What Drumheads Should You Get?

Why you need to pay attention to your heads

Drumheads make a big difference to the sound of an acoustic kit. Bad, "played-out" heads make even an expensive kit sound bad, and in the same way, new and well-tuned heads make a cheap kit sound expensive.

That's the main reason to change and tune your heads, but on top of that, it's good to keep in mind that not every head can give you every kind of sound. It's good to know the characteristics of different heads, so it's easier to try new options and find the heads that work best for your own kit and the styles of music you play.

In this post we'll go through different types of heads, heads from the best-known manufacturers, and other tips for changing heads.

Drumheads 101

Drumheads can be roughly split into four categories: two based on the surface and two based on the thickness.

Clear

A clear head gives an open, bright sound, and the note rings longer. These heads work for every style of music, but they're used a lot in metal, for example, when you want a good "attack".

Coated

A coated head, on the other hand, is deeper, warmer and resonates less. A coated head has fewer overtones, the note rings for a shorter time, and it's easier to get a nice "fat" sound out of it.

Single-ply head (Single Ply)

A single-ply head is the most commonly used head. It's usually 7, 7.5 or 10 mil thick (mil = a thousandth of an inch, so 10 mil is about 0.25 mm). The thinner the head, the more overtones and brightness it has.

Evans EC2 two-ply head with a muffling ring visible at the edge

Two-ply head (Double Ply)

A double-ply head, as the name says, has two layers of film on top of each other. Two-ply heads give a deeper, more controlled sound. Two-ply heads are also more durable than single-ply heads.

Remember to take care of both the batter and resonant heads

A drum has two heads, and both of them matter

Blue bass drum and rack tom, both with a batter and a resonant head

When you hit the batter head, the air moving inside the drum makes the resonant head vibrate too. That's why the resonant head plays a big part in the final sound, especially in how long the drum rings. This tends to get forgotten a lot.

Remember to pay attention to both heads when you buy new ones. Since the resonant head doesn't get hit, it lasts longer than the batter head, so you don't need to change it as often.

Top head: Batter head
Bottom head: Resonant Head

+ Snare and bass drum heads

Snare from below: the snare wires show through the thin resonant head

A snare has a thinner resonant head

The snare's batter head can be the same as on the tom-toms, but the resonant head is special, because it's really thin. The snare wires, which give the snare its typical rattle, touch the resonant head. So if the head is thick, it can't make the wires vibrate easily, and the snare's typical sound goes missing.

Three-piece drum kit with the bass drum's white front head visible in front

Bass drum heads

On a bass drum, the batter head is the head the pedal's beater hits. The front head is the head the audience sees (in the picture).

Drumhead manufacturers and options

The most popular head manufacturers are Remo, Evans and Aquarian. Let's go through each manufacturer's drumheads and their most popular options, so you can make the purchase that suits you best.

You can buy heads either one by one or in head packs. A good basic rule is to keep the batter and resonant heads the same, but of course you can do it differently.

Quick question: What size heads should you buy?

The size of the heads depends on the size of your drums. If your snare is 14 inches, it takes a 14-inch head, and so on.

Standard sizes:

Snare 14 inches
Rack toms 10 and 12 inches
Floor tom 14 or 16 inches
Bass drum 20 or 22 inches

REMO

Tom headRemo 10" Ambassador ClearSingle-ply, clear, bright-sounding head. Easily the most bought and most used head of them all, even compared across all brands. An all-time favorite with beginners and seasoned pros alike.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

Tom headRemo 10" Emperor CoatedTwo-ply, coated, more controlled sound. Also a really popular and safe choice. Both the Ambassador and the Emperor come in Clear and Coated versions.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

Snare headRemo 14" Powerstroke 4 White DotFrom Remo, the Ambassador and Emperor mentioned above are the most common choices for the snare too. Another popular choice is the Powerstroke, which has a small reinforcement ring. It removes unwanted overtones from the drum and gives a more controlled sound.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

A good choice for the resonant head is the Ambassador Reso Classic

Bass drum headRemo 22" SMT Emperor Coated BDTwo-ply head. A foam muffling ring comes pre-installed around the edge of the head for a more controlled sound. Remember to check the size of your own bass drum. Of course you can also buy the heads separately.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

EVANS

Tom headEvans 10" EC2S/SST ClearA two-ply head, but thanks to its different muffling technology you get more sustain out of it, combined with a really good attack when you hit it.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

Tom headEvans 10" G1 Coated TomSingle-ply head for all kinds of use. Natural, warm sound. If you want a two-ply head, go for the G2.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

Snare headEvans 14" EC Edge Control Snare RDTwo-ply head, and the reinforcement ring removes unwanted overtones. A dynamic and sensitive head, even though single-ply heads are usually more sensitive than two-ply ones.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

Check out options for the resonant head

Bass drum headEvans 22" EMAD Coated Bass DrumA really popular coated single-ply batter head that comes with two muffling rings in different sizes. With these you can adjust the sound the way you want.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

AQUARIAN

Tom headAquarian 10" Classic ClearSingle-ply head, warm sound, good for tuning low.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

Tom headAquarian 10" Texture CoatedSingle-ply head, really durable, good stick response. Aquarian's most popular head. It works as both the batter and resonant head on toms and as the batter head on the snare. It rings well and picks up even quiet strokes well.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

Snare headAquarian 14" Texture Coated Power Dot10 mil single-ply head. A reinforcement dot on the underside of the head removes unwanted overtones.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

Options for the resonant head

Bass drum headAquarian 22" Super Kick I Clear Bass DrMedium-weight clear single-ply head with its own muffling system. Low, controlled sound and good attack.View product →Image: www.thomann.de

How often should you change your heads?

How long a head stays playable depends on the head, of course, but also on the tuning and how much you play. Playing as a hobby, you can easily get by with the same heads for a year or more, while if you play live a lot, you might put new heads on every night.

A head stretches with use and doesn't go back. That's why it isn't really worth buying used heads: once a head has been tightened and tuned on a drum, it'll never be new again.

When you notice that the head hardly rings anymore when you hit it, and the sound is mostly a short "FLAP" kind of sound, the head is probably toast. A badly tuned head can also stretch unevenly and start making weird sounds, and then it's time to change it too. Also, if you can clearly see bumps and dents on the surface of the head, it's time to replace it.

You can easily test this by taking the old head off the drum, holding it by the edge with one hand and tapping the middle of the head with the other. Do the same with a new head and you'll definitely notice the difference.

How to change heads

Changing a snare head: the hoop and old head lifted off the shell

You change heads by loosening all the tension rods. After that the drum's hoop comes off, and you can take the head out from under it.

When you put on a new head, make sure it's centered on the drum and tune it evenly. More about tuning in the next blog post, which you can get to with the button at the end of this post.

Check out how to tune your drums in this post.

Should every drum have the same head? What about the batter and resonant heads?

A good middle ground is to have the same heads on top of every tom-tom and the same heads on the bottom. All the toms can also have the same batter and resonant heads.

The snare has either the same head or a different one, plus a thin resonant head. The bass drum also has different heads on the batter and reso sides.

Your first head purchase will probably be a safer one. You want a reliable solution that works, like Remo Ambassador Coated as the batter head on the snare and toms and Ambassador Clear as the resonant head on the toms. As you go along, though, it's normal to start trying different options, like:

A different manufacturer
A coated batter head and a clear resonant head
A 2-ply batter head and a 1-ply resonant head
A different head on the floor tom (sometimes you want a really dark and low sound on the floor tom, but it won't work on a small 10" tom, for example).

After you buy new heads, you still need to tune them. The next post talks about tuning your drum kit, so go ahead and check it out.