Controlling how much your drums resonate is a surprisingly difficult task. There is no one size fits all. Every room you play in, every drum set you play, and every piece of the drum kit will require different amounts of dampening and in different ways. Drummers have tried many ideas from manufactured products to DIY home creations.
This article is intended to be a guide on what products there are on the market to help you control that drum ring once and for all and achieve that mystical perfect drum tone.
Drum Tuning
Before going into the concept of dampening, it’s important to talk about the effect tuning has on your drums. How high you tune your top heads and the relationship between your top and bottom heads will determine a lot about how much your drums ring and in what way. The bottom head is called the resonant head for a reason. The relationship between the two heads is complicated and could be an entire article in itself. However, many people try to use damping to fix what really comes down to poor tuning. It’s important to make sure you know enough about tuning first before going down the rabbit hole of dampening.
It is possible that with hard work and the right environment, your drums may not even need dampening. Check out articles on tuning here or check out this video on tuning if you’re not familiar.
Types of Drum Dampening
Built In Drum Dampening
Having dampening built into the head is an easy and consistent way to make sure you get the same sound every time. Drum manufacturers have tried many different techniques to achieve this goal. Here are a few examples of built in drum dampening.
Control Rings
Control rings have stripes that circle around the edges of the drum head. They control the resonance consistently from the edges of the head and control more of the high pitch ringing from drum heads.
Examples of this type of drum head include:
Control Dots
Control dots achieve a similar goal as control rings but instead of controlling the resonance from the edges of the drum head, they control it from the center. The center of the head is usually where the bass heavy notes are located and so using this type of control is better when your low frequencies are out of control.
Here are some examples of these types of drum heads:
Drilled Vent Holes
Evans is currently the only company that does this. If you’re familiar with port holes (mentioned later in this article), the idea is very similar. Removing parts of the head allow the air to pass through and not continue ringing for as long giving the drum a more focused attack and less sustain.
Felt Strips
Felt strips are usually used on bass drums. By laying a strip of felt over the inside of the drum head, you can control the resonance. The felt strip is usually laid straight across the head and about a quarter of the way in so it’s not laying directly behind the beater but also near enough to the center to give an even control on its overtones.
Check out these felt strip drum heads:
Inlay Rings
Inlay rings are a very common add on used in a lot of drum heads. They are a piece of plastic thats pressed either underneath the drum head or between two layers of drum head. They control from the edges and control lots of overtone ringing.
Here are some Inlay Ring examples:
Oil Dampening
Evans has a drum head that uses oil trapped between two layers to control drum resonance. This drum head often produces a very quick and dead sound.
Add On Drum Dampening
Drum Rings
Drum rings come in many shapes and sizes. Some drum rings simply lay on top and others can sit between the drum shell and the head. They also range in how much dampening they produce Some are subtle while others are much more extreme.
Moongels
Moongels are very popular. They have great versatility since they can be move to anywhere on the drum head. You can add multiples to a drum head. You can even cut them into smaller pieces for more subtle approaches. Not to mention they’re pretty cheap. They do have a bit of an expiration date to them but they are still an incredibly useful tool.
Towels, Tape, and Wallets?
When it comes to DIY, there are no shortage of options. Towels have been used for years to create a short ‘thud’ sound. Simply throw the towel over the top of your snare or tom and get that lo-fi tone.
Another old school DIY option is simply to put your wallet on top of the drum. Leather wallets especially are great for this. They have weight so they don’t bounce too much. Unfortunately, you usually have only one wallet so most people who do this just use it on the snare drum.
The last common DIY option is to use tape on the drum head to absorb the resonance. Using something like 3M No Residue Tape can be beneficial. You can even put it upside down on the resonant head if you’d like. How much tape you put and where allows you to customize your resonance control is some pretty interesting ways.
Bass Drum Dampening
Bass drums have a long history of people cramming things inside to control the resonance. Especially if you’re into rock or metal. Things like pillows, towels, and blankets can help control the sound of the drum from subtle to dramatic ways.
There are commercial versions of bass drum pads and pillows as well. Evans EQ Pad is a great example. These achieve more controlled and measured results while also being a little less obtrusive in how much space they take.
It’s also important to note that port holes play a role in controlling the resonance of your drum. If you’re playing live or in the studio, a port hole is usually a good idea since that will make it easier for the sound engineer to mic your kick drum.
There's More?
There are certain to be products or ideas I’ve missed in this article. However, these are certainly some of the most common methods and will be a great guid to anyone who wants to deliver a more controlled and complete drum sound. Try some of these methods out and find out which one you like the most.
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