Never ending tom resonance

[levih]

Hey guys. First time posting for me! I play a Yamaha Maple Custom with 12" and 16" toms that I've had huge success with in the studio, but live has given me the biggest headache! I haven't been able to get the "doo" with good low warm tone and short sustain that I'm looking for, so this last Saturday before a gig on Sunday I switched out my heads to try something new and ended up with a headache of infinite sustain on my toms instead!

So trying to find the right sound, I switched to some Remo Ambassadors for resonant heads and Remo Emperor for batter, both clear, and the oddest thing happened. I developed infinite sustain and resonance on my toms! The floor particularly. I could NOT stop it. I should have switched them back right away, but I didn't notice the infinite sustain until the next day when playing through mics since it was a low sustain.

Through some moongel I finally got something decent (but not pretty) out of it, but no matter how high or low I tuned the heads, whether the reso head was higher, lower, or a match to the top head, the resonance never stopped without using another object like moongel.

Has anyone ever had this happen before? I was under the impression that changing head styles wouldn't effect the sound THAT much (if they were reliable heads to begin with, and not old, I'm specifically talking brand/style)

I've only used Evans heads before, but havn't found exact tone I want. That's why I tried the remo combo, thought it'd be about the same as G1/G2 combo. Here's what I've used before now:
Batter: G2 clear, EC2, EC1
Reso: G1 clear, EC Reso

Just ordered some coated G2 heads to go with a G1 clear on the bottom. We'll see how that goes. If anything I'll just go back to G2 clear top/G1 clear bottom since I know that's an alright sound, just not exactly what I'm looking for. Thoughts?

[atomcorr2]

well i think your using heads that are made to to do that ,,, try a remo pinstripe, but there is nothing wrong with having a few moongels on your heads, its exactly what they are made for . ive heard a set of drums that had ambos on the top and bottom ,the guy had 3 moongels on the batter and 2 on the reso head ,, his drums sounded fantastic . just fool around with some moongels , you might be suprized...

[Warren Wright]

Here is an idea on heads for you: I play the Yamaha Oak Customs and I put Aquarian Focus-X coated on the batter side...Remo Emperor clear on the reso side. The record really good and they play live really good. Tuning the reso lower than the Batter side gives you a nice deep tone with a perfect amount of sustain and tone...live or in the studio either one. Tuning the reso higher than the batter will give you more sustain but still manageable with these heads. Just a suggestion~!

[1E&Ah2E]

I bought a used set of 1997ish Tama Rockstars last April, they sound great but for to, to, way to, long. The toms are 14" 16" & 18". After months of being a tighting, loosing tighting, loosing, & repeat, change style, tighting, loosing, whore.
Remo Powerstroke 3 are now produced in tom sizes and now I'm a born again virgin.

[levih]

well i think your using heads that are made to to do that ,,, try a remo pinstripe, but there is nothing wrong with having a few moongels on your heads, its exactly what they are made for . ive heard a set of drums that had ambos on the top and bottom ,the guy had 3 moongels on the batter and 2 on the reso head ,, his drums sounded fantastic . just fool around with some moongels , you might be suprized...

Thanks man. Yeah I realize the G1's on the bottom might have a little more ring to them, but I really don't want to dead'n these drums, and I feel like when I put EC2s on top that's kind of what happens.

SO, I stayed up till 1AM last night experimenting with heads and moongel and finally got something I think our sound guy will appreciate. Evan's G2 coated on top and EC Reso on bottom. 2-3 moongel on top and one on reso too.

The 12" is sounding great. I'm getting a perfect "doo" with short decay but still an audible note for sound engineer to work with. The 16" is getting something similar, a clear "doo", but when the short tone fades I still get a small hum from the 16" that seems to never end. It may be small enough that the engineer can cut it out. It's just so annoying that it's still there.

I think I may try and cut up an old 16" head and use it as a dampening ring before practice today. Afraid it might dead'n the heads too much though.

[levih]

Here is an idea on heads for you: I play the Yamaha Oak Customs and I put Aquarian Focus-X coated on the batter side...Remo Emperor clear on the reso side. The record really good and they play live really good. Tuning the reso lower than the Batter side gives you a nice deep tone with a perfect amount of sustain and tone...live or in the studio either one. Tuning the reso higher than the batter will give you more sustain but still manageable with these heads. Just a suggestion~!

Yeah, I have yet to try any Aquarian heads! Time is always such an issue. I would like to tune the bottom head lower than the top to get the tone I like more with the heads I have now, but every time the reso is lower I feel like the batter gives off a nasty higher bounce frequency.

[wolvie56]

I would like to try those DW heads with the white dampening ring made by remo that DW kits usually come with. But for you, I would keep the Remo ambassadors on reso and get some Remo pinstripes if your looking for that short sustain rock thud. Almost all heads require additional dampening depending on how much your toms ring out. I've found that pins require the least. But having said all that, what I've found is that I can tune my reso's high to retain some resonance, while using Evans dampening rings to shorten the sustain. I still have the short sustain rock thud I like, but the drums don't sound choked, or deadened like I'm hitting plastic.

