Muffling - Do You or Don't You?

Was out of drumming for a while but got back into it and now have an acoustic kit. It's been some time since I have tried the black art of tuning a drum. Years ago I had a set of Ludwigs with power toms and back then used a round sticky foam ring that was about an inch smaller than the diameter of the drum. The ring adhered to the underside of the batter head, (inside the drum) and gave them a good thuddy sound but not too dead.

Fast forward to today and I am currently trying to get a good tom sound out of my mounted tom (13"). I'm starting there for now to see what head combination works the best. I found that both a coated Emperor over a clear Ambassador or a clear Emperor works well but there is a bit too much ring to the tom. It seems sacrilegious to stick something to the underside and the ring is not that bad but bad enough that I'd like to reduce it so my question is as follows:

Do you muffle your toms and if so what type of muffling device do you use? (moongel, gaffers tape, etc., and how or where do you use it)

I also realize that what the audience hears is not what I hear so the other question would be: will the small but somewhat annoying ring really matter? The obvious answer would be to have them set up at a gig and have someone else play the drums while I go out where the audience will be sitting to make that determination but I'd like to get these sounding as good as possible before trying to fiddle with them at the gig.

Your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

I do not muffle any of my drums, including my bass drum. You can do all the tone control you need with thicker heads.

No muffling here. Although for micing purposes, I do still stick a blanket in the bass drum, but basically the drum is wide open with either a Remo powerstroke 3 or an evans eq3 on the batter side with a wide open resonant head. And sometimes I still use an old home-made ring on my snare. But that's about it. Toms are wide open, all the time.

Do, slightly...for my fusion sized kit

I have a cut 3" thick foam piece that is basically fitted on the bottom of my 20" bass drum that touches both batter and reso head surfaces. It only spans from the 5-7 o'clock, so it isn't much. Just a little to take some of the overtone out. Negligible at best.

I also use moongels on the snare, 10" and 12" toms. The 14" floor is open.

The need to muffle varies depending on the venue, genre, the drums themselves, whether the drums are mic'd, and the sound desired.

So to answer the question, sometimes I do... sometimes I don't.

When muffling, on snares & toms I may use a wallet, a cutout head ring around the edge of the batter, tissue or paper towel gaffed to the head, a towel laying over part of the head, the drum's own muffler (if it has one) and on rare occasions, moon gel. But most often I simply make a loop of gaff tape - sticky side out and in sizes relative to the size of the drum and the amount of damping I want - and place gently on the edge of the head so the loop stands up, using multiple loops as required. The kick may get a small or large blanket, small or large pillow, and because I used coated EMAD batters almost exclusively, I can vary the damping from the "business end" as well.

Bermuda

bermuda said:

The need to muffle varies depending on the venue, genre, the drums themselves, whether the drums are mic'd, and the sound desired.

So to answer the question, sometimes I do... sometimes I don't.

When muffling, I may use a wallet, a cutout head ring around the edge of the batter, tissue or paper towel gaffed to the head, a towel laying over part of the head, the drum's own muffler (if it has one) and on rare occasions, moon gel. But most often I simply make a loop of gaff tape - sticky side out and in sizes relative to the size of the drum and the amount of damping I want - and place gently on the edge of the head so the loop stands up, using multiple loops as required.

Bermuda

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I did that with duct tape for ...what seems like ever. Kind of looked like an Ohm symbol when standing on the drum head. I spent a great long while experimenting with moongel and seeing, depending on what head is on the drum, what position makes it sound like XXX. Unfortunate, not many of us are funded enough to have the freedom to experiment and change heads depending on the venue. I'd say a lot of up and comers have no clue what the venue is like before they arrive.

Curious...how do you use your wallet as a muffle?

No mufflers here either.

Though I did make a 1/2 inch ring out of my first DW stock head for the snare. Even then, probably won't even use that unless recording.

I noticed the other day that when the hats and cymbals start crashing, riding and chiming along with the drums - what was once a ring coming from the snare, has all but disappeared.

I went from stock DW heads (single ply AMBASS) to coated G2's on all toms. I concur with Deathmetalconga. Get some good double plys perhaps. Thick enough for ring control, but not too much where you've smothered the tone. Coated EC2's provide good ring control too.

Moongel is a popular fix because you can remove and adjust it easier than buying the wrong head. I have yet to pick some up though.

A set of Remo (or other brand) tone control or Zero rings are cheap and easily removable. That and the moongels can be tailored to suit your need or mood.....

I used to heavily dampen, then gradually as my tuning ability got better I started using less and less, I don't use any now.

Generally no muffling.....
- sometimes a felt strip in the KD and a different beater (wood / felt / fluffy)
- sometimes aquarian rings on the toms and snare

I muffle my kick, with a custom made muffler. It's like a homemade internal muffler like they used to put on old drums, except I adust it differently.

Everything else wide open.
I love ringing drums. I think they sound bright and lively.
Anybody tape the undersides of their rides?

I haven't used any muffling on my drums for a long, long time. Studio drums sound and feel weird to me but they need to be muffled. Thud. I always feel I need to lay into studio drums a bit more than on my own drums.

I like ringy, singing drums. Doesn't work for every kind of music, though, I guess.

Tape on cymbals? Aw, Larry.

I usually don't use any muffling on any of my toms or my snare. I do however put a small blanket inside my bass drum. I also make sure to port the front head, which I believe also shortens the decay of the sound.

con struct said:

I haven't used any muffling on my drums for a long, long time. Studio drums sound and feel weird to me but they need to be muffled. Thud. I always feel I need to lay into studio drums a bit more than on my own drums.

I like ringy, singing drums. Doesn't work for every kind of music, though, I guess.

Tape on cymbals? Aw, Larry.

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+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1!!!
The first time that I was in a studio way back in the 70's I played the House Studio kit with muted drums and tape on the pies. I said to myself, Never Again!
I now play my drums in a studio just as I play them live. I take the time to make them sound natural and organic. The way that drums should sound!
I recently had an offer to do a home studio thing. The only hook was that I would have to play an E-Kit. I flatly turned it down!
I am bringing my acoustic kit to the session this Saturday.
I don't know if I have won the battle and lost the war yet, but time will tell!

sticksnstonesrus said:

Curious...how do you use your wallet as a muffle?

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Lay it right on the snare... oldest trick in the book!

Bermuda

JFTR, (just for the record) I don't tape the bronze. I've seen it though. Doesn't bother me as much as tape on drums does.

I always thought the wallet would get in the way, plus I would think it would move around, and if your snare is tilted, forget it. Obviously never tried it.
And I thought the oldest trick in the book was where someone pulled your finger. I'm not really trying to be argumentive, even though it sounds that way.

The wallet is the Ringo trick, right?

Like Bermuda said the need to muffle will depend on the situation.

This is what i do most often:

Bass Drum: The classic Simon Phillips rolled towel.

Toms: Wide open

Snare: If needed, zero ring (i make them out of old drum heads).

Of course, a roll of duct tape is always around for any needed "adjustments."

Proper heads and tuning will always go a long way to preventing needless muffle. Occasionally I'll throw a Zero Ring on my very ringy steel snare. And I have a rolled-up towel in the bass drum just touching the batter. Other than that - let em ring! And guess what? They sound GREAT miked up!

Generally, my snare and toms are unmuffled unless the venue requires it. The only muffling I use on a regular basis is on my kick; a strip of felt on my reso and a (premuffled) SKIII batter head.

Actually, now that I remember, I have a Focus-X head on my floor tom reso. I tried it to tame the excessive overtones just a shade. It just so happened that it worked.