Drumhead questions (floor tom and bass drum)

JLoveDrums94

Senior Member
1. Is using a Clear Remo Pinstripe as the batter side with a Clear Remo Ambassador for the resonant side on a 16x16 floor tom not suppose to work? I ask because I tried that particular combination about half a year ago and I didn’t like it because it sounded like I was just hitting a dead piece of cardboard. I am, however thinking about pulling out the Pinstripe once again (because I found that using the stock head worked better)… just to see if maybe it would sound better to me now.

2. Would a half year old Pinstripe that I hardly used still be good to use again?

3. What, in your opinion, sounds better… a bass drum with a hole in the resonant side drumhead, or without the hole? And why? I ask because for as long as I had my drums, I never once changed the bass drumheads and I’m finally thinking about getting it done.

4. I always see bass drums with a hole in the resonant side drumhead, I also notice that drummers put pillows or stuffed animals inside the hole. Why do they do that, what is the point of it?
 
1. Is using a Clear Remo Pinstripe as the batter side with a Clear Remo Ambassador for the resonant side on a 16x16 floor tom not suppose to work? I ask because I tried that particular combination about half a year ago and I didn’t like it because it sounded like I was just hitting a dead piece of cardboard. I am, however thinking about pulling out the Pinstripe once again (because I found that using the stock head worked better)… just to see if maybe it would sound better to me now.

Depends on the context: I have a Yamaha RC set that came with clear Pinstripes over clear Ambassadors as stock. The set has a 16by16 FT and it sounds great to me with that set-up; but that was the sound I was after - especially in the studio. If you're not looking for a controlled/focused/dry sound then you're probably better of going with an unmuffled head. Other factors that will effect the "cardboardness" or otherwise of your drum's sound will be:
  • The hoops - triple flanged will broadly speaking sound more open than die-cast.
  • The lugs - less lugs on a drum and lugs that don't stretch the entire length of the shell will allow the shell to resonate more.
  • The tuning - if any head, Pinstripe or otherwise, is tuned up tight it will (again broadly speaking) resonate/project a lot better and louder than one tuned at Just-Above-Wrinkle.
  • The environment - your kit is never going to sound huge in the guest bedroom of your house: unless your guest bedroom is the size of The Albert Hall.

2. Would a half year old Pinstripe that I hardly used still be good to use again?

Don't see why not - as long as it's still intact and not dented or anything. I pull my Pinstripes out for occasional recording and use other heads for other situations and they do the job just fine.

3. What, in your opinion, sounds better… a bass drum with a hole in the resonant side drumhead, or without the hole? And why? I ask because for as long as I had my drums, I never once changed the bass drumheads and I’m finally thinking about getting it done.

Depends on the size of the hole. If the hole is only 2 or 3 inches across then the difference in tone is negligible. Obviously, the larger the hole - the less resonance you get from the head. As to what sounds "better" - again, depends what you like: the main reason people have holes in their BD resonant heads is for access. If you have a hole it's easier to put a microphone inside the bass drum and the resonant head will cut down on any sounds bleeding through to that mic from the rest of the kit as well as keeping the bass drum sound focused more inside the drum itself. It's a tad more complicated than that - but you get the idea?

4. I always see bass drums with a hole in the resonant side drumhead, I also notice that drummers put pillows or stuffed animals inside the hole. Why do they do that, what is the point of it?

Stuffing the Bass Drum muffles the heads and the drum overall. If you're playing in a small room/studio and you want that punchy hard THUD bass drum sound then a bit of padding inside the bass drum is a good idea. Most head manufacturers make bass drum batter heads that are pre-muffled and so require less/no internal damping. If you're playing in larger concert hall without microphones and you want the guy at the back to hear the bass drum then it's a good idea to leave the muffling out of the equation.

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#1. It could work, if a) the sound you want is on the "thumphy" side, meaning it has less high frequency overtone than a single ply head, and b) you know how to tune it. Given that you're still having problems tuning your snare, I suspect you're having the same problems with your toms.

#4. Kick drums with pillows inside it was a popular way of damping the heads from the 70s to the 90s. It is still used in situations when close-mic setup is used, because it controls the boom so as not to overload the mic, and make the sound punchy.
 
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