| jesuslovesyou |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Fri Feb 10 2006 08:14 AM |
| 210.18.130.249 |
Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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I see tape many times on the edge of the head. I think I know why tape is applied to the drumhead but I want to confirm with you experienced folks.
Thanks,
| PJDrummer |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Fri Feb 10 2006 08:46 AM |
| 71.124.34.15 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Dampening
| Cody |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Fri Feb 10 2006 11:13 AM |
| 67.37.50.118 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Yeah I dont like it at all, but yeah its for dampening
| Popeye |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Fri Feb 10 2006 01:51 PM |
| 68.7.27.174 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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I think it's there for an emergency situation... like maybe when the bassist gets a little "froggy" and won't shut up:o) IMO.
| lmr80 |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Fri Feb 10 2006 05:35 PM |
| 69.231.209.134 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Or the guitar player wont shut up either,lol.
| roger strange |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Thu Feb 16 2006 03:59 PM |
| 24.222.76.139 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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God only knows why cats still use tape. The damn stuff not only messes up the heads with the glue, especially gaffer's tape but it deadens the part it lays on so in fact you end up playing on a head that is smaller accoustically than it's true size. It stops over tones and ringing but the sound gets smaller and either you hit harder or the mics have to be turned up to save your tendons.
I use a little product called moongel. They are little tabs that adhere to the head, stop the overtones and leave the head vibrating fully through its whole size. However, with all the heads out there today tape should not have to be used.
It can also be called in most cases, not knowing how to tune the drums for the gig and rooms you are playing in. It's also why I carry a non powered board for my drum mics and do my own mix and send the signal to the soundman who just E.Qs the over all sound of the kit.
| Flam Master Flash |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Fri Feb 17 2006 02:58 AM |
| 86.197.158.239 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Almost all the kits at my school have a piece of folded toilet paper that is taped down to the drum heads. Real classy look of pink toilet paper strapped down with silver duct tape. Maybe drum manufacturers could just start stretching tape across the batter side and sell small patches of drum heads that you could glue in the middle to get a 'real' drum head feel.
| Frank |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Fri Feb 17 2006 04:03 AM |
| 68.70.120.94 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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I personaly like to put toilet paper on all my heads. That way, if I play like sh#* I will have something to clean it up with.
![[Big Grin]](/ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif){kind=icon}
| Flam Master Flash |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Fri Feb 17 2006 04:39 AM |
| 86.197.158.239 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Nice one! WWWWWIIIIIIIPPPPPPEEEEEEE OOOOOOUUUUUUTTTTTT!
| roger strange |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sat Feb 18 2006 09:21 PM |
| 24.222.76.170 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Most of the young players I am involved with in teaching who are in school progams carry a container of moongel with them and rip off the tape and **** when they play on the school kits.
What I used to do before the advent of those specialized Remo and Evans heads with the extra ring built onto the under side of the head, was to take older heads, cut out the body of the head to about 2 inches from the hoop and then take a very sharp blade and cut out the remaining part of the head flush with the hoop which gave me in effect,a zero type ring, but with the curve over the bearing edge left. I would then fit that on the underside of the new drum head and mount the head on the drum and get no overtones and a clean controlled sound. Of course now they make heads with all that built in. Totally negated any use of stupid tape or T.P. or paper serviettes taped to the head.
| Ratamatatt |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 19 2006 11:54 AM |
| 68.235.146.135 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Muffle rings are so much more effective than tape there really is no reason to use tape, unless you don't want to pay for (or make your own) muffle rings.
| lmr80 |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Mon Feb 20 2006 12:15 AM |
| 69.231.241.77 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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I think moongel is more effective,IMO.
| TS |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Mon Feb 20 2006 12:28 AM |
| 86.132.29.188 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Moongel is a lot more effective than tape. Moongel has more density per square inch. One square has more of a viscous damping effect than tape all over the drum.
| roger strange |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 19 2006 01:15 PM |
| 24.222.76.134 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Yeah!!now we're talking. Good old moongel. I swear by the stuff. What I do is vary the size of the stuff. On my ten I have about a third of a tab cut off. On the 13" I use about a half size of tab and on the 16" floor I use one tab. Since I use an Evans dry on the present snare I'm using which is fibreglass I have another tab cut down to different sizes depending on the gig and whether I have a good or tin-eared sound tech which is probably the case. If I'm doing brush work I just drop the tab on the rim of the bass drum. If any sound engineer even tries to head to my kit with a roll of tape I yell like Hell. Mostly though if they get to the drums they see the moongel and just shrug and turn away and torture the other players on the session.
I've been using the stuff for so long that I still have a couple of packs of the clear stuff before they started to dye it blue.
