gaffer tape

[cravenbiker]

Hi Guys

I had my first drum lesson yesterday, kept my girlfriend awake for hours tapping my feet to the rythm. cant wait to get a set of sticks ( didnt realise that they were the first things i should have got and the shop is closed today)
anyway, when i was at the lesson yesterday there were bits of gaffer tape with tabs in the middle of` them on the snare and tom tom's, what is this for?
I thought maybe a target? please tell.

Tristan

[VedranS]

It's for muting the drums. I assume. Could be you have some wacky teacher with targets on their drums...Having fun so far?

[cravenbiker]

Sorry, just read that last post of mine and i correct myself.....the tape was off centre and were around the edges, when you say to muffle the drum, how does that work exactly?

I absolutely loved it, picked it up really quickly and half an hour seemed like 2 minutes, need to get a kit as im driving the GF crazy talking about going to find some drums somewhere that i could use.

[Salicete]

Tristan:

VerdanS is correct; many drummers use such techniques to dampen unwanted overtones and ring that their drums produce when struck. Ring and overtones can be described as discordant sounds and or harmonics produced as the drum, in its entirety, vibrates.

The Reader's Digest version is anything but the fundamental tone produced when the drum is struck.

The tape reduces the vibration produced by the batter (drum head) and thus dampens the sound.

I hope you are enjoying drumming thus far and will continue your studies. Drums really can be an addiction and really are a blast to play. I hope you progress quickly.

Now, go buy some sticks!

[cravenbiker]

HAHAHHA, thanks i will get some sticks in the morning on the way to work.

Why do they leave a smalll tab hanging off of them and why dont they just put the tape straight on?
is this to make it easier to ake it off if you want?

[jeffwj]

I'm glad to hear that you are having a good experience with lessons.

From my experience in teaching in stores and studios, the tape is probably there to limit the ring in a small room. It may also be a way of deadening the sound so it is not as annoying to the teachers in the rooms nearby. Your teacher would probably not play out with tape all over the heads.

Many drummers tend to favor no muffling at all. If you feel muffling is needed, I recommend finding a head that has natural muffling properties, such as a 2 ply (Remo Pinstripe or comparable). The mass of the 2 ply allows for a less ring. The Remo rings work well because they are not taped to the head and muffle the head evenly. See link.

http://www.interstatemusic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10051&langId=-1&productId=94434

Jeff

[rmandelbaum]

First of all welcome and I hope drumming give you as much fulfillment as it has many of us over the years.

I would like to comment and say part of what Jeff just said a different way.

Muffling is not best way to make drums sound good. I am sure the lesson drums are muffled because of the environment and it is not to achieve maximum tonal quality.

I am just saying this because you are obviously new to drumming and would hate for you to think this is the norm for good sounding drums. Tuning and head choice is a much better way to go.

[stasz]

Welcome to drumming! Glad to hear you enjoy it so far, and you've barely even started. And this is the place to be-- you can learn a lot about drummers and drumming on this forum.

Oh, and by the way... if you think you're bugging your girlfriend now, just wait until you get a kit... ; )

[cravenbiker]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen,
The kit that I was using was in a rehearsal studios in an industrial unit with 7 studios in it, the rooms were about 12ftx15ft with a cut out area for singers.

im not sure if all the drums in all the rooms had them as I only used one of them, obviously.

I cant wait to get back down there and get into it again, been thinkin anbout it all day and seriously need a set of drumsticks!!!!!!

Tristan

[ermghoti]

Why do they leave a smalll tab hanging off of them and why dont they just put the tape straight on?

It puts a little more tape in a smaller area. It prevents covering the entire head in tape, and it also focuses the muffling where it will do the most good, which I find to be about 1" from the rim, between lugs. I put the tape close to me, because then it's near impossible to hit the stuff.

[cravenbiker]

It puts a little more tape in a smaller area. It prevents covering the entire head in tape, and it also focuses the muffling where it will do the most good, which I find to be about 1" from the rim, between lugs. I put the tape close to me, because then it's near impossible to hit the stuff.


I see.......Thanks

T

[dcrigger]

In the politest way possible, I'd like to offer up a differing opinion on muffling.

The concept that it is always better to find a different type head when the sound you need or want can be achieved with judicious use of muffling is one I can't agree with. In my experience, little tweaks to a drum sound in a given setting can't always be solved through tuning - and changing heads is a time consuming luxury that many gigging situations just don't allow. Sometimes a little inside-out donut of gaff (or the original poster's teachers piece of gaff with a flap sticking up) is just the perfect little temporary muffler to roll off just a touch of over-ring.

And unlike a head change, when the gigs over, or the session's done, or you're in a different room; just pull the gaff off, throw it away and your back to wide open, ready to go.

Certainly, for myself, these days I'll bet my toms are wide open 95% of the time (though the a small little rolled up piece of gaff - smaller then a mini-Tootsie Roll - is not uncommon for me to have smooshed up against the rim of a snare drum). But yes, toms are usually wide open - but in a problematic room, or with a less than stellar backline kit, or for the right effect in the studio - I have zero problems with pulling out a roll of gaff... and solving the problem; quickly, subtly, temporarily and adjustably. In fact, gaff is my turn to device for most of my muffling needs (what little they are these days) - far preferred to zero-rings (usually too much; not adjustable without cutting them - then you have to tape them to hold still), or moongel (again the cutting to resize - and the coming unstuck when you re-position to much - or the washing to keep it sticky - too much maintenance... I have a hard enough time keeping my car running. ) :-)

But mainly it is the subtlety. Lots of difference between heads - lots of little teeny differences from positioning a small or medium loop of tape. So no, give me a head that is as open a sound as I might possible want/need, then let me custom tone it down in little increments if I need to. I see no reason to delegate muffling, which drummers (of all musical stripes) themselves have been in charge of forever and turn it over to factory head designers that are each limited to a handful of choices. No thanks.

Certainly I get the need to advise against over-doing muffling - an in-experienced players certainly have that tendency. But that doesn't eliminate the validity of the technique. Or how commonness of its practice... and not at all by just the in-experienced.

Again I respect there are lots of opinions about this - just offering up mine.

David

[dcrigger]

Oh and Tristan - congrats from me as well on your adventure into taking lessons. Best of luck with that.

Have fun,

David

[cravenbiker]

Oh and Tristan - congrats from me as well on your adventure into taking lessons. Best of luck with that.

Have fun,

David

Thanks David

And thanks for the opinion on the muffling jobby......

Tristan