drum head companies, they should do this!

[xBTWATWDx]

So I had recently been shopping for a new set of drum heads, doing all sorts of research in trying decide which heads I should get. One thing I hate is how drum head companies use words to describe the sound of a particular head. Why don't they record drum samples of all their heads being played. They could even choose a few different kits and use a few different tuning styles and provide a bunch of samples on their website. I realize that I will never be able to predict exactly how the head will sound on my kit by hearing what it will sound like on another kit, but it would be a hell of a lot more helpful than telling me that a head is ****, bright, open, or focused. Hell one of the words used to describe the tone of every drumhead has been banned from this very forum. Idk maybe they already do this, but if they don't I think it would be a great idea. just being able to hear how one head sounds relative to another would make choosing the right head so much easier.

[brandondrury]

This sounds like a phenomenal idea!! In fact, I'll need to put some research and make sure that no one has done this before. I could hire this kick ass engineer I know (and amazing drum tuning guy) and we could go to town.

I'm writing this one down. I think it would be a HUGE help to drummers who aren't sure about their heads.

Of course, it won't be a perfect scientific test, but screw it.

Brandon

[xBTWATWDx]

Good luck Brandon, let me know how it goes.

[thesilentdrummer]

Those descriptions piss me off too!

As far as I know, It has not been done with drum heads. On the Zildjian website, though, they have a sound preview for all of their cymbals (in playing around with this, I found the Oriental Crash of Doom. Who wouldn't want to buy a cymbal called the Crash of Doom!?!?!?). That aside, Cymbal samples aren't that important because you can go over to your guitar center, where all their cymbals are on display, and hit a cymbal. If you like the sound, you buy it.

With a drum head, you can't do that. First, most of the sample kits on display still have stock heads on them. Second, even if a set has some real heads on it, thats what, 1-4 sets featuring a max of maybe 20 heads (if a different brand of head was used on each drum of 4 5-piece sets). Third, you can't easily switch out a drum head. You need to take off one, put the new head at the point of contact, tune up ridiculously high, seat the head, tune back down, then actually tune the head, attempting to find the sweet spot. This process can take 30-60 minutes if you really want the most out of your tunning.

So what I am trying to say is that a drum head sampler would be AWESOME, as long as it were treated like a science experiment (with a controlled mic capture system, using the same drum set, that kinda crap). Then, like stated, the heads could be tuned to something like 3 or four different tuning styles, like standard (res head = bat head), res tuned higher than bat, bat tuned higher than res, and fat (lowest note w/o distortion, then down half turn on each lug). I'm sure the Drum Engineer know common tunings, so I wouldn't mess with what he said.

[brandondrury]

as long as it were treated like a science experiment

This gets VERY tricky. You almost need a machine that hits the same way twice with the same velocity in the same spot. You need climate control (especially with the humidity). Keeping the mics int he same place isn't a big deal.

Brandon

[thesilentdrummer]

I think mic placement (and using the same mic obviously) is the most important part.

[brandondrury]

I think mic placement (and using the same mic obviously) is the most important part.

Non-scientific mic placement says that you should always put the mic where it sounds best, obviously. Okay, so with the scientific test do we adjust the mic to where it sounds best with each head? I know that if one head has less attack and more ring, I'd mic it differently than if it had tons of attack and no ring.

I'm guessing in this case, we are looking only for "accuracy" of the recording and therefore should leave it in the same place.

Brandon

[xBTWATWDx]

I wouldnt worry about such a scientific method. just have someone play the same 20 second tom groove/sequnce of fills over and over on each head/tuning setup. as long as there is some kind of consistancy in each take, one should be able to hear the difference between each head, which is the whole point.

I thihnk that it is important to have the same mic placement for each tom. The experiment is to see how different heads sound in the same environment.