In most cases when I do a session I make sure that the contract reads that the studio or producer has to supply moongel. By the way it works well on cymbals too guys. Just keep it out of the way of the stick area up close to the bell.
They used to try to tape my cymbals until I started using the stuff on the cymbals as well.
| TS |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 19 2006 02:01 PM |
| 86.132.29.188 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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hahaha... I'd worry about it getting launched off a crash cymbal...
It's true though. Sometimes you may only use part of a moongel, or maybe 2 or 3 of them. But they do work great!
| gregg terrell |
| (Tiger Talk Trainee) |
| Fri Feb 24 2006 11:08 PM |
| 4.89.245.122 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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I use tape on my 16" floor tom. kills the ring, not the sound, or stick responce.
| James Walker |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 12:25 AM |
| 4.245.227.253 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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quote:Yep.
Originally posted by PJDrummer:
Dampening
It's not my first choice - I'd rather use O-rings (or a partial section of an O-ring), or moongel, or (for orchestral work) just set a business card on the head if I need to take out a little bit of ring/sustain. However, sometimes I'll use a little bit of tape on a snare drum as a quick fix, especially (almost exclusively, actually) when recording. I'll roll it up into a tube, sticky side out, and set it on the head where needed. Just set it on the head lightly, and it'll come off without leaving much (if any) residue on the head.
Or, what I really like, is to take some tissue paper or part of a paper towel, fold it up into a small square, and with a piece of tape, affix it to the hoop on my snare drum, with the tissue paper resting on the head. It's free to move when I strike the drum, so the attack of the note isn't really affected, but it will take out any unwanted sustain - and with a quick flip, it's no longer on the head.
| tookstr |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 07:26 AM |
| 152.163.100.6 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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Duct tape on drums, ah the good old days. BD pedals without spurs that creeped, single
headed drums, giant PA systems, Hammond B3s and Fender Rhodes pianos that broke
my back loading every night.
In the late 70’s every studio I worked in decided to slap as much duct tape and muffling
on their drums as was possible. Then they complained I wasn’t hitting hard enough. I
used 2bs and bludgeoned the drums. Then they spent days tweaking and putting special
effects on the mix to make them sound like real drums again. What a trip.
That fad went away with bell bottoms and platform shoes.
With all the new heads and info on shell sizes, bearing edges and tuning that’s available
on the web the tape just isn’t necessary. And besides it’s just plain ugly.
| TS |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 07:42 AM |
| 86.132.35.208 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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I agree. ec2, powerstroke 3 and even hydraulic glass are always there for damping if that is the sound you are after.
| Foursticks |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 08:01 AM |
| 70.101.217.65 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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So I'm wondering: With all of this talk about the need to kill overtones and ringing, the debate over moongel or studio rings vs. duct tape, etc.... why don't more drum manufacturers build their drums with internal mufflers, like the old Ludwig Supraphonic and Acrolite snares? Obviously there's a need for some kind of muffling on most drums, so why not??
And while I'm on the subject, has anyone tried any of those mufflers that clip on to the rims? Anyone tried to install an after market internal muffler?
| James Walker |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 08:18 AM |
| 4.245.227.38 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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The only problem with pre-dampened heads is, that's the sound you're stuck with. There's no quick way to "open up" a drum that has an Evans HD Dry on it. However, I can easily get a similar sound from a drum with a single-ply head, by putting an O-ring on it.
| TS |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 09:03 AM |
| 86.132.35.208 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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I would do that, except my drums are too bright and harsh opened up with a single ply head. When I move to a maple or Mapex Saturn, that won't be the case. I can forsee in that case going to single ply/O-ring type setup.
| gregg terrell |
| (Tiger Talk Trainee) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 03:12 PM |
| 4.227.115.184 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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i hate the way drums sounded in the 70,s. i play a 16x16 floor tom.which means the bottom head is less than 1 ft. from the floor, which causes the drum to ring.a little tape on the edge and problem solve. sometimes on the bottom head instead. besides, who really cares if there is tape residue on the head anyway.
| James Walker |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 04:10 PM |
| 4.245.200.120 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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quote:I can relate to that - I had a Yamaha COS snare that, typical of many low-to-intermediate-level steel snares, was too bright for my tastes, but with an HD Dry head, it gave me that prototypical '80s Gadd snare sound (vis a vis his recordings with Paul Simon, Grover Washington Jr., et al). The only issue was, it made the drum a "one trick pony" (no pun intended!) - but I didn't have any success with any other head/tuning combinations, so there wasn't any real need to have the option to go with a less muffled sound.
Originally posted by TS:
I would do that, except my drums are too bright and harsh opened up with a single ply head.
