Remo sounds like plastic?

Emperor on top ambassador for reso. Thats my tried and true combo for me. I would set aside a better part of a day on tuning your drums regardless of what kind of heads you use. try different tunings between the reso and batter heads. be patient take some notes on what works and what does not. Have some fun and try to make your drum you are working with sound as bad as possible and correct it from there. Thats how I learned back in the day, its very time consuming and fustrating when learning to tune drums. It will get better and easier the more you play with the tuning. I would highly suggest watching the vids that were suggested below.
 
Those Imperialstars sing pretty good with coated ambassador batter,or a powerstroke 3 batter if you like a little less resonance over a clear ambassador.I know the clears look cool but on those drums...you need to quiet the overtones some..hence the coated batter heads.

Steve B
 
Seeing as mylar is a plastic, yeah. Most drumheads will sound like plastic.

Any head can sound good with proper tuning.
 
You could always switch to real Calfskin heads.
They will never sound like plastic and I guaranty that you will learn how to tune!
You will have to tune them every time that the humidity and temp changes.
 
The Imperialstar kits come with heads that aren't the greatest.
You are on the right track by replacing both the batters and the reso heads.

The Imp's are good sounding drums and they tune well.
They have a warm sound.
When your toms are correct you should hear a "cooing" sound. That is how I best describe it. Like a Dove. That is the sound that you get when the bottom head is slightly higher in pitch than the top head and it harmonizes.

I spent a while messing with the tuning on the 13" today. I think I found a spot where the tuning would work, but the resonation sounds nasty. I'm bumping those Classic Clears to top priority. I'm almost positive my reso heads are killing my toms. The stock batter heads were bad, but the reso heads are outright horrible. As for all mylar sounding like plastic: yes, its gonna. But I've heard people complain that Remo sounds worse. Ill probably give coated Performance 2's a try. I don't dig the coated toms look but you have to compromise somewhere.
 
The Performance II heads are the deadest heads that I have ever played.
You will get almost no sustain from them at all.
If they are tuned loose they will just thump.
I kind of liked them tuned tight.
They are an extreme difference over the Emp's.

The Studio-X are pretty good. They have a moderate amount of control.
The EC1 and EC2 are also good for moderate control.
 
I spent a while messing with the tuning on the 13" today. I think I found a spot where the tuning would work, but the resonation sounds nasty. I'm bumping those Classic Clears to top priority. I'm almost positive my reso heads are killing my toms. The stock batter heads were bad, but the reso heads are outright horrible. As for all mylar sounding like plastic: yes, its gonna. But I've heard people complain that Remo sounds worse. Ill probably give coated Performance 2's a try. I don't dig the coated toms look but you have to compromise somewhere.


And there are an equal number of people that will say the same about Evans and Aquarian it's all opinion. If you thought the stock batters were bad well the reso's are the exact same head if you bought the kit new.

have you taken a chance to listen to them from in front of the kit? Keep in mind if you play out that sound will change in a heart beat when you get in a different room than the one you are in.

I honestly get the feeling that you are just looking for a reason to justify switching your heads to aquarian. If that's what you want get it.

Also there is no compromise to me when it comes to sound and heads. Sound out weighs the look of a head anyday!! If coated sounded better on my kit that's what I'd be using. After doing much testing with coated and clear from Evans and Remo the Clear Remo Emperor batter over Clear ambassador makes my kit sound great. The audience can't see your batter heads and to be honest they really don't care what kind of head you are using as long as it sounds good.
 
As kona says, If you want to change head brands then by all means do so.
All of the manufacturers make fine heads.
I use heads from all of the companies.

I like coated heads a great deal. I use them almost all of the time.
I like moderate control heads on my batters.
I use clear 10 mil single ply resos most of the time.

The Evans Genera Resonant is a bright sounding bottom head that I really like.
It brings out the highs.
 
You need to get those drums into a real playing environment once (like a big open room... say, a garage), and have someone play them while you stand out a ways. If you can do this in the context of a band (or a lot of music played through a stereo at band volume while your set is played), I think you will be amazed at how little the overtones and ring carry through to the listener in the crowd.

I have heard so many drumsets played live as if the drums were tuned to sound best to someone sitting behind them.Tthey are dead. They sound like cardboard boxes. Don't be afraid of a little ring! Tune in tiny increments. Sit and play with tuning. Muffle only if necessary.

I'm currently running coated G2s over clear G1s and I love the wide open sound. If I need any muffling at all, I grab a studio ring and it does the trick.
 
Does anyone else who uses clear Remo heads on their toms notice they sound plasticy? I hear other people complain of this, which I failed to notice before I bought them. I've used my Emperors for a few months and I just dont like them. I tuned to the best of my ability, and I can only get them to sound nice when I use a RemO tone ring on them. Without the ring....the best way I can describe the sound is like...a big bass drum with stock heads and no muffling: boomy and sounds like a wet fart. Tuning up the batter head just turns it into a plastic bucket. Tuning the reso head up just takes away some of the sustain, but it still sounds like a boomy wet fart. I'd really rather not use tone rings if I have to, but it seems like I must keep them with these heads. Does anyone else expirience a plastic sound and/or cheap quality from Remos heads?

I believe trying some different tuning ranges would help dramatically....tuning in the "wet fart" range will give you ....well ...a wet fart. I would try to avoid this sound as it may be personally very embarassing for you at times on a gig.
 
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