Recently, I was able to get new heads for my drum kit. The last time i posted here, I was playing on Aquarian Deep Vintage II’s for the top of the toms (classic clears on the bottom), and a Modern Vintage Medium for the snare. The kick heads were a Deep Vintage II for the batter side and a regulator for the resonant side. Now, however, I’ve switched to Modern Vintage Mediums for the toms (both top and bottom) and a Focus-X texture coated for the snare.
"Wait. What does all this mean? Why are you putting numbers and crap after your heads?"
Don’t worry, friend. I’m getting to that. In simple terms, you have single and double-ply drum heads. Single ply heads are made from a single ply of milar, where as double-ply heads are made from two. Single ply heads are great for jazz and other styles of music where dynamics are really braught out. Double ply heads are great for rock, funk Etc. The things like Modern Vintage, Deep Vintage, Focus-X, Etc, are just model names for the heads. The Roman Numerals after the head names denote the number of plies that the head has. So a Modern Vintage I has one ply, and Modern Vintage II has two. Of course, this isn’t always the case. You might see a head called something like a G12, which is a head made by the Evans drum head company, and may think that there are 12 plies of milar. This isn’t the case though. It can all get a little confusing, even for drummers.
"So what kind of head is a Focus-X?"
A focus-X is a normal drum head in every aspect, except that it has a vented ring of milar fixed to the underside of the head. This takes out a lot of the higher-pitched overtones that you get whena head is tentiones and gives a really warm, focused sound, hense the Focus part of the model name.
OK, so you got new heads on your kit. What does it sound like?
Well, I’m glad you asked! Below, I’ve included a recording I made yesterday where I played the kit with the new heads on it. I’d love to hear what your thoughts are withregards to the kit’s sound.
If you have any comments on the sound, you can either write them here or send me a pm and I will do my very best to get back with you.