, and I ended up doing one of my more successful tuning jobs. Boy, what a difference! Be sure that the drums get tuned up into their range. In my experience, a lot of drummers tune their toms much lower than would fit their resonance characteristics, and that's when you end up with the lifeless, cardboard sound. If you want deep sounding toms, you've GOT to start with big shells!

There are many who might disagree, but I think clear heads have a dated sound to them... 80's and early 90's. They sound kind of Phil Collins-ish to me. I guess that can be cool for some things, but it's definitely not my aesthetic. I am surprised how many drummers I still see using them.

Evans G1 for all my toms.

-Jp

[warhead]

Originally Posted by Tibbon

Ring is good when you have a talented drummer, and someone that can tune the kit really well. I was still learning to tune the kit at the time (not being a drummer myself) and many drummers are screaming for 'tight' drums with no ring. I agree with you, but to a degree it's like giving a beginner guitar player a fuzz factory and an ebow... just noise

I'm a drummer myself, and appreciate the "size" that ring can add to a snare track. To me it's a big part of what gives a snare drum it's bigness in the mix.

War

[Bob Olhsson]

I've never found any relationship between heads and genre. Tuning, yes heads, not at all.

Thin heads have the most tone and thick the least. Thin go dead (or just break) the fastest and thick last the longest. If I had an unlimited budget, I'd use Diplomats all around and change them every few hours or when they break.

I like coated heads with a wallet or piece of cloth damping them much better than the trick heads of the 80s. They don't look pretty but they have tone that cuts like a knife which is exactly what a tom fill is supposed to contribute to a song.

[wwittman]

I'm 100% with Bob on this.

Thinner heads sound a LOT better, and that naturally makes for a better drum sound (because it's better at the SOURCE) but they don't last long.

Artie Smith still tells people, apparently, about how I used to make him change heads almost between every take.. certainly between every 3 or 4 takes... but it sure sounded great!
But that's if you have the time and money to do that.

In GENERAL, i like:

Clear Ambassador or Cs (Black dot) head on the bass drum...

Coated ambassador for snare top with ultra thin snare bottom.

either clear Diplomats on the toms, or next best I like the Remo Ebony (black coloured but uncoated) Ambassadors on toms.
Remo will say that they are exactly the same as the white or clear (colourless, more accurately) Ambassadors but they sound slightly different.
It was Russ Kunkel actually who first showed me the Ebony heads and they sounded terrific.
I've been using them ever since, when I can get them.


I hate Emperor or coated heads on ANYTHING..dead, dead, dead.

and I like to be able to play with snare resonance and damping for what we want.. so a live head with a bit of tissue on it, or some gel, or a cut out head 'doughnut'... all these work much better for me than any of the fibre heads or other "pre" treated heads.

Whatever bit of tone there is in the snare always seems to get eaten up in the loud guitars anyway... so I tend to err more on the open, ringy side.

[mltamisin]

The thinner heads are going to produce a higher fundamental note. I use DW drums and they naturally have a long sustain....open yet very focused on the fundamental note. If a fast modern rock sound is what I'm after I usually go with the Emperor's on toms. Deeper fundamental tone. Clear or coated. I can use either & get great results. If a more vintage sound is needed then ambassador coated. For all-around application I'll use the Aquarian Studio-X's clear. Highly underrated head. It's a thicker single ply so it's somewhere in between. I rarely use a single ply head on my kick..unless it's my 18" kick or a vintage sound I'm after. I prefer Emperor coated or Aquarian Superkick 2 (even thicker) clear. Single ply on a kick provides alot of click and thins out the bottom. Could be my room...who knows. Also, the Remo brand is far tougher than the Evans and the 'new sound' lasts slightly longer. The drums will play a large part on which heads to pick. A Yamaha for instance has less sustain. Birch will give more attack. Also, the room plays a large part in the sound of the kit & you may choose a different head just to compensate for the room. That's probably what's going on in my studio. I've got a crappy carpet on a concrete floor with no stage. Translates into less low end. A stage is my next project. Experiment with 2 different types of heads on a couple of pieces and pick what you like.

[DirkB]

coated ambassadors on snare and tom tops. Clear diplomat on snare bottom. Clear ambassadors on toms bottoms. Powerstroke 4 clear on kick batter head, no real preference for kick resonance...

