Hello, everyone. First of all, I want to thank the whole ISP team for the trust they've placed in me to carry out this work, and for welcoming me into the large family of great professionals who contribute to this magazine.

In this, my first article for the magazine, we'll talk about how simply changing heads can make our drum kit sound radically different.

It's very important to make the most of the qualities our instrument offers and to deal with its flaws, if there are any. If our goal is to find a nuance that sets us apart and enjoy a sound of our own, the key is to know ourselves and our instrument. But if what we're after is simply a good sound, the task is usually much easier.

Drumheads
A drumhead is a membrane stretched over one or both open ends of a drum, which produces a sound when struck, whether with wire brushes, wooden sticks, mallets of various materials or with the hands themselves.

In the old days, the heads used by every musician were made of animal skin, usually calfskin; they were very sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity, which caused problems and made tuning difficult. In the 1930s and 1940s, the sound of the great drummers, such as Max Roach, Art Blakey, Jo Jones and Gene Krupa, came from calfskin heads.

It was in the late 1950s that Chick Evans invented the plastic head, although it was Remo Belli who popularized it, setting the benchmark for all other manufacturers.

His first model was the famous and much-imitated Weather King. It was built from a polyester film called Mylar, made by DuPont and developed during World War II for use in building weapons. Today this material is still used in most heads on the market.

Construction
Although they may seem like the perfect place to pound away and vent our anger and frustration at times, the truth is that heads are one of the most technologically advanced components of our kit. As we mentioned earlier, almost all membranes are made of flexible polyester film (polyethylene terephthalate), with the exception of some models that also use Tyvek and other derivatives to achieve a finish and sound similar to the old calfskin heads.

How the plastic circles are formed can vary depending on the number of plies applied, the thickness of those plies, their coating and certain built-in elements to alter their sound, such as dampening rings or mufflers.

Next, the circles are perforated all the way around their outer edge, which is then heated and grooved to give it its final shape; later the film is inserted into the hoop, usually made of aluminum, and bonded with a special glue. This is one of the most complex steps, since the membrane has to be properly level and centered when it's fixed in place; otherwise, we'll probably have major tuning problems.

Types
There are countless models on the market, with all sorts of looks, structures and designs. The best-known brands today are Remo, Evans, Aquarian and Attack.
Remo is probably the brand that takes the prize when it comes to heads, since it was first to venture into this field; the other companies tend to follow a bit behind, although depending on what we're looking for and the factors that constrain us, we might lean toward one brand or another.

As a drummer, I've had the opportunity to use heads from all of the brands above at one time or another, and I can't say some are better than others, since depending on the situation and context we're working in, we can choose whichever best suits what we want.

In this article we'll focus on Remo models, since Remo is something like the mother of all drumhead patterns and because it would be impossible to analyze every brand.

Within its extensive catalog, we'll focus on its most widespread models and those common to other manufacturers, without getting into subcategories, since each one could have four or five variations of the same head.

Clear: These are transparent. Depending on what we're after, we can find them in single or multiple plies, in different ply thicknesses, with a center reinforcement dot, with an outer ring to control overtones and even with a kind of built-in muffler on bass drum sizes. Evans equivalents: Genera clear, EC clear (both in various models).

Coated (textured white): Covered with a layer of textured white coating. Like the Clear heads, we can find them in models with multiple plies, thicknesses, reinforcements, outer rings and mufflers. Evans equivalents: Genera coated, EC coated (both in various models), J1 Etched.

Smooth white: Covered with a layer of smooth, glossy white coating. Like the previous ones, they come in different versions and differ only in their coating. Evans: MX White, MS1.

Suede: These differ from the others because they're coated on both sides of the head and resemble suede, velvet or chamois… Various thicknesses, plies and so on.

Black suede: Same characteristics as the Suede heads, but colored black.

Renaissance: Heads made with resin-based material and plastic, offering a coarser, rougher texture. There are also several types. Evans equivalent: Hybrid.

Ebony: Similar to the Clear heads but colored black, in a wide variety of models with different characteristics. Evans: Onyx 2.

Fiberskyn: Membranes made with Poly Spun fiber and polyester that try in some way to resemble the old calfskin heads. Different models depending on their particular features. Evans: Tri-Center.

It's worth pointing out that the so-called “oil” heads are simply two-ply membranes that, being layered, produce an optical effect similar to a thin film of oil. The only model I know with this characteristic is the Evans Hydraulic.

It's important to bear in mind that we can find very similar types of heads from other brands, and at times they may prove just as good as, or better than, those mentioned above.

Usage
I'm convinced that the best way to know what we want is to really know ourselves. We need to understand our tastes, influences, ambitions, flaws and so on. Only then can we find the sound we truly long for.

Depending on the sound we're looking for, we'll use one type of head or another, without forgetting the characteristics of our drum kit, so we can balance the two elements together.

If we're lucky enough to have a good-quality kit, the heads' job will be much easier and more rewarding; if not, we'll have to work a bit harder and use their features to the instrument's advantage.

We need to know what type of wood our kit is made of, its thickness and how many plies it has. If the wood is one of the so-called “noble” woods (maple, birch, mahogany, etc.), we can dress it with any type of head and it will give us an acceptable sound; that's not the case with lower-quality instruments.

For our batter (top) head, on quality kits we'll use single-ply, medium-thickness membranes if we want a full, natural sound, rich in high frequencies, overtones and sustain. As we increase plies, thickness, reinforcements and controls, the frequencies will become lower, the overtones will decrease and the sustain will be shorter.

We should never forget that the drum sounds we hear on records are filtered through “things” called microphones, which don't hear the way we humans do, so the natural sound of drums is very different from what we hear on recordings.

On resonant (bottom) heads, it's customary to fit very thin, single-ply membranes to lengthen the note and increase volume. The same principle as above applies when increasing plies and thickness, but it's advisable not to do so, since we'd leave our toms, for example, without definition and with an overly dry sound.

In this whole process, a lot depends on how used we are to tuning and how handy we are with the tension rods, since everything we've seen so far would go down the drain with poor or incorrect tuning.

From this point on, anything goes. There's a very wide range of heads on the market to choose from, and our duty as musicians is to research which one will work for the snare sound we're chasing. There are textured coated models, which are perfect for a brush sound and also produce frequencies rich in mids with plenty of overtones. We can opt for a black-coated two-ply model, quite thick and with an overtone control, which combined with a single-ply, medium-thickness resonant head will give us that deep, low punch we want in our rock band.

If what we're after is a strong, powerful attack, there are heads with reinforcements in the striking areas for greater strength and durability, as well as bass drum resonant heads with tiny vents around the edge of the head, which provide even greater control over sustain.

In other words, if we don't find our sound, it's because we don't want to, or because we haven't worked hard enough at researching how to get it.

For lower-quality kits, we can use thick membranes with overtone controls and a center reinforcement. This will help us correct the instrument's flaws and, together with good tuning, can help us get truly amazing results in our sound.

Personally, on my current kit I use fiber heads similar to the old calfskins, with medium resonant heads, except on the snare, where I keep the thick-ply coated head with a very thin one on the snare side for greater sensitivity and attack. With these heads I get a sweet tone, with plenty of overtones and a very warm attack; they're ideal for my maple kit and perfect for the Flamenco-Jazz-oriented sound I'm after, without much volume, so as not to overpower the sound of the flamenco guitar too much.

In short
Our instrument is a recent creation compared with many others, which means it has had less time to develop. We drummers have a duty to do that work and to raise the profile of our instrument and its sound one step further every day. We must create new sounds, find new formulas for doing so and take nothing for granted or as a given.

Everything written in this article may be left behind if, tomorrow, one of us manages to combine the factors we've looked at in a different way and gives this instrument a new twist.

Warm regards to all ISP readers.