The bass drum will eventually sound dead and flat – not what you want. The trick is to put a small amount of muffling in there. Try placing one pillow or blanket resting on the bottom of the drum. This way you get bit more control of the air flow, as well as the resonance on the drum head without killing the sound.

When considering the kit as a whole, the pitches of each drum should compliment one another. You can even consider tuning the kit to a musical scale: Our snare drum tuned to a C (dominant) could be accompanied by a kick tuned to an F (tonic) and toms tuned to other notes of the F major scale.

Drums (as in a drum set) are classified as an un-pitched instrument. This simply means they do not need to be tuned to any pitch to fit in with pitched instruments like guitar. Because drums don’t have pitches: only different percussion sounds. Percussion instruments don’t have keys.

A common technique for reducing the volume and ringing of drums and cymbals is to place duct tape on the drum head or cymbal. It can also reduce low rumble in toms and harmonics from an overly “live” drum or cymbal. Duct tape is cheap and ubiquitous, but it’s not the best solution.

Jazz drummers tend to prefer a warmer sound so they often choose two-ply drum heads. The difference between coated and non-coated drum heads is that coated heads provide a warm, focused sound. Non-coated heads offer a bright, clear sound and tend to be the most common drum heads used by drummers.

The Remo Emperor X Coated is perfect for drummers who hit really hard and need a super durable drum head that can really take a beating! Remo claims that it’s the most durable Mylar head in the world!

There is NO difference between “tom” or “snare” batter heads. There IS, however, a difference in a RESONANT head that’s labeled as “SNARE”. It’s thinner than the usual weight to promote better snare wire vibration.

Best Drumheads for Rock

• Kick. Remo Powerstroke 3 Clear. Constructed from a single ply of 10-mil clear film and a 10-mil underlay ring, the Remo Powerstroke 3 Clear bass drum batter head is forceful, punchy, and focused.
• Snare. Remo Emperor X.
• Toms. Remo Clear Pinstripe.

Choosing the best drumhead: Clear Clear drumheads will be slightly brighter, with slightly more sustain and attack than coated drumheads. Search through the range of clear Aquarian, Evans, and Remo drumheads here.

Coating on a drumhead tends to muffle the sound a bit. Clearer heads tend to sound brighter and more open. You can’t get that beautiful “sandpaper” kind of sound with a clear snare head and brushes. Coated heads on toms tend to make the drums a bit warmer, while clear tom heads will give you more attack.

Ludwig Black Beauty line

A snare drum that has a width of 5.5″ or less will have a tight pop. If you’re looking for a loud, open snare drum, go with a fat snare; one with a width of 6.5″ or more. A common, snare drum diameter is 14″. If you’re looking for a naturally lower pitched snare drum go with one larger than 14″.

2: Generally, snare wire tension will go through several zones as you tighten them (lots of buzz, less buzz, more buzz, etc…). Try loosening them until you find a compromise between buzz and sound. 3: Head tension also plays a huge part in snare buzz, so play around with that too.

These are the best ways to make a cheap drum kit sound good.

1. Make sure you have new heads.
2. Take time to tune up.
3. Use an electronic drum tuner.
4. Use dampening methods to kill nasty frequencies.
5. Use a kick port for a tighter bass drum sound.
6. Invest in decent cymbals.
7. Look after your drum kit.

Your kick is tuned wrong, and your snare wires are too tight. So, kick – tune the batter just above the wrinkle (JAW) where the tuning pegs will hold and tune the batter to where it sounds right. Add dampening to your desired sound.

First, the sound usually associated with a snare drum is a tight, bright one, not long, sustained resonance, like a tom. Second, for the the snares to be responsive to bottom head, it needs to be fairly tight… really tight. B- The bottom head should not be at the same relative tension as the batter head.

How to tune a snare drum, in 14 simple steps

1. Understand your drum.
2. Don’t eliminate ring completely, tune without wires.
3. Start with the resonant head.
4. Begin to tune.
5. Hit it, use your ears.
6. Now the batter head…
7. Tune the top head lower.
8. Don’t fiddle with the resonant head.

Snares can sound like toms (or similar to timbales) when the snare wires are released, and not able to “buzz” against the bottom head…as others have said already.

8 Easy Ways to Control Snare Buzz

1. 1 – Make sure the snare wires are installed correctly.
2. 2 – Tune toms away from the snare’s frequency range.
3. 3 – De-tune lugs near the throw off and butt plate.
4. 4 – Rotate your snare.
5. 5 – Use a thinner snare-side head.
6. 6 – Upgrade to a higher-quality set of snare wires.

Adjust the straps so the snares do not engage the head. The drum should sound like a tom. Raise the snares against the head using the throw offs lever/handle, and then tighten the knob until you get the sound you’re looking for.

ANY drumset will sound better with the installation of new heads that are properly tuned and muffled, meaning even the lowest quality drums can sound good when the heads are replaced. ($50 will be for the bass drum head alone. Expensive, but worth it!)