How to Choose the Best Drum Heads For Your Kit

As drummers, drum heads play a big part in our sound. They are the equivalent of strings to a guitarist. Each head resonates when struck to produce a tone with an attack, pitch, and decay. Depending on the drum head tuning you can create a wide range of stylistic sounds. In this article, we will discuss and explore the different types of drum heads available and provide a solid basis for you to choose which type is right for your situation.

If you’re new to buying drum heads you’ll ideally want something suitable for your specific kit and good value for your money. If you’re looking to replace all the heads on your drum set then you’ll more than likely be interested in the many drum head packs available on the market. The top head, or the batter head as it’s usually referred to, takes the most abuse on a drum kit. In some cases, it will not be necessary to replace the bottom head, or the resonant head, quite so often. This will be welcome news to you if you’re looking to keep spending down to a minimum.

Most drum heads are pretty versatile and can stretch to playing in almost any musical environment. On the other hand, if you’re looking to emulate your favorite drummer, it can help to find out what brand and model they prefer to use.

Drum Head Categories

There are a myriad of drum head categories and the one we’re starting with is the light drum head. These are 1-ply heads with an emphasis on resonance. Being 1-ply means there is less restriction on the head to vibrate. This, in turn, lends itself to longer tones. In some cases, these tones are accompanied by overtones, which may or may not be to your liking. A typical jazz drum set will have an open drum sound which is characteristic of light single-ply drum heads with minimal to no dampening. On the other hand, a typical rock drum set will have more punch with lots of attack and a shorter controlled sustain. This sound is more easily achieved with thicker 2-ply drum heads. The advantage of 2-ply heads is that they also are thicker and tend to last longer, which is good news if you like to play loud and hard.

You’ll notice that another characteristic of drum heads is that they usually come with or without a coating. This coating is a fine layer which applied to the drum head in order to change the tone and attack of the drum. In most cases, clear drum heads have more attack than coated drum heads. Attack refers to the initial slap of the drum stick against the head that you hear when you strike the drum. Coated heads tend to slightly reduce this attack which may or may not be to your preference. Also, coated heads work really well with jazz brushes as their rough surface creates a more defined sweeping sound.

One of the most important things to note when buying drum heads is that you ensure that are purchasing the right size for your particular setup. Drums are measured by their diameter and their height. So, for example, a snare drum might be listed as 6” x 14”. This means that the drum is 6 inches in depth and 14 inches in diameter. Notice how the depth of the drum is the first number and the diameter is the second. In our case, it doesn’t matter what depth the drum is as the only thing that matters here is the diameter. Once you have the correct measurements of your drum diameters then you are ready to start shopping around.

If you love the size and feel of a real acoustic drum kit but want to keep the noise down to a minimum, then you might be interested in a set of practice heads. These heads are made from a mesh so as to limit the resonance of each stroke. They look and play just like an average drum head but severely decrease the sound produced. Like regular heads, these mesh equivalents produce a tone, only at a much lower volume.

Lots of drum companies are now producing these silent drum heads, such is the considerable demand for them. There’s even range of silent cymbals to go with them, should you want the ultimate low-noise solution.

One nice benefit of mesh practice heads is that they are easily compatible with drum triggers. This means you can turn your silent kit into an electronic drum kit simply by attaching the required technology. In fact, many electronic drum sets come with mesh heads which are similar in build to silent practice heads.

Installing practice mesh heads is no different to when dealing with regular drum heads. You might find that mesh heads work better at a low tension as this takes the strain off the mesh itself. You don’t want to over-tighten here as it can cause irreparable damage to the head.

That said, mesh heads give the same realism as the response from regular heads, so you can vary the tension from drum to drum. Most people prefer their snare drum to be tighter than their tom heads. The bass drum can be tight or loose depending on your preference.

One cool trick to maximize the sound reduction is to place extra padding inside each drum. You can use anything made from a soft absorbent material. This could be a towel or a cushion. I’ve found that this works especially well when applied to the bass drum. You can fill the drum with a duvet or something similar. The sound produced will be minimal and no doubt be highly appreciated by neighbors and housemates alike. If you’re interested in trying out the silent mesh option you can take a look at Remo’s Silentstroke selections.

Tuning is one of the most important things with any drum sound. Getting the tuning right can be the difference between a great sound and an awful one. Most kits nowadays come with two heads per drum, a top and bottom head. Each head needs to be tuned relative to the other to produce the optimal tone. In certain cases drum manufacturers will go so far as to print the musical note at which each drum resonates at. This means you can use a tuner to pitch the heads to this note, which will in turn give you the most resonance from the drum.

In more practical terms, there is no real need to go to such great lengths. If you are curious there are websites and apps that will give you the note for your drums once you supply the correct dimensions. When it comes to day-to-day tuning, there are two things to consider: Does the drum head feel good to play on and does it sound good? These two goals are the most important to achieve.

Snare drums are generally tuned to the highest pitch of any other drum on the set. In order to tune any drum it is recommended that you first finger-tighten each lug before using the drum key. This helps you maintain a uniform tension on the head. Keeping tension equal around the head is extremely important in getting a pure tone from the drum. Once you have tightened each lug with your fingers, then move on to using the drum key. Turn the key two whole turns on each lug to keep the tension equal. With the snare you can find that it will take many more turns to get to a comfortable tension, but make sure to do the same amount on each lug. With toms it’s popular to keep the heads looser than the snare. Be sure to test the playability of the head in between bouts of tuning so you can hear and feel the difference.

Once you have found a tension that is comfortable to play on, then you can fine-tune the drum. Tap the drum head just at the point close to the lug and try to hear the high pitched overtone. Next compare it with the next lug. Your aim here is to match the pitch so tune up or down slightly to achieve this.

Once you have finished with the top head, move onto the bottom head. You can experiment with different tensions here. When it comes to the snare you’ll need to crank it up so that it works well with the snare strainer. If the resonant head is too loose here you’ll get a very poor sounding snare with no “snap”.

With the toms you can choose to tune the resonant head higher, lower or equal to the batter head. Tuning the resonant head higher than the batter head will lead the tone to change. Also it can reduce the sustain of the note. Be sure to keep the lug tension equal just like with the batter head. Don’t tune the bottom heads too loose here or you will have a lot of uncontrollable overtones to deal with.

When it comes to the bass drum you can apply the same principles. If you are going for a classic rock sound then possibly you’ll need to find a nice piece of dampener to go inside the drum. It’s not essential but can really help to clean up the sound. Some drummers choose to go without any dampening here and manage to get great bass drum sounds. A lot will depend on the drum itself.

Once you have tuned the drums up there are several options still. If you find that the drums are ringing too much, you can purchase some dampening, such as moon gel. Alternatively you can create your own dampening. Taping a small piece of foam or tissue to the head has long been a technique to control drum overtones.

As we’ve seen, there is a vast selection of drum heads available on the market today. Choosing which is right for you largely comes down to your own personal taste. Bear in mind what is important to you when considering your options. Are you a heavy hitter? What style of music do you like to play? What is your budget? Once you have a clear idea of what it is you’re going for then you will be in a better position to make the right choice. If you’ve not yet bought a kit itself, we highly recommend you check out our Alesis Nitro review.

Have fun and shop around!