From: tread@oia.net (Tim Read) Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.percussion Subject: Re: Strongest heads? Date: Sun, 23 Jun 1996 16:03:01 GMT ck1@server.snni.com (Charles Hunt) wrote: >Connie Becker (tabers@winternet.com) wrote: >: My snare drum head keeps braking and I need yo know what snare heads are the >: strongest. >i play in a punk/industrial bands and had similar problems - i was >changing my emperor coated batter every 2 or 3 gigs... >upon recommendation from a friend i tried the Aquarian Hi-Energy head. >its lasted 2 months and still sounds good. i plan on taking only one >spare head for tour... I would SERIOUSLY look at technique if you're breaking emperors every 2 or 3 gigs. Yes, you're getting volume, but you're probably causing insane trauma to your hands, not to mention doing way too much effort. I would reccomend seeing a drum teacher or someone for half an hour or an hour to get some pointers on technique - I used to hit hard as hell and get volume, while breaking heads and sticks like crazy. Something (I still don't know what) changed in my technique, and I can get volume and power out of single ply heads and have very little breakage on THEM. Part of it involves, I am sure, getting OFF the surfaces as quick as you can, while still getting a full note. It saves your wrists some shock, it gives you an advantage of being in motion (not having to start every stroke new in a single stroke, merely redirecting the stick downward), and it seems to save heads and such. -Tim Read -St. Louis From: dave@prism.gatech.edu (Dave Re) Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.percussion Subject: Re: Strongest heads? Date: 24 Jun 1996 11:16:34 -0400 In article <4qjmba$jte@news.zynet.com>, Tim Read wrote: >Something (I still don't know what) changed in my technique, and I can get >volume and power out of single ply heads and have very little breakage on THEM. I consciously changed my technique about six or eight months ago, to use more wrist. Since then, I haven't been as hard on my snare batters, although single ply heads and I still don't get along :) (Ambassadors only last about a month, sometimes less). What I have noticed is, because I've been playing with more wrist, I'm now working muscles that I haven't used much in my playing (well, since marching band, anyway), and it's taking me a while to develop the strength to play with the same "force" that I did before. That's not to say "beat the shit out of them like I did before, only with more wrist" :), but more like a feel sort of thing. >Part of it involves, I am sure, getting OFF the surfaces as quick as you can, >while still getting a full note. It saves your wrists some shock, it gives you >an advantage of being in motion (not having to start every stroke new in a >single stroke, merely redirecting the stick downward), and it seems to save >heads and such. Part of what you're talking about is not "deadsticking" each time you hit the drum. ie, let the stick rebound on it's own, instead of hitting *into* the drum and trying to keep the stick there on the head. You get better sound by letting the stick rebound, as well, and it saves quite a bit on your body (and, as you said, sticks and heads, but your body is the thing that ends up taking the most abuse, in the long run...) -- Dave Re |" OIT/O&E/TS/ISD | dave@undertow.oit.gatech.edu | " | "Cruise Control", Dixie Dregs ...this one's a joke, if you haven't figured it out, yet...