I also have better experience with flat bed snare stands than basket ones. Makes a big difference. I found further improvement when I glued thick pieces of cymbal-felt to the rubber of the snare stand (making a soft "bed"for the rim of the drum).

Regarding this business of the details of the effect of stands on the drum, is this happening because the shells are so thin? Seems the reinforcing ring would counter that if the drum is simply sitting in a basket or is it because the basket arms are against the shell and restraining the shell from vibrating? Very curious case here.

Is this "dead" sound what you hear behind the kit?

If so, try having someone else play and stand back 10-20 feet. Maybe they are still singing, but due to the rug, it just sounds dead behind the kit.

Isolation mounts always help the sound. Never been a fan of the tom basket for reasons stated.

Good luck!

Try the old Tommy Wells trick of putting surgical tubing over the ends of your snare stand basket and +1 on the floor tom feet, which I believe were initially invented by Tommy too. Straight legged floor tom legs usually choke by nature of their design.

I have these and they're awesome, and work extremely well..

They're called , of all things, "Booty Shakers"..

Lots of great ideas here.

Dan Boucher: I have a new set of classic maples. The ride is mounted to the bass drum. It's only slightly deadened. The floor tom rings on for days. Perhaps it's the straight legs on the old floor tom that stifles it. Also I should try a consolette mount for the ride.

I'll try the other perspective. Maybe it's my POV that makes it sound so bad.

I use those Pearl floor tom feet on my Mapex floor toms. Just for fun I put some on my Club Date floor tom to see what difference they would make. The drum rings about two seconds longer with the cushioned feet.

I have used a "Snare Stand" mounted tom for years with many kits.. For me it has never restricted the resonance of the tom.. In fact with my current set up it has opened the sound noticeably from the standard Slingerland BD mount. I am yet to hear complaints of a snare stand choking a snare drum, so fail to see how the effect is any different with a Tom.. The ISO mounts work, as do the ISO feet, so as Mitch says just work your way down the list..

Shag pile rugs tend to kill off volume and tone (but usually just from the drummers perspective).. So maybe a drum rug would help.. and I'd put fixing up those "warped hoops" high on the list of things to do..

Cheers John

Human 71.....I've seen an add for these 'booty shakers', - do these things actually make a snare drum sound more resonant? I must admit it seems a bit far fetched? Do they work?

I haven't tried the 'Booty Shakers' but I'm going to say that they work - I did a dodgy homemade version on an old snare stand by gluing some foam squares where the Tom hoop rests in the basket - my 13" had about the same improvement in mids,

Lows and note length as my floor did when I fitted those pearl ISO feet. Huge improvement.