Tom Muting

[CATRON]

I have a Question. Do you guys use tape/tom-rings to mute your toms or do you dampen them naturally(bottom head tuning).  To start it off, me personally I dampen my toms naturally by tightening my bottom heads on the toms to mute them. What do you do?

Holla Back

well i dont really know, cause im am sometimey about that. uh, i use those clear rings when i have clear pinstripes on the drums, and the white rings for when im playing coated emperor. I tried tightening my my bottom head fior natural sound but i didnt like it. im going to try some evans hydraulics cause they give a fat natural sound with no tom rings.

[kuyajc]

it depends on the quality of the drums(wood) and the quality of the heads that you have on them. don't use tap that doens't really help at all the rings are the best thing but they sometimes create a dead sound in the drums..  

ohh and the hydralics are great espeacially in live cituations and in large rooms thay can really cut through the music and also be mellow enough for soft music. i have them on one of my sets and i enjoy using them whenever i can.
d

[dwdrummer]

when drum (builders) build drums they dont cut the shell to have heads put on them to be all taped up. they are designed to have a beautiful ring that is part of their great tone. so my view on that is DONT TAPE YOUR DRUM HEADS :!:  :!:  :!:
out :wink:

[Zilpex]

when drum (builders) build drums they dont cut the shell to have heads put on them to be all taped up. they are designed to have a beautiful ring that is part of their great tone. so my view on that is DONT TAPE YOUR DRUM HEADS :!:  :!:  :!:
out :wink:

I agree. I am a drum builder. I have noticed that beginners will always tend to want to choke out any tone or resonance from their drums. I think this goes along with the drummer not being able to tune a drum. I am not the greatest tuner but I know that a drum is supposed to breathe and not sound like a cardboard box. I've recently started playing at a church where I am mucial director and the kit there has Aquarian Studio X heads. Why would you need those heads in a gospel application. You go to whack the 10" tom and you get this ugly "FLAP" sound from it.  I understand that certain entry level cheapy kits will need Studio X's or Pinstripes because the wood used in the drum is not of a high quality, you need to muffle out some of those nasty tones.

If you MUST muffle a tom, I suggest using moongel. They are the best. I think rings kill too much of the natural tone. with moongel you can add more pieces on a drum that needs more and so on.

BOTTOM LINE:
Drums are supposed ring. Learn to love it, and get over it.

[Jedi3]

I agree with Zilpex...if you absolutely have to dampen the drum, moongel works best.

B

[Funkaddictus_Groovus]

i'm with you guys...