Good point Caddy.Just to clarify the original post...
You're saying that you have coateds over clears, and you tried it upside-down, which means clear over coated, and you liked that sound? If you like it, then go for it! Whatever sound YOU like is what's important, no matter the conventionality of it or not. Here are some factors to consider, though...
1. It may be that your coated head was used for a while (I don't know...the original post didn't say), and the resonant head had more resonance/tone due to the fact that it hadn't been hit with a stick.
2. Maybe you've gotten used to the sound of a coated head, and the clear head sound is novel and refreshing to your ears.
3. Some drum manufacturers cut the batter and resonant bearing edges differently to enable those heads to maximize their potential in their role of the drum's total sound. What kind of kit do you have? If this is the case, you might like the sound of all of your toms reversed...
I go back and forth between clear and coated quite a bit (live, studio, live, studio, live, studio....). I have concluded that I, personally, like the sound of coated over clear the best. When I play coated for a while, the sound of clears is appealing, but when I play clears for a while, the sound of coateds is amazing to me.
But as much as I enjoy hearing drummers play with coated heads, when I find myself playing one, I really can't get into them as I can with clear heads. It's just me.
Just to clarify the original post...
You're saying that you have coateds over clears, and you tried it upside-down, which means clear over coated, and you liked that sound? If you like it, then go for it! Whatever sound YOU like is what's important, no matter the conventionality of it or not. Here are some factors to consider, though...
1. It may be that your coated head was used for a while (I don't know...the original post didn't say), and the resonant head had more resonance/tone due to the fact that it hadn't been hit with a stick.
2. Maybe you've gotten used to the sound of a coated head, and the clear head sound is novel and refreshing to your ears.
3. Some drum manufacturers cut the batter and resonant bearing edges differently to enable those heads to maximize their potential in their role of the drum's total sound. What kind of kit do you have? If this is the case, you might like the sound of all of your toms reversed...
I go back and forth between clear and coated quite a bit (live, studio, live, studio, live, studio....). I have concluded that I, personally, like the sound of coated over clear the best. When I play coated for a while, the sound of clears is appealing, but when I play clears for a while, the sound of coateds is amazing to me.
Well, it sounds as if clear batter heads are for you, then.
If I were in your position, I would swap the heads (to clear over coated) and play them that way for a while, since you know that you like the sound. Then, eventually, get some new clears and try them out as reso heads (clear over clear). If you like that sound better, than you have your ideal head combination. If you like the clear over coated combo better, then hey, you've got yourself your next set of batters...
I wouldn't recommend clear over coated, but since you've got the heads and like the sound, go for it!
wow man thanks for the advice you cleared up what I should do lol.
I do have a clear emperor sitting around somewhere I will maybe try that out!
Are you being serious or sarcastic?
Sweet! What I did a while back was buy a whole slew of 14" heads (coateds, clears, 1-ply, 2-ply, fiberskyn, renaissance...you name it, I bought it). I tried them out on all of my miscellaneous snares and 14" toms. It's a time-consuming experiment, but the results I found totally made it worth it! I found out so much about head selection that way.
No i'm not being sarcastic lol, sometimes my comments sound like that, but i'm never sarcastic unless it's a funny situation haha.