Drumheads

Tech talk about audio recording and live stage production.
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What's your flavor?

1 ply coated
2
50%
2 ply coated
1
25%
1 ply clear
0
No votes
2 ply clear
0
No votes
Other (please specify)
1
25%
 
Total votes : 4

Drumheads

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:20 am

So lately I've been kind of re-inventing myself as far as drum tones go. I just felt like it was time to change. I usually get pretty good snare drums tones, and decent tom sounds, but I wanted to find ways to improve to get consistently great snare and tom tones. The reason I haven't mentioned kick drum sounds, is because I think my kick drum sounds are beyond reproach... :twisted: (well at least for pop/rock.)

I've been using 2 ply heads most of my life due to primarily being a hard hitter and not wanting to change my heads every 3 days. I've also been using Evans drumheads since I was about 15-16 years old. Back then there were serious QC issues with Remo and Evans had just been purchased by D'addario whose QC was (and still is for the most part) pretty bang on.

Earlier this year I was on another audio forum where William Wittman was saying that 2 ply heads don't sound good. Period. He was his usual authoritative and unapologetic self. I was going to question this statement but thought better of it. He's never been wrong (that I know of) in all his years of posting (nevermind all of the amazing records he's recorded/mixed/produced.) So I decided to wait until I have the opportunity to mess around off the clock and completely change my approach with my Maple Custom kit.

Around the same time I was talking with dylanger (who works at Morris Music) and they had a bunch of Aquarian heads there, and I was thinking of taking this opportunity to try a different brand as well. Finally a few weeks ago I was able to pick up a set of Aquarian 1 ply coated batter heads. I took my time to seat the heads properly and let them stretch. When I started tuning them up I noticed the difference immediately.

I recorded my first set of drum tracks with them last night and they are completely blowing my mind. I don't know how much of it is the 1 ply vs. the fact that they are Aquarian but I've never recorded drum tones this good before.

That being said, the snare drum headwon't last more than 3-4 hours of that kind of abuse, and the rack tom heads "may" last two days maximum. So this could get expensive. Another complication I'm dealing with is that the distributor for Aquarian drumheads in Canada went out of business so I have to get a retailer to order them direct from the US. Minimum order they will entertain is $500.

I don't know if they grade the price of sonic excellence but................. Coarse.

What are your thoughts/experiences with different types of drum heads? Either live or in the studio.
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Re: Drumheads

Postby macrae11 » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:25 am

I don't know enough to comment either way since I tend not to hit things with sticks, but I am very excited to hear the results of your research. Do you have some single ply Evans heads to compare?
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Re: Drumheads

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:30 am

macrae11 wrote:I don't know enough to comment either way since I tend not to hit things with sticks, but I am very excited to hear the results of your research. Do you have some single ply Evans heads to compare?


I don't have any Evans to do a direct comparison to at the moment. But I'm willing to bet these Aquarians with p0wn them. Seriously the sounds I'm getting just "faders up" with no processing is unreal. All I need to do know is get rid of those 421s...lol.
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Re: Drumheads

Postby Nick H. » Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:33 am

Mathieu Benoit wrote:Seriously the sounds I'm getting just "faders up" with no processing is unreal.


I can attest to this. As far as a comparison to Evans, I think the snare sound is my favorite part of the drum tones we're getting and that is typically outfitted with something single-ply and Evans-made. Given the quality of their product, I'm now really surprised the Aquarian distributor went out of business.
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Re: Drumheads

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:06 pm

Nick H. wrote:
Mathieu Benoit wrote:Seriously the sounds I'm getting just "faders up" with no processing is unreal.


I can attest to this. As far as a comparison to Evans, I think the snare sound is my favorite part of the drum tones we're getting and that is typically outfitted with something single-ply and Evans-made. Given the quality of their product, I'm now really surprised the Aquarian distributor went out of business.


That's true. I usually have a G1 coated or a Reverse Power Center on the 5" maple. Both made by Evans, both getting beat by a LARGE margin. However due to my unusual precision, a mere 2 hours of messing around has completely removed the coating from an area the size of a quarter. Maybe I should rotate my snare every so often?
"Volume automation takes time. You don't got that kinda time. You could be getting naked with somebody somewhere." -Slipperman

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Re: Drumheads

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:30 pm

I'd like to start by saying that I'm not consistent with head choice from drum to drum, and musical style to musical style. Bass drum and snare are more consistent for me than tom batters where I'm all over the place.

Snare Drum for me is usually a medium weight snare side, with a medium weight coated batter, usually Remo Ambassador. My other options for snare batter are a Coated Reverse CS Ambassador, or a Clear CS Ambassador (most rarely). I've been with those combinations for my entire drumming life, while trying every other option I thought reasonable along the way. The only drum head that made me seriously consider dropping Remo Coated Ambassador for snare was the medium weight coated Aquarian, but issues with price and availability made me stick with what I knew.

