Messing around with Toms reso heads and stuff

[~BURNY~]

I've recently been asked to produce a retro Heavy Speed Metal band.
The idea is to find a good balance between a retro early 80's vibe and modern clarity which is a very interesting challenge in my book.
Reference names were thrown like Iron Maiden's Powerslave and Killers, Riot's Fire Down Under (some of my favorite albums ever so that's great), also later mid 80's German bands... etc

I've been giving a lot of thought to this and wanted to try to remove a tom reso head since it was a common practice in the 80's to have a better grasp at how it would influence the sound and see if it would give that retro vibe I'm after without committing me too much into something that would sound crappy.

Tought I would share the (unexpected AFAIC) results.

So this is a very old Tama Swingstar 13" tom from my personal kit. It's made of Luan, a cheap wood that was used on entry level kits in the early 80's. I think the whole kit sounds miles better than contemporary entry level Kits made of basswood or poplar.
Anyway...

First things first I recorded the Tom as it is with both Heads on, tuned to what I consider a normal tension for a 13".
I used a simple I5 that was laying around.
Nothing fancy. You can tell the top head is a bit used plus it's a pinstripe which I'm not very fond of but you get the idea.

Normal Tuning Reso Head On

Ok, that's average, nothing to write home about but useable, that's what I'd be normally going for for modern music, with probably a fresher head and a MD421 or a D2 and a slightly refined tuning.

Now removing the reso head:

Same Tuning Reso Head Off

Wow, hold on... That sounds really low, almost like a floor tom.

For shits and giggles, let's put the mic underneath, another common practice back in the days:

Same Tuning Mic Underneath

Fuuuuuck :zombie:uke: That's horrible. Let's put thye mic back on top and tune the tom to what I expect from a 13"...

High tuning Reso Head off

More like it! It gives indeed a retro vibe without compromising the sound too much. I like it a lot actually.

Now let's compare the initial sound with samples blended in:

Reso Head On 50% samples blended In

Reso Head Off 50 % samples blended in


I think I prefer the Reso Head Off in this case. Might just be the tuning but the Reso Head On sounds a lot messier imo.

Opinions?

 

[~BURNY~]

 

[P-E]

Oh wow, now I really get what you meant regarding the 80's toms sound in your High tuning Reso Head off clip. It reminds me a bit of the tom sound in some fills in Powerslave, come to think of it. With some good room mics and reverb, I'm sure it'd make a killer tom sound.

The sample-augmented toms without the Reso head sound 10 times better than the ones with the Reso head too. Good job!

 

[Trevoire520]

Wow that does sound super deep with the reso removed, I'm guessing you normally have the batter head tuned lower than the reso?

 

[JeffTD]

This was a really cool breakdown; I'm curious to see what the OH/room mics sound like with the bottom head off without tuning it back up to what you'd expect to see if it really did compare to a floor tom in those aspects.

Samples not working with both heads as well makes sense; lots of competing tonality there as there's a distinct note associated with a tom, much less so in a snare/kick.

 

[~BURNY~]

Thanks for the comments guys. Appreciated.

Wow that does sound super deep with the reso removed, I'm guessing you normally have the batter head tuned lower than the reso?

I admit I hadn't thought about it much before, cause I'm mostly tuning by ears despite having invested in a Tunebot a months ago, but yes. It seems that the perceived pitch is dominated by the resonant head when it's on. Maybe It's just the way I tune them.

This was a really cool breakdown; I'm curious to see what the OH/room mics sound like with the bottom head off without tuning it back up to what you'd expect to see if it really did compare to a floor tom in those aspects.

Good idea. I will try to do that.

 

[NecroDM]

The Reso Head Off with the samples blended in sounds cool!
I'm curious to hear it in a mix.

 

[~BURNY~]

Did a quick setup with two ribbon mics as Overheads so I get a good amount of room from them too. I love how brutally honest they sound but that's another story. The room doesn't really lend itself to drum recordings but It's still interesting enough hopefully. I used a D2 for close mic'ing this time around. Not necessarily the best choice in that case either.

With OH Normal Tuning Both Heads

With OH Normal Tuning Reso Head Off
I played a bit of the real floor tom for reference at the end but it's not mic'ed.

With OH High Tuning Reso Head Off

The differences are a bit less apparent overall, except for the tuning change off course but I think I'm set on removing the reso heads for that particular project.

Also sorry for the piss poor drumming. I am a noob slow learner lacking of practice.

 

[Trevoire520]

I think I prefer both heads overall, but the lower tuned reso off is cool too.

What ribbons you using for overheads btw? Sounds nice!

 

[~BURNY~]

I think I prefer both heads overall, but the lower tuned reso off is cool too.

What ribbons you using for overheads btw? Sounds nice!

I think it's partly due to the fact that the tuning was a bit better this time around.

It's a pair of Apex 210 with internal pop screens removed and a High shelf to boost a bit of high. Otherwise they sound quite dark like most ribbon mics but they have a stunning ability to capture transient details. The drawback is they capture a lot of ambient sound cause they are fig 8. Not the kind of sound you'd want for something modern sounding.