Changing your resonant heads is one of those things that makes smoke come out of drummers ears. They don’t get why they go bad and stay in denial for a long time that the heads need to get changed to get them a better sound. At my studio we have a couple of house drum sets and over the years I have figured out what I find to be the tell tale signs that the resonant head needs to go.
- Buzzy distortion – The most common sign the resonant head has vibrated one too many times is a buzzy distortion that comes from the tom. It will sound almost as if you have turned your mic pre too loud and it will go away if you put your finger on the bottom head.
- Getting the drum in tune is a living hell – Once I find that it is taking me more time than usual to get the drum in tune I will usually swap out the bottom head and sure enough it is easy to get it in tune again.
- Any dimples or weird dents – The drum is never going to tune right if there is damage to it. Don’t kid yourself, if the drum had dents or rippled make sure to change it out and you will notice your drum will be singing again instead of mumbling.
- Too much gunk – Many times drummers with use duct tape on the bottom head to cut down on resonance. However if you have taken this tape off a couple times it will leave a nasty resonance that will be making the drum more muffled and prevent it from resonating properly.