Taping drum heads

Remo Pinstripe. I know they are also double layer with the oil in between
There is no oil in a pinstripe. The rainbow you are seeing is the prismatic effect the double layers have on light as it passes between the two layers. I cant remember what it is called, but the heads separate the light into it's different color frequencies depending on the angle of view and light passing through.

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There is no oil in a pinstripe. The rainbow you are seeing is the prismatic effect the double layers have on light as it passes between the two layers. I cant remember what it is called, but the heads separate the light into it's different color frequencies depending on the angle of view and light passing through.

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Wow. I wasn't aware of that. It just goes to show you how dangerous it is to assume anything.
 
Wow. I wasn't aware of that. It just goes to show you how dangerous it is to assume anything.
I'm not sure why other double ply heads dont do it. Perhaps the glued area creates an air pocket in the center.

I believe the Evan's Hydraulics do have oil between the layers. Not 100% on that though.
 
I'm not sure why other double ply heads dont do it. Perhaps the glued area creates an air pocket in the center.

I believe the Evan's Hydraulics do have oil between the layers. Not 100% on that though.

I'm 100% sure that my Evans Hydraulics have oil in between the layers.
 
I generally go wide open, but there are times when a piece, or half a piece of Moongel is useful. It's tare I use it at all and if so, it's on the snare or some sort of extra drum e.g. my Pandeiro.

Gel is easy to put on and take off, so that would be the main reason to use that. Tape is just a mess IMO.

Placement on a regular drum would be close to the edge, usually.

When it comes to Why? Is it worth it? etc.. This is all up to your own ears and what works in each particular musical situation.

If you find yourself covering up heads in lots of tape it's probably time to try a different head or tune differently.
 
I’m in the no/minimal muffling camp. But there are times when a muffled sound is what the music calls for. Here’s 2 great players, for example, with polar opposite drum sounds.


 
There is no oil in a pinstripe. The rainbow you are seeing is the prismatic effect the double layers have on light as it passes between the two layers. I cant remember what it is called, but the heads separate the light into it's different color frequencies depending on the angle of view and light passing through.

View attachment 95553
I can vouch for that having destroyed one or two over the years!! (y) ?
 
I’m in the no/minimal muffling camp. But there are times when a muffled sound is what the music calls for. Here’s 2 great players, for example, with polar opposite drum sounds.


I def love the focused dry sound much more. The clear heads and no dampening sounds like garbage to me and his set is overkill... but again... to each their own. Dry drums are meant to be heard up close, high resonating drums need to be heard at a distance. I’d say knowing which of the two you fall in for your style is a great starting point. The dead muffling vid leaves a little to be desired though, I’d have mic’d differently and chose different routing/settings for individual and group distortion/compression. Muffled leans towards 60’s 70’s rock. Great vids, thanks for that audible comparison!
 
All instruments develop bass tone as the sound moves away from the source...with bass guitar a nasaly tone on stage will sound lovely out in the audience same with drums.....keep ur drums open and not muffled on stage and it'll develop by the time it hits the audience. Lush and dampened on stage will go to boom and mush on the floor.
 
I def love the focused dry sound much more. The clear heads and no dampening sounds like garbage to me and his set is overkill... but again... to each their own.
Dude! You just called Simon Phillips’ drum sound garbage?! I get where you’re coming from. I’m a Simon kind of guy, but it’d be boring if we were all the same wouldn’t it? (y) :)
 
All instruments develop bass tone as the sound moves away from the source...with bass guitar a nasaly tone on stage will sound lovely out in the audience same with drums.....keep ur drums open and not muffled on stage and it'll develop by the time it hits the audience. Lush and dampened on stage will go to boom and mush on the floor.
Absolutely not true, unless you choose to not use close mic’ing and have an incompetent FOH mixing engineer. Speaking from years of live sound experience.
 
Dude! You just called Simon Phillips’ drum sound garbage?! I get where you’re coming from. I’m a Simon kind of guy, but it’d be boring if we were all the same wouldn’t it? (y) :)
You are right, I’m sorry to tare him down like that lol. That was a bit savage, I apologize. But yes, everyone is different, and that’s the way it should be ☺️
 
Absolutely not true, unless you choose to not use close mic’ing and have an incompetent FOH mixing engineer. Speaking from years of live sound experience.
Sorry I meant say un-miced. tho to be fair Ive been to many concerts where its the usual boom and mush...YMMV
 
I've experimented with a variety of tapes, tone-control rings, and so on over the years but have left them all behind for wide-open tunings. My bass drum is the lone exception. There I use a small black pillow manufactured by Pearl.
 
Before I learned how to tune I'd slap tape all over everything with 3-4 moon gels and I'd be good2go! Now I strive to use zero additional muffling on any of my drums, if you're unsure of how to tune check out Rob Brown's YouTube series on tuning, he makes it easy and it will help you get good results!

You can put it on either head but I'd put it on the resonant side, you can use duct tape or gaffers tape, the gaffers tape shouldn't leave any residue if you decide to take it off but duct tape definitely will. Scotch tape wouldn't really do very much. I've seen people do a big X with electrical tape on the resonant side head and also taping Moon Gels on the batter head up close to the hoop.
 
I often use thick double sided tape to muffle my snare. 34E3E18E-64D7-42E5-B045-A2D79A4A3E7E.jpeg
 
thank don henley for that. of course ringo's drums were muffled on later recordings.

but henley abused the frikkin' privilege!!! how much duct tape, foam, wallets, kotex can you put on one drum??????
With the kotex, do you just push it into the little vent hole? Never thought of that!
 
Reading through all these comments...Does the "never muffle" thing go for control rings too?
I have only been behind my set. Never recorded.
 
I'm 100% sure that my Evans Hydraulics have oil in between the layers.
Yeah Hydraulics definitely have oil between the layers, I believe they are the only head that does. I put I set on my little gigging kit to fatten them up and love it. I wouldn’t use them on bigger Toms, but on my tiny Yamaha Manu Katche Sig Kit they make the thing sound twice the size. Only muffling I use at the moment is the occasional moongel on my snare if I want that dead 70s sound, or if I’m getting just a little too much ring (and I have an emad on my bass drum with the lighter foam ring but other than that it’s wide open/ no muffling).
 
Yeah Hydraulics definitely have oil between the layers, I believe they are the only head that does. I put I set on my little gigging kit to fatten them up and love it. I wouldn’t use them on bigger Toms, but on my tiny Yamaha Manu Katche Sig Kit they make the thing sound twice the size. Only muffling I use at the moment is the occasional moongel on my snare if I want that dead 70s sound, or if I’m getting just a little too much ring (and I have an emad on my bass drum with the lighter foam ring but other than that it’s wide open/ no muffling).

I have the Evans Hydraulics on my Slingerland Stage Band kit. It's basically a 5 piece kit with a 20x14 bass drum, 8x12 and 9x13 mounted toms and a 14x14 floor tom. I also have a 10" roto tom and a 16x14 70's era Premier floor tom that both have the Evans on them that I've made a part of this kit. I actually like how they sound for the music I'm playing. But I think the drums can sound better with a more resonant batter head.
 
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