Bass drum for me is Remo Powerstroke3 non coated batter and resonant heads. My favourite thing ever, but that doesn't mean I won't try other things. I've actually been thinking about switching my batter to a coated version then next head change. ;-) Pinstripe batter for bass drum is cool, but very different.

Toms... I'm a medium weight clear (Remo Ambassador) resonant head with everything on top... OK... Not everything. I have to separate choices as a player or "engineer". As a player, I'm much fussier about batter heads on toms than as someone tweaking. I'm currently using Coated Emperor batters for a more "rock" sound, but have used Clear Emperors, & Clear and Coated Pinstripes for a similar tone. Clear and coated Ambassadors also work for me, but I find they suit a higher voicing with what I want to hear. I've never personally gone Diplomat weight resonant or batter head, but they do sound great and are in fact what Wittman personally suggest as the "best" on everything, although recognizing the wearability factor.

I've tried and heard many Evans heads and they haven't really seriously spoke to me. As I mentioned, the only thing that has really spun me to consider moving from Remo years ago when the consistency was crap was the Aquarian line. I wish I were playing more to justify trying new things... :oops:

OK... What were we talking about again?
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It just fills Forum pages..." --compasspnt

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Re: Drumheads

Postby sean.boyer » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:32 pm

For me, for kick drum, for all my drums (18, 22, and 24 inch kicks) it's an Evans CLEAR EMAD with the small damper ring. Only. I love them. Toss it on, tune the lugs so they aren't sliding, and you're done with a deep n snappy tone.
For snare, the Evans Reverse Power Dot on top, and whatever brand hazy 200 under.
For toms, Evans 2-ply Coated, or, sometimes when I'm feelin' freaky, 2-ply clear Remo's

I'm unsettled on reso heads... I guess 1-ply is smart for toms. I don't pay as much attention to them as I really ought to...
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Re: Drumheads

Postby dylanger » Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:32 pm

Nick H. wrote:
Mathieu Benoit wrote:Seriously the sounds I'm getting just "faders up" with no processing is unreal.


I can attest to this. As far as a comparison to Evans, I think the snare sound is my favorite part of the drum tones we're getting and that is typically outfitted with something single-ply and Evans-made. Given the quality of their product, I'm now really surprised the Aquarian distributor went out of business.


Believe or not, but distributors rarely go out of business because of their product. They usually just suck at what they do. I push Yamaha not just because their product is great but If I need anything they are the last ones to slack off and not get back to me. If someone wants a guitar ordered I can get it within two days. There are a pile of distributor that just plain suck and usually leave a sour taste in dealers mouths, then no one wants to deal with them and then they go out of business. Theres a reason why you can't find Ibanez in our stores.

Sorry to get off topic........
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Re: Drumheads

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:45 pm

dylanger wrote:
Nick H. wrote:
Mathieu Benoit wrote:Seriously the sounds I'm getting just "faders up" with no processing is unreal.


I can attest to this. As far as a comparison to Evans, I think the snare sound is my favorite part of the drum tones we're getting and that is typically outfitted with something single-ply and Evans-made. Given the quality of their product, I'm now really surprised the Aquarian distributor went out of business.


Believe or not, but distributors rarely go out of business because of their product. They usually just suck at what they do......
Sorry to get off topic........
A distributor, or even regional brand dealer going out of business doesn't necessarily indicate an unworthy product. Sometimes I have contacted manufacturers directly to have them say I have to deal with such and such rep., or dealer and had to say... Sorry! I can't dumb myself down enough to go through that again.

Now back to the regularly scheduled thread, already in progress.
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Re: Drumheads

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:15 am

So... I'm completely sold on 1-ply heads now. 2-ply is fine for live, where durability is more important but they don't compare to 1-ply heads in terms of tone. Not even close.
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Re: Drumheads

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:50 pm

So I did some digging (with the help of my good friend Bill from Long & McQuade) and apparently Aquarian heads are easily accessibly in our neck of the woods. From what I could see in the Long & McQaude system it seems like all the Aquarian lines of drumheads are in their system, which implies that they can be ordered in (likely from the manufacturer directly.) I'm going to place an order this week and see how long it would take. Good news is that the prices are nearly identical to Evans prices. Remo is still most expensive of the three.

So for my next order I'm going to try something a bit different. So far I've tried the Texture Coated series which is a coated 1-ply 10 mil head. This next order with be for the Studio-X series which is also a coated 1-ply 10 mil head, but it has a reinforced center, and a small dampening ring. Hopefull this will lead to increased durability which is my biggest concern with the Texture Coated series. The dampening ring might be interesting too. Hopefully it doesn't work too well. IMHO a little dampening can go a loooong way.
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Re: Drumheads

Postby clinton » Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:40 am

I've always used Remo white coated ambassadors on everything and I like my drum tone.
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Re: Drumheads

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:38 pm

clinton wrote:I've always used Remo white coated ambassadors on everything and I like my drum tone.


The Aquarian texture coated are the same concept (10mil 1-ply coated) but seem better constructed and actually are less expensive than remo ambassadors.
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