However, I was simply disagreeing with the idea that, given the availability of pre-muffled heads, that this makes other muffling techniques unnecessary.
| jmfdrums |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 07:46 PM |
| 67.184.236.187 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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quote:O-Ring and moongel would be out of business. Also, the internal mufflers I had in a set of Pearls started rattling after a few years and the only way to stop that was by either taping or removing them...I removed them and started using the external mufflers. They actually worked well for large toms (14" and bigger), but they were way too much for the smaller toms.
Originally posted by Foursticks:
So I'm wondering: With all of this talk about the need to kill overtones and ringing, the debate over moongel or studio rings vs. duct tape, etc.... why don't more drum manufacturers build their drums with internal mufflers, like the old Ludwig Supraphonic and Acrolite snares? Obviously there's a need for some kind of muffling on most drums, so why not??
And while I'm on the subject, has anyone tried any of those mufflers that clip on to the rims? Anyone tried to install an after market internal muffler?
| TS |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Sun Feb 26 2006 10:56 PM |
| 86.140.238.224 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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There is a big difference between the 70's muffled sound and what we are after. Right now, EC'2's with genera glass give my kit plenty of sustain, but trim off that annoying initial spurious over-ring.
In the 70's-early 80's, the bottom head was removed, and the top head heavily muffled. So not only was sustain removed, but all initial tone was as well. The last recording that I liked that sounded like that was Liberty Devitto on Billy Joel's glass houses. It was all punch and no sustain.
Drummers have become more sophisticated in terms of tonality since then, and things are coming full circle. Now it's almost as if the ideal sound we are after is similar to the 60's big band sound (warm and open) or the Zep sound (big and open).
Ether way, there must be a balance of depth, sustain and tonality with only small bits of control.
As far as two ply on snare drums: I try to avoid that at all cost. I just don't like de-sensitizing the snare.
| tookstr |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Tue Feb 28 2006 08:05 AM |
| 152.163.100.6 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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**************************************************
jesuslovesyou wrote:
“I think I know why tape is applied to the drumhead but I want to confirm with you experienced
folks.”
**************************************************
Drum muffling came about because of the limitations of the recording equipment of the
past. Most drummers hated having to put their wallets on the snare or stick blankets in
the kick. The warm big band drum sound that TS talked about is what most wanted to
record but with four track half inch recorders (at best) it just wasn’t possible. I remember
trying to pump up the bass and kick in a song I recorded back then only to have it rolled
off during mastering so the needle on the vinyl pressing machine wouldn’t jump.
Taping and muffling became extreme when a bunch of long haired guys from England
put out an album about lonely hearts that featured stereo drums. The only way to do this
then was to isolate the drum sounds so one mike wouldn’t bleed into another. Stopping
all resonance was usually the way this was done. I disliked that “put” “put” cardboard
sound too but it wasn’t my choice. If I wanted the work I did what the producers said.
After Woodstock big sound systems started appearing. Now the drums could be miked
live and the same muting principles used in the studio were applied. By todays standard
the PAs of the day really sucked. In fact any PA you can pick up at Guitar Center for a
little over a grand will be better than any system the Beatles ever used. It took a lot of
work to get a good drum sound out of those dinosaur systems and just like recording,
muting and isolation of sounds was the accepted way to do it.
Digital recording with the amazing dynamic range and the ability to actually record above
and below human hearing finally allowed the sound of an open drum set to be recorded.
The same is true of live systems. New types of drum mikes and subwoofers now allow
the real sound of a drum set to get to the audience.
It has been full circle. I’m now playing a kit that looks and sounds very much like the
one I started out on in the sixties. (One just like my first set is on Ebay right now
for $5,000.00.) I really wish I'd kept some of that gear.
I hope this history as I remember it helped put the duct tape thing into perspective.
| roger strange |
| (Tiger Talk Pro) |
| Tue Feb 28 2006 04:19 PM |
| 24.222.76.127 |
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Re: Why do people put tape on their drum heads?
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tookstr: Yep that about sizes the whole tape fiasco up. I got around it in those days by using medical tape on the INSIDE of the heads where they rolled over the bearing edge.Usually four tabs about two inches long opposing each other. Also later by doing that thing I outlined with old heads, cutting out the middle of the old head and then trimmimg the balance off the hoop and fitting the internal O-ring into the new head. Worked fine and when sound cats approached me I just glared at them and told them to go listen to the sound in the 'phones. They stopped coming near me after a while. Tape?? no thank you. As for that nasty ring on the resonant head of the 16x16s? I still mount a cut out internal O-ring under those heads. Does the job well when I get a head that won't co-operate to tuning skills.