[thursdaythrice]

hey my set recently doesnt seem to be sounding exactly how i want it too... Is there any way I can tweak the sound or make it sound better? Like, i know on a guitar you can buy new pick ups make it sounds way different, buy a new amp sounds good, and get effects. Is there any way you can make a drum set sound different then it does?


And sorry to change the post COMPLETELY, but ive trying to find the right snare for a while, and i like a medium toned full loud snare, does anyone have any reccomendations for me?

Thanks a lot guys
-Mateo

[UPSTROKE]

How long have you had the same heads?? Are they the ones that came with the set from the factory? If the answers are-long time & yes, Maybe some new heads are in order. Most popular=Evans-EC-2, Remo-Pinstripe, Aquarian-?
On the snare, everyone will have a different opinion. My advice, go to your local
music stores and try all of them out. Maple is an excellent wood for crack and volume. Steel, Brass, Copper, Oak, How many plies? There are a million variables. Just go try as many out as you can. Listen and talk to other drummers LIVE, and see what their snare sounds like. Take your time and decide on a price range in advance if you can. Enjoy the hunt.

	Aquarian Drumheads Shop for Aquarian Drumheads at Musician's Friend

	Remo Drumheads Shop for Remo Drumheads at Musician's Friend

[Smee]

Trouble is you can waste a lot of money with this trial and error method..

[Pyrochazm]

Try going to a drumhead manufactures website and it will list somewhere what drummer from which band uses what. for example: http://www.evansdrumheads.com/EVAArtists.aspx?ID=1 See? you can go down the list and see a drummer who's drums sound good to you. Both Remo and Aquarian have a simular feature too. Bear in mind though that this should only be used as a rough guide. Nothing beats your ears in terms of what you want to hear.

	Aquarian Drumheads Shop for Aquarian Drumheads at Musician's Friend

	Remo Drumheads Shop for Remo Drumheads at Musician's Friend

[mouse]

Depends on what you determine as better? Many things.
New heads and tuning is going to make a difference if they are worn out.
I have fitted R.I.Ms isolation mounts which helps the drums to breath.
Check no loose fittings, screws etc, pack the lugs with felt, get your snares setting square and level so they don't buzz, keep the maintenance up with lubed kick pedal, consider porting bass drum head, no muffling, heaps of things, a bit more specific. You do realise changing to another room is going to affect sound. With the heads tuned evenly, try tweaking just one tension screw up or down to create a bend ... experiment ???
And have you listened from out of the kit front to see what they sound like from there, you may be surprised.

[skinslapper]

Here is my fav. site again!

http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/index.html

This goes into deep explaination of how to choose heads, cymbals and the difference of drum woods. Also great tuning method to help you make it sound perfect.

My other advice, know what you want it to sound like. I spent the first years of my drumming not thinking about how I wanted this instrument to sound. I just tuned everything as low as possible and kept wondering why I wasn't happy with it. Consider what you want each drum to sound like then focus on it.

Good luck.

PS if you go to my bands myspace below, you'll hear recordings of my 14 x 6.5 pearl brass free floating snare. Suits me fine.

	Pearl Drums Shop for Pearl Drums at Musician's Friend

[Smee]

My Remo's sound fine, If it ain't broke why mend it...........

	Remo Drumheads Shop for Remo Drumheads at Musician's Friend

[geoffws6]

What sounds good to you may sound terrible to someone else or vise versa. I agree with Pyrochazm. Listen to a good drum sound that you like from a fave band and then research to find out what they used and how to get that sound. Personally, I use no muffles on ANY drums at all. I tune with a Drum Dial and I use Pinstripes on toms and Ambassadors on bottoms. For the kick I use a Evans EQ3 and a ebony Ambassador on front. Again no muffles at all. Drums arent supposed to be muffled. Imagine if you played a guitar while holding the strings from vibrating. Buy a Drum Dial...it is amazing the diffrence you'll get from tension tuning vs. by ear.

Geoff

	Evans Drumheads Shop for Evans Drumheads at Musician's Friend

[UPSTROKE]

My best advice--Listen to Mouse and Pyro--You can't go wrong with them.
Excellent insight and always good advice. That was a good point that Mouse mentioned about getting out in front of the set and have some one else play.
Put a rug under your set--or --remove the rug --changing rooms will change everything. Are the drums facing the wall?? If so, Turn them around. The wall will kill the sound. There are so many things that will affect the sound that it's hard to put a finger on any one thing. Going some where and listening to other drums LIVE is a world away from hearing any drum through any kind of sound system. Take your snare to the local mambraneaphone outlet and compare it to the other membraneaphones.

[mouse]

To me muffling tends to make the drums all sound the same and too fat for projection out front. I like to have toms with a distinctive seperated voice of their own between drums. One reason my 13" tom sits in a corner, as it sounds too close to my 12".
Tuning so when each beat is played at either low or high volume, is distinctive, even when playing at speed.

Drum dials, i had a Neary wrench and it was good at tightening down the head evenly, but i found not all heads are created equal and reverted to ear tuning method with thumb central on head and taping the head at an inch from the tension screws, and it works well for me.
Drum head selection is going to make more difference to any drum sound over any of the differences of shell type,size, fittings, etc.


For a loud snare, any metal one. To get a medium tone try any coated head for batter, perhaps with a power dot underside.