Last year I started with this "math-rock" band, whose guitar player convieniently had a kit in his basement, which saved me from lugging mine to his practice space. The kit was a beautiful but worn premier kit from the early nineties. Absolutely sounded great and the sizes were relatively similar to what I'm accustomed to playing. (snare 14", 14", 16" toms, 22" kick). The only difference was that the last person who skinned these drums choose to go with coated ambassadors, the ones with the white, papery finish. This is not something I would have normally chosen for myself on the grounds that my experiences with such skins have been negative. HOWEVER, on these drums, coated skins sounded incredible. I play fairly aggressively and the toms sung.
Recently I came into possession of a new, Ludwig Accent CS kit. One extra tom, but otherwise similar and decided to skin them in a similar fashion. I was pleased in rehearsal and listening back to live tapes. HOWEVER, when we recorded, things were a little less than savoury. So here's the question; When using coated skins, should I try to adjust my playing for recording, should I use particular microhphones to accomodate the skin selection or should I try a different tuning methodology. The toms, on recording, barely registered. I don't think it was an input gain problem because we checked, and checked again before committing anything to HardDisc.
If anyone can offer any suggestions, so our next batch of recordings don't come out with a barely audible set of toms, I'd be appreciative.

Hmm that's weird. Last time I recorded was with my Pork Pie kit, Coated Ambassadors on the toms (12", 14" and 16"). The toms sounded great, I didn't really do anything different. The only thing I did differently for the studio was use a Tension Watch to make sure the heads stayed the same throughout the recording session.

The engineer for the session said he usually had better results with Pinstripe heads, but my kit sounded really good with the coated Ambassadors. I hit the drums pretty hard, but consistently, and I wouldn't call myself a basher by any means.

Maybe you were running into phase issues or something with the mics? That's the only thing I can think of, especially if you double checked the input gain already.

you know what.... that completely slipped my mind.
I guess that qualifies me as a dumbass.

i use coated ambassadors on ALL the heads except for the snare side (which is a ambassador snare), and find this to be the best sound for the stuff that im involved in (some math stuff, some more pop-y). i spent years using pinstripe's thinking that they sounded the best because an engineer told me that was what he liked, but this is crap.

any good head that is new will sound amazing, even on the shites kit you can find, provided that you tune both the batter and the resonant sides well (well meaning in relation to each other. i prefer to tune them to the same pitch, but that is obviously my personal choice), and that you hit the drums well. if you just smack them, you end up with dents, which sound bad.

the last (i think?) john scofield album with adam dietch on drums is a fine example of shit $400 kit, with well tuned heads.

experiment with your tuning and head selection, the relationship between the batter and resonant sides, coated uncoated blah blah... you may find that could vastly improve the recorded sound.

also, i would agree that it was phase, NOT your drum heads that was causing your problems.

adios.

dre wrote:The only thing I did differently for the studio was use a Tension Watch to make sure the heads stayed the same throughout the recording session.

Can someone tell me what is the difference between a Tension Watch and a Drum Dial? Usually, I just tune by ear, but I've recently become aware of these instruments and feel that having one would help me out immensely. Also, are they user-friendly?

Thank you in advance for any and all advice!

Well, I think most skin bands play in standard. Part of the whole staying traditional lifestyle, I guess.

H-GM wrote:Can someone tell me what is the difference between a Tension Watch and a Drum Dial?

Here is a site comparing the two.

I have the Tama Tension Watch. I still tune by ear, but this is great when you need to get new heads in the right tuning range quickly. Also nice when I've been playing for a few hours and can't hear subtle differences anymore. Not a necessity.

Also, ignore the tension devices that fit on the drum lugs, they're just not as reliable. If one lug is rusty or bent it won't give an accurate reading.

Thanks for that link, Offal! I also noticed that they aren't as expensive as I've read. Musiciansfriend.com has them going for $60. That doesn't sound too expensive for a device as sensitive and focused as a drum tuner.

Again, thanks!

forget about drum skins for a minute...

wanna move to new york and play drums in a mathrock band with me? i've got a really, really, really good record written and i'm chief engineer at a killer recording studio. move here.

BUMP

I tuned my kit with my friend's DrumDial last week and was floored. I'm sooo buying one of those things today.

Great for shitty drum tuners like me...