-Excessive ringing on toms
Actually, with the the proper tuning approach, you can cut down on the ringing quite a bit. Of course, I add a little bit of DIY dampening (personally see no point in O-rings, that's just personal) in the form of duct tape + a small piece of cloth on the underside of the head.
That's the advantage of RT toms, you can adjust the dampening from the underside of the head as you like since there's only one head!
Head choice - If you're on a budget and still using the stock heads, then you can do your best to tune and dampen them. But generally clear heads are on the brighter side with natural overtones.
Otherwise, a set of coated heads can give you a warmer tone on the RT, minimizing some of the high frequency tones.
Could look at these recommendations from the DTB:
* Category 2 – A more mellow tone compared to single ply with overtones becoming less prevalent on the initial attack, stick feel and sustain are reduced slightly; A sound similar to placing an “O” ring around the head. Comprised of either single and 2-ply muffled or heavy weight heads, these can help warm up or round out the tone, yet retain an element of sustain with minimal high-pitched overtones. This would include heads such as the
o REMO Emperor™ (2-7mil plies)
o REMO PowerStroke3™ - Single ply feel – minimized overtones
o REMO FiberSkyn™ F1 – Warm and open – minimal overtones
o Evans G2™ - Slightly muted over Evans G1™, open sound tuned high.
o Aquarian Studio-X Series™ - Warm overtones, single head feel
o Aquarian Double Thin™ - slightly more responsive and open than Response 2™
o Aquarian Response 2™ - Focused sustain strong attack
-Rather high / excessive ringing of bass drum
I'm personally using this tip from the DTB, like the result best.
I'm using an Evans EQ4 batter (it's a clear head with built in muffling ring on the inside) medium tight and the stock pearl reso medium loose (not loose in the real sense but just lightly tightened)
One pad or pillow, 15-20% coverage against Batter head and Resonant: Beater attack accentuated, overall volume diminished a bit, tone and sustain become focused, overtones diminished.
From tips on tuning and how to squeeze out the best possible tones from whatever heads you have, check out the Drum Tuning Bible:
http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/
P.S. I'm no pro, still got much to learn. Enjoy your RT!
Where are you located? I'm sure most of the brothers here won't mind helping a fellow drummer out. Singapore's so small. Wherever you are, there's bound to be someone nearby :lol:
