Damping tom toms

I only have 2 toms on my set, the high sounding one and the floor tom. Dave Grohl only used 2 toms, so i figured i could. Anyway, what is the best way to damp my toms to keep them from ringing. I hate it ringing ofter i hit it. If you ever listened to the song by Soundgarden-The Day I tryed to Live, i want my floor tom to sound like that. Could i just like take a rag and then duck tape it under the head to dampen it?

Some heads like pinstripes dampen the heads. Also moongels are just sticky squares that dampen. Amoung those you could tape a business card to it. Any time you tape something to a drum it dampens. Some pros use tape, gaffer's tape, or moleskin. I use the moongels on my set. sometimes.

Yup... that's my favorite. You could also go with hydraulic heads or buy some of those dampening rings from your local drum shop... but the end result is all going to be pretty much the same as rags & duct tape. If you have a bottom head, lose that too... it just adds to your problems.

. Some pros use tape,

If you use tape, dont just stick the tape flat on, fold it in the middle and stick the tape so itself so when you stick it on the drum you have a loose bit of the non sticky side of tape.. this dampens much better with less tape as it absorbs sound better with that loose flappy bit.

you can take Rags and tape them onto the heads, dont use duck tape though, it will leave behind it's stickyness if you pull it off.. Use Scotch tape or something like that. Or better yet, Use cotten balls and Scotch tape and tape the cotton balls on the edge of the batter head. thats what I do and it works great.

Hey Sonny,

Those drums were recorded wiith no sound dampening whatsoever. Wide open toms. The focused sound of the drums has to do with microphone selection and electronic conditioning in the mixing process of the album. A little resonance is natural with a drum. You notice the ringing because of the size of your room which emphasizes the higher tones of a head. There are alot of factors that can lead to excessive ringing, the foremost being an untrue bearing edge and another the wrong head selection. Try cutting a 'donut' ring out of an old head or cardboard to sit on the outer inch of the drum head. That will cut out a lot of the ring. the problem with this is that when you take the drums out of the small room and play outside or in a large hall, your drums will sound dead, so you need to learn how to tune them and choose the right heads for performances. Go here to learn more about tuning and muffling; http://www.rmmpfaq.club24.co.uk/

This is wrong. Don't take the bottom heads off. There is a reason that they came with the drum.

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Yeah, I do the Grohl thing too, with just 2 toms and it suits me fine- I think all you need to do is change heads- I've got Remo Weatherking Pinstripes on my export tuned fairly low and they don't ring at all. I recommend on both toms, tuning the bottom head (ie. not the batterhead) really high. It sounds weird, I know, but i find it works well. If you can't be bothered to change heads, what I did on my old shitty kit, was just to experiment with duck tape, running a strip about 4'' long from the side of the tom towards the centre, a maybe a little square in the middle. it looks pretty shit, but hey..

Oh yeah, I also read an article by some pro-session drummer guy who recommends to.. take off your batterhead, put a piece of cloth on the rim of the drum, replace the head, tune it up,and, if the cloth touches the head enough, it will cut down on the ringing.

by the way, Grohl used the bigger of the two hanging toms -middle- for a beefier sound- not only does it look way cooler, but it'll sound better with your floor tom.

shit, i wrote tons! hope i helped, dude.

you should not put Duck tape on the heads,, the best way that I have found is to take the Head off.. cut a pice of towel a little longer then the head and about 1' wide and place it under the drum head (NOT DOWN THE MIDDIE) about 10 to 20% in from the eadge.. try to use a thin towel, so not to reform the head to much... ''' I think you know what I mean '''

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This is as about as wrong as it gets, Ben. Any pro will tell you this: The reason you should NOT put a towel under the head is because it interrupts the whole way the drum operates. The drumhead transfers energy to the shell by connecting completely with the shell at the bearing edge. If you put any kind of material on the bearing edge you have reduced not only the volume of the drum but also screwed up the ability to tune the head correctly. The head must be seated on a trued bearing edge to work properly. Many of the bearing edges on cheaper drums are not true and all bearing edges lose their shape due to moisture and temperature over time, so this could be the source of the 'ring' problem.

Duct (not duck) tape is perfectly acceptable to mute overtones on a drum head and is often done by most pros by making a 1' to 2' circle out of it and placing it on the outer inch or two of the head. Another mute is band aids. Let the cotton bandage part curve a little bit.

Overall, you don't want to 'muffle' or 'dampen' a drum. A well made drum with a well tuned head hit firmly in the exact middle of the drum won't have a lot of 'ring' but it will have a lot of 'sustain'. The reason for using tape or band aids or zero rings is to mute the overtone 'ring' that does happen in the outer inch or so of a head. This ring is more peredominant in a small room. Once you get a dtrum in a large recording studio or large hall or outside , most of the ring goes away. Most professionals in most cases don't mute any of their drums, except the bass drum, because they have good drums, proper heads and good tuning and playing technique. I can almost guarantee you there was no muting on the Drums on that Soundgarden song.

When I'm in a small room and I need to damp a tom or snare I use pieces of old mousepad cut and shaped to fit the outer edge of the drum. Experiment with size, shape, and location to get the sound you want. Infinitely adjustable and completely removable.

Arkansaw Mike AKA mspencer advises from his cool pad at conwaycorp dot net

Hey Man with all respect and apologies if this offends you but I got to say that I'm 55 yrs. of age and have been playing drums for 43 yrs. professionlly and I don't know of any professional drummer that muffles their drums other than the bass drum and maybe the snare. The pro's will tell you that drums are made to ring. It's all in what type of heads you use and the way you tune them. If you are playing a big club or what ever the case may be,then WHAM THOSE SUCKERS! But if you are playing a much smaller place then play softer. Don't compromise your drum sound just because you are playing in a smaller club or what have you! Think of it this away.
Guitar players have volume knobs on their guitars and amps. They can either turn up or turn down. Drummers have the same option. You can either play louder or play softer. For what ever it's worth I just wanted to share!

Do not muffle drums point blank! Drums are made to ring so leave it at that!

Tim