Shell Material used to make the drum shell is the most responsible for the tone of the drums. Here are the most commonly sued drum shell materials.
—Maple is the most prized construction material by drummers, primarily because the sound is so even across the drum frequency spectrum.
—Mahogany sound warmer than maple since the low end is increased.
—Birch is very hard and dense, which results in a brighter drum with a lot less low end than maple.
—Poplar has a sound very similar to birch, with a bright top end and less bottom.
—Basswood exhibits an increased low end that’s similar to mahogany.
—Luaan has a warmer sound with less top end, similar to mahogany.
Shell Interior has a lot to do with the pitch of the drum. A rough interior produces a less resonant drum, since the roughness breaks up the interior reflections. A smooth interior results in a more resonant drum, which means it’s easier to tune and control.
Bearing Edges means the cut at the edge of a drum shell where the hoops are attached. The way the bearing edge is cut can not only affect the pitch of the drum, but how well it tunes as well. The sharper the cut, the brighter the drum.
Hoop type and the number of lugs used to seat the drum heads determines how the drum will sound as well. In general, the thicker the hoop, the easier the drum will be to tune.
Fewer lugs provide more complex overtones. Stamped hoops get a warmer tone than from die cast hoops. Aluminum gives a high pitch while brass provides more overtones. Die cast hoops are generally both thicker and stronger than stamped hoops, so the drum becomes easier to tune. There are fewer overtones as a by-product.
Wood hoops come in different thicknesses, so they can be made to sound like either a stamped or a cast hoop, only brighter.
Drum Heads
If there’s one simple action that you can take to improve the tone of the drums it’s to replace the old heads with fresh new ones. Even normally good sounding drums will sound wimpy and dead when played with old heads that have dings and dents in them.
Tip: The single biggest improvement to the tone of a drum is a set of fresh heads.
Bobby Owsinski is an author, producer, music industry veteran and technical consultant who has written numerous books covering all aspects of audio recording. Get the 3rd edition of The Recording Engineer’s Handbook here.
