New Heads/Tuning

[fhdrumline]

AH! I need help! Last year, my drumline had gotten all new heads for snares/tenor/bass. Snares: Remo BlackMax weatherkings and falams II for snare side. Tenor: Clear pinstripe because we had a circus themed show. Bass: Ebony weatherkings only because we couldn't find ebony pinstripes. I managed to tune the basses after MANY MANY painstaking days. To try and facilitate the tuning, I purchased a DrumDial which is based off tension. They sounded good, however, being the doof I am, I forgot to muffle them, so I had to repeat the process. The muffling I put on first started falling off so I had to reopen the basses and apply the muffling directly onto the head. Keep in mind, all of this happened during marching season because our online reseller messed up our order. So as you might have guessed, I was pretty stressed. So this year, I decided to order back in February. I kept the Snares the same because the sound is perfect and for Tenors: Black Suede and for Bass: Black Suede PowerMax. I've heard good things about these heads and like the darker sound. Has anybody had any experience with these heads? What kind of muffling should go along with them?

Also, another rock I encountered last year was the tuning of the Tenors and the Basses. I would get the tenors to a certain pitch I like and within a week or two it would be gone, any suggestions on not only how to KEEP a pitch with the drums, but any certain pitches you use? (I've been trying to emulate Blue Devils' tone) The main thing about basses that I had was getting both heads in tune with each other, so any help with that would be great!:) also, do you have any suggestions as to pitches to tune the basses to?

[vicfirthrules10]

tune the drums to whatever pitch you like. that's what our percussion director. and as to how to hold the pitch, you just have to keep tuning them again and again and they will settle in. it's just that they are new heads and need to stretch out some. but yeah, just keep tuning them every like two weeks or so to get them settled, but once they seem to retain pitch maybe tune them at a week before your championships or whatever and then the day of your championships. most of the time if you like the snare sound the only heads you would have to replace are the bottom heads. we have gone through like 3 or 4 reso heads on the snares without replacing a single top head in a year.

and no i have not had any experience with these heads you're using. only the clear pinstripes on the tenors your first time in your post.

if you have any more questions, i am here and available to answer them. just drop by again. and welcome to PDF.

[tenor man 36]

my drumline uses the pinstripes for the tenors and they sound really good i want to get them for my quints

[fhdrumline]

yeah, I liked the clear pinstripes, I just didnt think they were worth it compared to the ebony pinstripes. It seemed that they not only lost their tune faster, but also on the two "spock" drums, they broke very easily and we had to go through the second half of our season with the stock pearl heads.

[vicfirthrules10]

well yeah we went through like 6 spock heads throughout the winter season on our 3 sets of tenors each having two spocks. well you are getting the crimplock heads right? the crimplock helps hold tuning. we just kept about 3-5 extra spock heads in stock for the breaking of heads. anymore questions just ask.

[xscraper]

AH! I need help! Last year, my drumline had gotten all new heads for snares/tenor/bass. Snares: Remo BlackMax weatherkings and falams II for snare side. Tenor: Clear pinstripe because we had a circus themed show. Bass: Ebony weatherkings only because we couldn't find ebony pinstripes. I managed to tune the basses after MANY MANY painstaking days. To try and facilitate the tuning, I purchased a DrumDial which is based off tension. They sounded good, however, being the doof I am, I forgot to muffle them, so I had to repeat the process. The muffling I put on first started falling off so I had to reopen the basses and apply the muffling directly onto the head. Keep in mind, all of this happened during marching season because our online reseller messed up our order. So as you might have guessed, I was pretty stressed. So this year, I decided to order back in February. I kept the Snares the same because the sound is perfect and for Tenors: Black Suede and for Bass: Black Suede PowerMax. I've heard good things about these heads and like the darker sound. Has anybody had any experience with these heads? What kind of muffling should go along with them?

Also, another rock I encountered last year was the tuning of the Tenors and the Basses. I would get the tenors to a certain pitch I like and within a week or two it would be gone, any suggestions on not only how to KEEP a pitch with the drums, but any certain pitches you use? (I've been trying to emulate Blue Devils' tone) The main thing about basses that I had was getting both heads in tune with each other, so any help with that would be great!:) also, do you have any suggestions as to pitches to tune the basses to?


I have experience with the black suedes.. well ebony suedes... same head just different name. for the record always keep your drum key with you, those heads detune all the time.. not to mention we never got the stick definition we needed with our tenor line.. when we made the switch (winter line) almost every PA judge said the same thing to us.. we can't hear your tenor line.. once we switched back to white suedes we never heard that statement again.. and that was inside. I can't imagine them projecting in the outdoor environment. thats just my take on the black suedes tenor heads..

the Bass heads I don't have experience, but I do know large black surface, sun, can't be a good thing. they will need constant tuning as well..I do hear good things about them for winter line. but assuming that you are asking now its more for marching band then indoor.


Personally, I had some problem with every type of black head we ever used. anything with a shiny black film from Remo has a finish on it.. as time goes by that finish chips away..(all over the place, looks like black confetti) and you have a ugly dull black head. we even had issues with blackmaxs.
I try to stay away from any black head. which sucks because I do like the look. but I like to keep my drums sounding good and looking clean. So we stick with mostly white type heads

The only head I would try is the Evan's black, see how they hold up. I do hear they work well and hold their tension.

Blue Devil's tunning scheme changes slightly every year. Along with head selection and muffling techniques. So really like what are you aiming for? I know BD likes strong definition in the tenor line so they pick implements and heads to fit that need.. This year they switched to Evan's so they tunning could sound completely different.

He is what I do. Sounds like you have the snares where you want them. Just maintain them. Remembering the pitch is controlled but the bottom head so constant boning up the batter head will just wear the head out faster. Not saying to ignore it, just crank it when the head loses its rebound.

Tenors, I don't know if your stuck with that head choice but personally I would switch those heads out. I don't know your brand your drums are, so its difficult to recommend, but white suedes, pinstripes are very good on all brands. Tunning: what I do, is start with drum 1 crank it as high as I can the major third down to drum 2, its usually at its highest tension as well, major third down from drum 2 to drum 3(like a door bell) and from 3 to 4 a minor 3rd. since its only a inch difference in most cases its hard to get a extreme pitch difference. spock just bone it up as high as it goes.. thats just us with Pearl big block deep shells.

Bass drums, Again I would go with the white powermax's (no muffling needed) very clear tone.
Tunning: I start with the top drum and max it out where the drum just slightly gets dry and choked.. trust me.. as you play the drum will open back up. once you have that depending on the sizes, usually perfect fourths down the line works well. but the best way to check your tunning is to step back 50 yards, adjust to what you hear at that location...A lot of times my player whine about how bad the drums sound up close. but from the stands they sound amazing. if you make them sound great up close chances are they will sound horrible from the stands..

Sorry for the long pig of a message, just my opinion from my experiences. It all varies.. just trust your ears, and don't try to replicate a tunning just use it as a base of what you like your line to sound like and go from there.. good luck

[fhdrumline]

thanks for the help everybody!!!

[tenor man 36]

i got the remo pinstripes for my tenors and i love em