Drum Skins: A "set" versus mix and match per drum?

Back when I was relevant, I used different heads on my drums all the time for different sonic qualities.  I hated hydraulic heads (personal opinion). 

I spent hours tuning that kit.

Fun times.

mike_mccue


I couldn't stop trying with the floor tom... I just knew one more combo of top bottom tensions would hook up... but I never found it.

:-)

It wouldn't bug me so much, but it resonates and rings on top of the kick tone and it makes the kick sound less dangerous so it has to be fixed.

Pin stripe batter and dabs of duct tape, to tame the beastie.  If you use tape just literally dab it on so it provides some damping without rattling against the head it defeats the purpose of it if you stick it down firmly.  Normally 2 or three 1" full width strips strategically placed will do the job nicely.

A heavy duty single ply bottom head will usually suffice for toms but I'd generally treat all toms to the same head configuration.

I generally tune the top for feel and the bottom for tone and adjust for overall sound from there which normally leaves the bottom head having less tension than the top so you tend to get some more controlled mids range depth amd impact from the close mics and more boom from the room.

Yes I agree the overlaid hoops can sound nice and are convenient to use but I like to keep plenty of resonance and just kill unwanted harmonic overtones with judicious use of tape dabs, I find it quicker, cheaper and offer more detailed control.

For recording I'd rarely ever use a floor tom over 14" anyway precisely for the reasons of overtone control but still allowing for maximum natural resonance.

Even if you are using nice drums flimsy OEM heads will often make them sound thin.  Ambassodors are nice but it depends on what you are playing, pin stripes in the studio will give you that nice controlled fatness for more pop/rock oriented sounds where the ambassodors are great for open natural sounding jazzier stuff.  A coated head is vital of course if you are doing any brush work.

but i`m only changing the sound,not the feel,the groove or the players technique.

Wrong...

Drum replacement is a useful tool in many production circumstances but the above statement is simply inaccurate.

Jonbouy

"but i`m only changing the sound,not the feel,the groove or the players technique."
Wrong...
Drum replacement is a useful tool in many production circumstances but the above statement is simply inaccurate.

apologies for the innaccuracy-i`m probably a bit naive  but i`m here to learn!!

i understood Drumagog replaced the actual sound of the individual drum and didn`t alter or correct the actual stick or kick hit or tempo apart from the variable sensitivity(which i don`t use as i prefer volume envelopes for inconsistent drummers).

the overheads don`t lie and if i switch from the effected "drums" bus-(kick and snare) to the overheads bus there is no discernable difference in the actual playing-to my old ears anyway.as 90%of my work is live i usually blend the wet and dry tracks anyway.

not being argumentative here,i hope,but shouldn`t your reply read:

       the above statement is simply inaccurate-because............

ps:occasionally i get to record a quality ,tuned kit with minimal eq and compression but you just would not believe (and probably would not record)the crap that comes through this door.

cheers

not being argumentative here,i hope,

but shouldn`t your reply read: the above statement is simply inaccurate-because............

Yes, it probably should have read that way, but then I'd have to enter into a lengthy discussion as to why and then I'd have sounded like a drum geek...

Drum replacement is a great thing and going by the sound of what it is you are recording it is probably your best bet in most cases.

The fact also that you are largely only replacing small amounts of the take i.e. snare and kick close mics then you keep much of the integrity of the performance but the further you take it the more integrity you lose. (which may be a good thing at times...)

If you take a piano as being pretty much the safest bet for a sampled instrument because the note 'quality' is built in, in that the hammer will always strike in exactly the same place in exactly the same way for any given velocity nobody has even managed the perfect sampled piano yet (although many are as close as not to worry about these days). 

If you then take just a snare drum for example the quality of each note is determined by the player and compared to a piano there is far more scope for creating the note quality yourself which makes it a very expressive instrument.  I can choose exactly where on a 14" diameter target I can hit, I can choose to press the hit against the head or snap back and make it ring and there are vary amounts of touch I can use when making rimshots.  There is no sampler or replacement tech that can figure out that much variance yet.

It's a great tool for levelling out a beat led tune and is widely used on many commercial hits but mostly because it does 'alter' the actual performance albeit usually in a good way in those circumstances.  You prove the fact that you alter the original performance to some extent every time you make 'Johnny Wannabe' sound better than he actually was...

I love the drum sounds and performance on this one for example...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T0Gpy7nHiM

The reasons I'd use smaller sized drums in the studio are simply to do with flexibility and speed in altering sounds for a wide range of material.  If I was recording demos for 3 different singer songwriters who all want different things during the course of a day you start to like the idea of not spending time taming bigger drums.  When you're getting paid for how much ground you can cover in a day you get to learn how to be flexible in the shortest time possible.

Most bread and butter days I'd use an 18" kick, 12 and 13" rack toms and a 14" floor tom.

Conversely my last road kit was a 24" kick 10",13" and 14" rack toms and a 16 and 18" floor.

I may well just be old-fashioned like that though and if the recording situation required 'BIG' I'd use big even more so if it was paying big.

i prefer to think of them as aspirationalists

But of course...