Greetings,
Dirk

[Kenny Gioia]

Coated Ambassadors on all the toms.

Controlled Sound Ambassadors on the Snare lately. It kills some ring but retains the bright thing.

I'm not as picky on Kick. Clear or Double Clear systems all work.

[drmmrboy]

My "usual" thing?
Coated Ambassadors on the toms. Coated ambass/emp on the snare. Lately on the kick, Coated P3, coated Ambass... Tune em up, make em sing!

[drummin4christ]

I think it depends on the drums shells size and thickness, and the wood it is made of. You will get two totally different sounds using the same heads on a birch kit verses a maple kit.
What kind of kit are you using?

[StefanColson]

Can't in good faith support Remo, simply because they stole Evans designs and marketed them as if they were their own. Besides, Evans makes better heads, and actually functions under this novel principle called "ethics".

[warhead]

Originally Posted by StefanColson

Can't in good faith support Remo, simply because they stole Evans designs and marketed them as if they were their own. Besides, Evans makes better heads, and actually functions under this novel principle called "ethics".

Stefan, care to explain? I have never investigated either company in this manner and frankly this is the first I've heard of this. I'm interested to know, what did Remo steal specifically?

War

[aetucker1]

I am really suprized that people aren't saying more about bass drum heads...I totally think that there is a huge difference in how big the kick sounds depending on the head. I use Evans EQ3 with the control ring on both sides with a fairly small hole in the front...probably around 4 inches. I also put a VERY light pillow in it so it doesn't kill all the ring...basically one that just touches both heads so it isn't ringin like hell. if you do this, your kick will sound huge and will have a fuller low end.

[aetucker1]

Originally Posted by warhead

Stefan, care to explain? I have never investigated either company in this manner and frankly this is the first I've heard of this. I'm interested to know, what did Remo steal specifically?

War

he is probably saying this because Evans was the first to produce a synthetic drumhead in 1956. I dont know if remo stole the idea or what, but just like almost every business, they "stole" an idea and improved it and made profit on it.

[C/G]

I use Remo on both my kits. I like clear Emperors on my toms with clear Ambassadors on the bottom. Powerstroke 3 on my kick with a Fyberskin 3 on the front with no hole cut into it and an Evans EQ pad in there. For snare I've been using Remo CS reverse black dot. I tried Evans for a while but had many problems with their skins. I never ever break a kick skin and I managaed to do that twice in one month with an Evans EQ3 head. Not too fond of their G2's either. The skins I listed are what I use and have worked for me and have a good longevity when gigging or rehearsing. The sound comes more from the drummer and dimension of drums rather than skins, although skins will impart an influence onto the sound, however it be a minor one.

[Bob Olhsson]

"Remo's original Weatherking drumheads have set the industry standard. Remo was the first to use Mylar®*, a polyester film made by DuPont, to create drumheads that were unusually durable, inexpensive, and weather-resistant, all the while providing previously unattainable pitch, tone and consistency. Their full rich, tones have made these classic heads the drumhead standard since their 1957 introduction. The three original Weatherking drumheads are Diplomat™, Ambassador™, and Emperor™."

I never heard of Evans until a kid in a rock band showed up with Evans hydraulics on his toms in the mid '70s. The first Weatherkings I saw were on the first drums I saw in junior high around 1958. I had no idea they were so new!

[aetucker1]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

"Remo's original Weatherking drumheads have set the industry standard. Remo was the first to use Mylar®*, a polyester film made by DuPont, to create drumheads that were unusually durable, inexpensive, and weather-resistant, all the while providing previously unattainable pitch, tone and consistency. Their full rich, tones have made these classic heads the drumhead standard since their 1957 introduction. The three original Weatherking drumheads are Diplomat™, Ambassador™, and Emperor™."

I never heard of Evans until a kid in a rock band showed up with Evans hydraulics on his toms in the mid '70s. The first Weatherkings I saw were on the first drums I saw in junior high around 1958. I had no idea they were so new!

i am takin a guess that you pulled that info from remo? go over to evans and they will tell you pretty much the same thing. i figured that this was the case...everyone playin the "we did it first" card.