[atomcorr2]

for your sound guy it should be a no brainer... tell him he needs a couple noise gates . with the noise gates the toms can ring forever ,the gate will cut off the ring. very easy.

[kyle102565]

go coated G2 over G1 clear.
are you hearing ring in recordings or just on the throne?
i wind my resos a bit higher than i should and it took care of my ring on a few different heads.

[onegourd]

ever try a coated head on the reso's? ambassadors do it for me.

[quikstang2]

I'm a Remo guy, so I'd second what atomcorr2 or onegourd suggested with either using Pinstripe batters or coated versions of what you have now. Personally, I like the longer sustain of the Emperor/Ambassador combo. I switched to that from a Pinstripe/EbonyAmbassador combo.

[levih]

Hey guys, just an update. I ended up just working with the G2 coated on batter and EC Reso on bottom, a two moongels on the top head of head, and it's sounding pretty awesome!

I still get some of that ring from the 16", but there is just no way of getting rid of it. I'm pretty sure that the drums are warped a little bit.

Thanks for all the input everyone. I greatly appreciate it and will try some of your techniques out soon as well when I have the time!

[itchie]

Every time I see this thread the never ending story theme song pops in my head

[Drumbledore]

Every time I see this thread the never ending story theme song pops in my head

Hah! And I thought I was the only one!

So wait....did Limahl really sing this though?

"Turn the bolt - tune it to a Deee-eeee-eee-eeee-eee-eee-eeeee
Kick the bass, it should resonate it your dreeee-eee-eee-eee-eee-eee-eeeams.
Make believe the Tension Watch
Will match it's needle on the line.
Hidden in the manual is the answer
To the never ending tom resonance....ahhh-haa-haaa-ha-haa-haaaa-ha-haa-haaahhh...."

[kay-gee]

They sell you the RIM mountings to increase the resonance and then sell you the gel and all the other crap to kill the resonance. The non-sense just seems to go on for ever!

Ka-ching!!!

all the best...

[drumsetsnide]

for your sound guy it should be a no brainer... tell him he needs a couple noise gates . with the noise gates the toms can ring forever ,the gate will cut off the ring. very easy.

+1. This.

I would rather have drums that sang and had great resonance and have to work with dampening them rather than having it the other way around.

Dampen them a bit and let the sound tech. work with the rest.

[HolyChina]

I bought a used set of 1997ish Tama Rockstars last April, they sound great but for to, to, way to, long. The toms are 14" 16" & 18". After months of being a tighting, loosing tighting, loosing, & repeat, change style, tighting, loosing, whore.
Remo Powerstroke 3 are now produced in tom sizes and now I'm a born again virgin.

I have a early 2000 model and i absulutly hate them. I put so many moongels on and still sound like poop. i have all new evans G2 and G1 and my drum instructor tunned them (he tunes U of M drumline or eastern i forget) and they just cant get their.

[inspired]

i had an old premier kit with similar problems on the toms, my friend gave me a set of Evans EC2 batters to try which if i remember were half way between clear and coated? i had them with G1,s on the resos and its possibly the best combo i've heard. interestingly the same combo on my meridians dont sound as good

[N2Bluz]

i had an old premier kit with similar problems on the toms, my friend gave me a set of Evans EC2 batters to try which if i remember were half way between clear and coated? i had them with G1,s on the resos and its possibly the best combo i've heard. interestingly the same combo on my meridians dont sound as good

That's encouraging to hear! I have an older Premier XPK that is the same way...it sounds beautiful tone-wise, but the toms will resonate forever. I'm using Pinstripes (tuned fairly tight) on the batters and clear Ambassador reso's. I just ordered a set of the new EC2 SST heads to replace the pinstripes. Hopefully, I can retain the full, rich sound but cut the sustain back just a touch. We'll find out how much different the new EC2 is from the old Pinstripes.

[rickthedrummer]

I've been using G1's over Diplomats for a few months now and like the sound.

There is no muffling at all on any of my toms. I get a full sound with very little sustain.

[late8]

Found this to work for my '97 APK Premier. Punchy with short sustain: Clear Pins/Clear Ambass:





Found this perfect for '68 Ludwig. Warm short sustain: Coated vintage Emps/Ebony Ambass:

[late8]

Gretsch Renown EC2clear/G1 clear. Lots of attack/short sustain:

[N2Bluz]

My new EC2 SST "360" heads just showed up on UPS a few hours ago! I also bought some Moongel.....HOLY COW, does that stuff work wonders! One piece on each mounted Tom and two on the floor tom and POW! It has the sound I was looking for. I'm still gonna install one of the new EC2 heads, just to see what it does. At least I know I can get the sound I want with the clear Pinstripes and Moongel.

[soren-k]

So trying to find the right sound, I switched to some Remo Ambassadors for resonant heads and Remo Emperor for batter, both clear, and the oddest thing happened. I developed infinite sustain and resonance on my toms!

This makes me want to try Ambassadors over Emperors on my 12" rack tom. I can't get any resonance out of that thing no matter what head combos I've tried (currently G2 coated over G1 clear).