When it comes too being to possessed too drum sounds yes and no.I for one know what i like but when it comes to the sound man thats a different story.In recording its the sound man as i call them tells me what sound he is looking for when iam doing recording i will take many different drums say like 3 bass drums 20" they seem to like that size maybe a Ludwig,Camco,Rogers.Toms 10",12",14",16" never a 13" or 15" again sound man dont like the sound of them again different makes Ludwig,Gretsch,Rogers,S/L.I will also mix the drums up say Gretsch bass,Ludwig,S/L,Camco, Rogers toms..Now when it comes to snare drum thats the hard part i will take up to 25-30 drums again Ludwig,Rogers,camco,Ete,ete wood and metal shells different sizes always 14" head but from anywere from 3" deep to 8" deep..All drums are Vintage from 1930s-70s..Heads Remo P/S on top of all drums,clear on bottom...Now when it comes to live playing i always play a match set Ludwig,O.C.D.P.,ete and will play with a 13",and 15" toms heads Remo black dots on top,clear on bottom i will let the sound man deal with the sound ..Mikey

From the audience's perspective: Did it go 'Boom'?

Soundman's: Can you muffle that? Its ringing like crazy causing feedback....

Drummer's: Damn, my 12 is out of tune, hope no one notices...

Most people won't notice or care about tuning. I've met tons of drummers who didn't know you even supposed to tune drums. I notice when watching or listening to other bands, but that's me. On the radio or CD, record? Couldn't tell you what it was, maybe have a decent guess, but more importantly, does it fir the music? What about the part he played? ...........

Currently I have a Marantz 6300 DD turntable and a Marantz 2230 receiver with a pair of Norman Laboratories bookshelf speakers. I also have a Pioneer multi disc CD player. The 2230 has a nice warm sound for a solid state.

The thing with drums sound: I agree one can get a good sound with good heads on any drumset, which means that you can get all anal about the sound of the drums, or simply move on, and play them. Any musical instrument has a commitment level far higher than a stereo because you have to put your energy directly into it in order to get music, and what you get is your own, even if it is another person's song.

There's another factor that I noticed back in the 80s when I went to Berklee that I call the "acoustic factor". This factor, trademark 2010 by Pounder, is my feeling that any acoustic instrument played without additional sound reinforcement will sound much richer because there are not speaker cones and electrical wires sending an analog signal into them. By this mode of thought, a TERRIBLY CRAPPY SET OF DRUMS SOUNDS BETTER THAN A MILLION DOLLAR HIFI SETUP..

Sorry about that, feel free to flame at will.

No fire and brimstone from me. I agree completely!

Mikey777,

I found your comments very thought provoking.

I don’t have experience in a recording studio, but based upon what you said, having the inventory of different drums to draw from…knowing the different sound characteristics of the different drums you own… you have a sense of what makes the most sense for the type of session and music you are recording.

As you suggest the sound guy or the artist you are recording with might have a very definite sound that they want to hear.

It is perhaps like having a large medicine cabinet full of different pills (drums) for different ailments…..what pill makes sense for you?

Neat stuff.

Years ago I changed all my tom heads (on two sets) for oil filled Evans hydraulic heads…for whatever reason I did not want the resonant sustain of other heads.

I never looked back or thought about it after that.

I still have every other head I ever owned in their original boxes…including skin heads (Amraco)? …I can’t remember what they were called.

Sometimes I look at the stack of drum head boxes and remember the great drum sound quest that I experimented with back then.

Did I become wiser for the exercise….I doubt it?

David

David, AMRAWCO -American Raw Hide Manufacturing CO. look familiar?

"A drum is no better than its drumhead."

Great stuff! Rogers was a major calfskin drumhead maker.. that's how they got started. Evans hydraulics! Those give a great thud sound very durable, otherwise somewhat similar to calfskin? I need to get me a full set of calfskin heads for my ludwigs.. Ringo, man!

Why, J...thanks for the compliment!

My crappy drums sound better than your Marantz...woohooo!!!!

I think the first snare drum I owned was a WFL badge white drum…grade school.

My old drum teacher Jack Emerson taught us Sousa march charts.

AMRAWCO calfskin heads were the only thing I can remember from those days….early 60s.

(I still have some calfskin heads without the boxes.)

I don’t think plastic heads were available then.

Thanks vintagemore2000 for the photo of the AMRAWCO drum head "box"….I don’t have one of those….you really are a drum historian.

Pounder, interesting that you think the Evans Hydraulics had a bit of the calfskin sound?

Anyway---that is where I ended up….without the issues of humidity …and constant re-tuning .....and a sound that I "guess I liked at that time".

And then I forgot about the whole drum head subject.

David

Photos 3 & 4 show the original calfskin heads I think I had on this floor tom.

(My memory is not as good as it it once was.)

Yes, it is most definitely possible! While there is a lot to consider in terms of quality of sound, drum heads, etc, I think we place too much importance on it within the context of music as a whole. Whether or not drums sound like junk or a million dollars, it's unfortunately just not as important to the average listener as we would like to think. I would say that the player's skill, groove, and touch are exponentially more important to the music, which is what this is all about anyway.

A lot of the old jazz guys, whose sound many try to emulate, used the same, worn out drum heads for YEARS. I'm talking heads that were so beat up, they were cranked all the way down just to stay taut. I've seen some of these guys around NYC, and their heads must have been bought in the 60's or 70's. But when they play they sound like absolute heaven. I've never once thought, when seeing one of these guys, "Well they sound pretty good, but just imagine how much better they would sound with nice new heads!"

Thanks,

Bill