Least Ringy Snare Shell?

[loach71]

I actually prefer the oingy boingy overtones and don't consider it badly tuned at all. I consider drums with clean overtones to be fairly insipid sounding.

This is what I consider a great drum sound, from one of the most successful drummers ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikT8eD4mUU4

I listened to Bernard Purdy's drums on the YouTube link. These drums are 'open tuned' in my book -- not 'oingy-boingy.' If you can remember hearing the sound made by the bouncing of the red synthetic rubber dodge balls made by Voit then you have experienced 'oingy-boingy'.

Open tuning with proper resonance reminds me of a 'calfskin headed' tympani-like response -- not the flat / dead response of drums damped to death with moongel, pillows, over-used deadening rings, or gaffers tape.

Tim

 

[loach71]

Frequency to Musical Note Lookup Table

http://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/freqtab.htm

 

[Andy]

I would say that any softwood would be too mechanically weak to make a durable and reliable and 'tuning repeatable' drum.

I'm assuming that by "softwood" you're referring to non broadleaf species group. Some softwoods are fairly hard, & even some of the basic pine species are harder than some hardwoods frequently used successfully for drum making (such as mahogany). Hardness (Janka scale) is not necessarily an indication of mechanical strength or stability.

I would look at a strength of materials chart to ascertain the shell material with the least flex and highest strength.

Shell construction plays a massive roll in resistance to flex & other physical strength / resistance considerations - usually significantly eclipsing material choice. Shell construction (along with many other considerations) also dictates how prominent the audible affect of material choice is in the resolved sound.

My goal in drum tuning is to get that big, fat tone one would get from calfskin heads.

The calfskin heads themselves are largely responsible for those characteristics when tuned appropriately. They're high mass by comparison to many modern head forms, & also exhibit inconsistent thickness / structure.

 

[indedrum]

As usual, keep it simple nailed it. The ringing comes from the heads. To reduce it, you need a shell that absorbs energy from the heads. Soft, inefficient shell (luaun would be a good choice), fat roundover edges, and heavy hardware.

 

[loach71]

As usual, keep it simple nailed it. The ringing comes from the heads. To reduce it, you need a shell that absorbs energy from the heads. Soft, inefficient shell (luaun would be a good choice), fat roundover edges, and heavy hardware.

That is one way to accomplish the goal of a big, fat, warm tone. This however, if taken to the extreme will lead to a less responsive / sensitive drum system. My goal is to have the desired tonal characteristics along with the drum system sensitivity and responsiveness desired by may jazz and classical drummers.

I'm working up a paper (which I will present here) that deals with the drum as an acosutical / mechanical system. I'll try to eliminate the use of calculus so as not to bore the audience to death.

Tim