Resonant heads: 2 ply, coated or muffled

How do you tame boomy floor toms, making them less "bouncy" without having the sharp attack of a thick batter?

Because a 2 ply or muted batter changes the stick attack, I thought of keeping the batter reasonably unmuffled and change the bottom head instead. I tried a 2 ply reso, it made the tom sound lower and deeper but not shorter. Very nice.

Now I'd like to hear Onyx bottom heads. They should further reduce the pitch. I also wonder if anyone tried 2 ply resos on rack toms.

Then I dropped an O-ring inside the drum to rest against the bottom head. Result: shortened sustain but the stick attack and sensitivity of a 1 ply unmuffled head are preserved. I think that's basically what an EC resonant does.

Anyone tried 2 ply, coated or muffled bottom heads? If you have those O-rings, don't put them on the drum but in the drum

I'd think a 2 ply head on the bottom of a tom would sound awful, but that's just me.

One trick I've seen for floor toms to to put a handful of cotton balls inside the drum. When you hit the drum, the cotton balls fly up and let the head resonate, but then they come down and cut off the head from continuing to resonate forever.

But personally, I've never muffled my floor toms in anyway.

I like the cotton ball trick idea! Sounds like elegant simplicity!

Two ply resonant heads sounds a little scary! Though, I *have* been using coated Emperors over coated Ambassadors. This works pretty nice for me. Still a smidge ringy, though.

-Ryan

Don't judge before trying it. Why would a 2 ply reso be any more "scary" than a 2 ply. I described a 2 ply reso as being less intrusive than stuffing anything inside the shell. That's what my ears tell me.

Don't judge before trying it. Why would a 2 ply reso be any more "scary" than a 2 ply batter.

I described a 2 ply reso as being less intrusive than stuffing anything inside the shell. That's what my ears tell me. I also wrote that the 2 ply reso does not shorten the sustain. It darkens it.

I tried clear ambassadors one time on my tom batters, and they were so resonant and ringy that I put some clear pinstripes on the resos to try and tame them. It didn't really make that much of a difference to my ears, though it may have out front. I imagine it would make more of a difference with 2 plies on both sides. Or, you could try the Evans G plus which are one ply, but thicker than typical one ply heads. The coated ones would give you an even darker sound.

To reduce the sustain and length of decay of your toms, especially floor toms, you can find a great deal of success in shortening the sustain and having the drums sound punchier and rounder by having the bottom head tuned higher than the top. I have run Evans G2 clears or Remo clear emperors over clear ambassadors forever, as many a rock drummer does, and have had great success with powerful sounding toms with just the right amount of sustain by tuning the bottom heads a minor third (three half steps) higher than the top head. More info on this is in the tom tuning thread starting at post #69. Having different types of resonant heads such as 2 ply, muffled, hydraulic etc. will change the characteristics of the drum's sound, but may not achieve the shortened sustain and decay that you seek. I would try tuning in the manner I described to see what you get. Just my 2 cents worth........

Actually, yeah, tuning the bottom head tighter makes a lot of sense. It will normally allow you to tune the batter head a little lower (hopefully not to wrinkle point), which will give you a little bit of a fatter sound.