Install drumhead

Whether you use drum dampening, and how much you use, depends entirely on the sound you want. Different situations call for different amounts, and many drummers choose to use absolutely no dampening on their drums at all. So why it better to tune well, rather than just adding some dampening? When tuning drums, the key thing to remember is to have each lug tuned to the same tension. Get this right, and you might not need to use drum dampening at all.

Of course there is more than one reason to use dampening on drums, but good tuning should be the starting point for any drum sound. Use dampening for the right reasons to achieve a specific drum sound , rather than the wrong ones covering up bad tuning technique.

Tip: For more on tuning, check out our drum tuning guide , extra drum tuning tips , or the Tune-bot drum tuner. A good example here is with microphones on your drum kit. Listen to how things sound through the mics, and adjust your drum dampening as needed.

A live show without mics might require different amounts of drum dampening compared to a show with mics across the entire kit. A recording studio usually needs different drum dampening compared to a live gig. Think about the best drum sound for you in all of these situations, and whether the drums are supposed to be front-and-centre, or more in the background of the mix. With microphones on your kit, the location of the drum dampening also becomes more important: Putting some dampening exactly where the microphone is pointed will mean the microphone picks up less ringing, compared to putting it elsewhere.

Again, use dampening to your advantage to get the sound you want from your kit, and use your ears to find what sounds best. Get someone else to play your drum kit, and walk away from it to hear how the sound changes.

Similar to the tip above, the ringing you hear will probably completely disappear once there are guitar, bass, vocals, and other things in the mix. Again, listen to how things sound when there are other instruments, and adjust your drum dampening as needed. Leaving things less dampened in these situations can sometimes give you a great drum tone, but experiment to see what sounds best to your ears.

The same amount of drum dampening on one drum might sound completely different on another. For example, a brass snare is naturally louder and more projecting than a maple snare, and so you may need to dampen it more in certain situations. Thicker dampening will have a greater effect on the sound. Drum dampening that covers more surface area will also have a greater effect on the sound. Thicker drum dampening will also have a greater effect on the sound.

You can get very different results depending on exactly where you put dampening on a drumhead. Adding drum dampening closer to where a microphone is pointing will have more effect on what that microphone picks up. There are dozens of drumheads with extra built-in dampening, but there are also a few key things to remember about all drumheads: Thicker heads will usually give a slightly more dampened drum sound compared to thinner heads.

Similarly, two-ply drumheads and three-ply drumheads will give you a slightly more dampened drum sound compared to single-ply drumheads. Higher frequencies are slightly reduced as drumheads get thicker and have more plies, leaving more emphasis on midrange and lower frequency tones. The most important thing here is to use drum dampening to get a specific sound, and to use your ears while doing it. The drum sound you need will likely change depending on your playing environment.

Some of the biggest names in drumming have used crazy and extreme drum dampening methods especially in the studio , because they have a specific drum sound in mind. There are two categories of drum dampening available: Built-in drum dampening, and add-on drum dampening.

All drumhead manufacturers have different drumheads available with built-in dampening. Built-in drum dampening can give anything from a subtle change in sound to very extreme amounts of drum muffling and control. Each type of built-in dampening will have a slightly different effect on your drum sound, so read on to figure out which is best for you. Control rings look like rings either printed or stuck onto the drumhead. These are one of the most common forms of built-in drum dampening, and the most varied… There are a huge range of drumheads out there with control rings.

These rings can range from thin to very thick, with thicker rings providing more dampening to your drums. Control rings are usually most effective at reducing overtones, stopping the strange ringing frequencies you hear when you hit a drum. Control rings can help if you have hard-to-tune drums, as they make the drumhead more tolerant to tuning problems.

Here are some typical examples of drumheads with control rings installed for dampening. Want to see more? Take a look at the huge range of Aquarian, Evans, and Remo drumheads with control rings for dampening.

Control dots are stuck to the center of a drumhead, and usually give a little more focus to the sound. When struck in the center on the dot , these drumheads will give slightly less overtones. For this reason, control dots are often used by hard-hitting drummers. Control dots are the only built-in drum dampening type found in the center of the drumhead. Compared to control rings above, control dots usually have less of a dampening effect although this can depend on the width and thickness of the dot.

Take a look at the huge range of Aquarian, Evans, and Remo drumheads with a top control dot or a bottom control dot. Evans is currently the only big drumhead brand with holes drilled towards the edge of a drumhead, with their Evans Dry range. While it may sound strange at first, the holes actually help to dampen the head. Or are the holes added…? The tiny holes are drilled very precisely, and they stop the drum from ringing out.

The result is less sustain and less overtones, with more focus on the initial attack. This drum dampening method is available in a few different Evans drumheads, with each one great for a particular playing style:. This is a form of drum dampening that is usually only used on bass drums. In the past, felt strips were added between the bass drum head and the drum shell to give the drum some dampening.

These days, you can buy bass drum heads with a built-in felt dampening strip, making installation much quicker and easier. Here are some of the best bass drum head options with felt dampening:.

Take a look at the range of Aquarian and Remo drumheads with felt dampening. Inlay rings are a form of built-in drum dampening used across a huge range of drumheads. These rings are always on the underside of the drumhead, and are attached at the metal hoop of the head. You can think of an inlay ring like an extra ply of film that was added to the head, but cut a few inches from where it is attached. Depending on their width, however, inlay rings can still have a large or small drum dampening effect.

Inlay rings are sometimes the only form of drum dampening built into a drumhead, but they can also be combined with other dampening types like some of the examples above. Here are some of the best drumheads with inlay rings for dampening:.

Take a look at the range of Aquarian, Evans, and Remo drumheads with inlay rings for dampening. Evans Hydraulic : Evans has a two-ply drumhead with a thin layer of oil between each of the plies. The result is a deep, punchy, and very dampened drum sound: Evans Hydraulic drumheads are a great way to stop drums from ringing out.

For people who want a focused short thud, these heads are great. If you hate overtones or have hard-to-tune drums , these are the heads for you. Put the head and counter hoop onto the drum.

Make sure the drum head is centered! Put some paraffin wax, silicon, or oil onto your rods, if needed. Put your palm onto the drum head and push down. If you hear cracking or popping, you're not breaking anything! The head is jut setting. Tighten the rods again. This time, you'll be applying light pressure on the hoop above the rod. Tune your new drum head. Old School Gamer.

Unscrew the bolts with a drum key, take off the head, put the new one over it, and screw the bolts back in over the new head with the key. Yes No. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 2. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. Synthetic drum heads are easier to install than animal skin drum heads. Helpful 2 Not Helpful 1. Keep a few drum heads on hand in case you need a new one at a bad time, especially if your desired drum head was hard to find.

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You Might Also Like How to. How to. This helps the head ride smoothly on the bearing edge. Set the drum on a flat surface and place the head and counter hoop on the drum. Make sure the head is centered to insure even tension. Finger tighten the tension rods. This is a good time to lubricate the rods if necessary. I like to use paraffin wax, but silicon, Vaseline , or a light oil will do.