Reusing heads + towel configurations for BD muffling?

Are there any negative effects observed when a drum head is taken off a drum and put back on? I know with guitar/bass strings, sometimes they unwind (especially with improper crimping) and deaden out if you loosen em.
So i was wondering if there were any hazards to taking off and putting on a drum head.

I ask because I'm going to put a remo PS3 on my bass drum and at least for the time being, I don't want to port it. But I'm experimenting with a bunch of different muffling configurations, so it'd be nice if I could undo a 'mistake' if I decide I don't like it.

So far I've found that throwing in a towel and letting it rest in the drum gives me the best mix of resonance and muffling. Rolling up the towel and putting it up against the batter side muffled the sound way too much for me.
However, I don't want to be at a loss if I can't undo this or if I find the towel moves to much.

Please give me your input on towel setups and whether there will be any alteration in the head's fidelity if I take it off and put it back on.

Thanks,
Mike
 
You're not going to see much, if any, change in the sound of the head by taking it off and putting it back on. Some strain and stretching happens when you first tune the head, but not to the extent that happens with guitar strings. Whereas strings are wound metal that fatigues noticeably, heads are plastics that have much more elasticity and return more to normal when tension is taken off them.
 
Not a problem; Heads can be exchanged without any ill effects.
Have fun experimenting!
 
Another good and old technique is to use strips of felt between head nad shell.
 
One thing I recently tried and really like for muffling my bass drum is putting a washcloth over the top of your bass pedal and securing it with rubber bands. This allows the bass drum to still have a "full" sound instead of the cardboard sound you get when putting pillows inside the bass drum.

Try and it out see if you like it.
 
One thing I recently tried and really like for muffling my bass drum is putting a washcloth over the top of your bass pedal and securing it with rubber bands. This allows the bass drum to still have a "full" sound instead of the cardboard sound you get when putting pillows inside the bass drum.

Try and it out see if you like it.

huh.
let me get this correct, but you're saying that I should cover the beater? Or some other part of the pedal? I don't really see where else the 'top of the bass pedal' could be...
 
Back
Top