I may be completely wrong about this, but if you do any muting of a drum to reduce sustain (well, in actuality to reduce overtones, but will in turn reduce sustain), doesn't it also alter the tone? A tom with batter and resonant heads tuned well with no dampening whatsoever, for example, will have different tonality than the same drum/heads/tuning, but with tape/muffler. In other words, because I tend to prefer zero muffling on my drums, it's not necessarily the sustain I'm after, it's the less-dead tone I'm looking for. And if I can't find that sweet spot while tuning, there's something about either the drum (bearing edges?) or head(s) that needs work.

Sorry to go off-topic...

In response to Mitch's post about tom resonance: I have noticed that problem with my kits, specifically my Yamaha kits, both of which have 10 & 12" toms on the bass drum. The tom holders are the familiar 3-hole type, with the 3rd hole for a cymbal arm, or other accessory. With just the toms in place, they have mostly equal resonance and sustain. When a cymbal holder is put in the extra hole, the resonance of the toms is killed. I mean, "bonk". Dead. I've tried various other combinations and positions, but they only sound right when it's just the two toms, and on the bass drum, not on a separate stand. I have even tried a rack, same result. So for whatever reason, they just "like " being in that configuration.

By the way, the toms have the YESS mounts.

Ken

I don`t mute my drums except for the metal snare. All my rack toms are C-Toms so I get short notes out of them. I`m not saying my BD and floor or snare don`t have sustain, I believe they do at the sweet spots, I mean that it has no purpose because I hit the next drum or cymbal before the sustain get`s a chance to,....sustain. Not so with my axe, sustain is essential for carrying a note into the next riff, or pulling and pushing. When you get into the areas of harmonic bar notes and clicking the string to squeal, sustain is a good thing. I can`t rely on a digital tuning because when I play, it`s out of tuning in the first minute. I`ve proven that over and over again to myself. I don`t have the ear to tune that way, just get it close seems to work, so I have to use a digital tuner to be perfect. I`ll tune to 440 all strings and play for ten seconds and check, it`ll be out. When one string goes out, they all go with it. It drove me crazy for years til I met this kill player who showed me that close is better and you will never keep a guitar perfectly tuned if you play it.

Great point Oddball. Rarely do you need to let a drum strike ring out in musical context.

I see that you are from Boston. I spent my sop****re year at UMass, Amherst 1985-86. I grew up in rural red-neck Eastern Oregon and UMass was my first adventure away from home by myself. The very first person I met in Amherst was nicknamed Gonzo and worked at the pizza shop across from the dorms. We became friends, and it turns out he was a drummer for a righteous Rush/Jethro Tull/Aerosmith cover band that won the UMass battle of the bands beating out of like 50 bands, the reward was to open for Otis Day and the Knights at the big spring concert on campus.

Such fun times! New England is extreme living.

I remember the battle of the bands, caught most of them. WBCN would do it as well. We were a unknown garage band that did draw local crowds, on the sidewalk. I hung around Berklee all the time. mostly on the stairs or in the tiny hall. Tyler got out of a cab once, said what`s up guys,..walked right by me, didn`t even notice till he was going up the inside stairs. We looked at each other and said, no way, was that ??..... turns out it was. I spent a lot of time in the near by music stores, especially Jacks Drum Shop. Earth Day at the Hatch Shell was always nice.

Oddball,

There was no acrylic snare with the kit. The snare that came with the kit was this 12in Arbiter. The original strainer and butt had been removed and replaced with two crappy beat-up strainers??? One that sort of worked, and the other was acting just as the butt. I replaced that set up with a Trick 3 position strainer. The one lug tuning is pretty neat, and it really cracks...the rims feel just sturdy and massive.

I was up in Groton New Hampshire one year back in the late 80`s, staying with a friend near Sculptured Rocks for a bit. The neighbor came over and told us about a get away trailer Aerosmith had up the road about a mile or two. Naturally we went up there. It was abandoned, prolly ten years or more with plants and trees growing through it. We jimmy`d a window and climbed in. Empty, wrecked and ready to fall apart. I found a demo tape in one draw near the stove. I think I still have it. It`s full of talk and in between tuning and stuff like that.

That snare is too cool. You made out like a bandit.

8upwithit,

The extra mass of the cymbal stand in there is no doubt the culprit. Above all else we have to remind ourselves to just listen...if it sounds good, it sounds good...move on to finding captivating ways to use that good sound.

Mr.Toast-

Funny thing is, if i remove either tom from the mount, same result. I guess that with both toms and nothing else, it's just the right amount of mass. Head selection doesn't make any difference (I use evans g2's on these), and no dampening.