Single-head toms are generally a bad idea.

I know a guy who makes custom kits who has really shallow tom shells with only a top head (and bizarre shapes and venting; engraves cymbals to match kit finishes too) and he sounds good with those- he used to play in my occasional metal band. Really the only time I've ever heard them sound good. And even then it was more "unique"- odd sounding.

Gotta have the resonant head, IMO. On the kick too. A port is okay and useful, no front head is... er...

Now granted you can get very '70s by pulling your resonant heads, dampening the things, deadening the room... But I have the feeling that's not what we (collectively, as people who like good sounding recordings) like about the '70s. I think the recordings sounded great but the drum sounds were... not the best, by and large. There are exceptions. (I like wide-open '90s drums. The other best decade for rawk record sounds. Give me that kit in its full glory. Don't deaden it, don't make the gated 'verb louder than the drums.)

Getting your kick batter head situation straightened out will toughen up your kick right quick. I like Aquarian Superkick IIs. You can roll with the felt beater- the drummer in Garda does actually, single pedal too!- but I'd take a hard beater of any sort, myself. And yeah, seconded on the tuning thing. As a drummer, IMO your kick and snare-especially the snare, are your signature tones. Tune 'em up good. It makes a difference and makes even fairly cheesy kits sound good if the heads aren't destroyed.

Re: the batter head, just sounds like it's really worn, from your description. There's always the pads that apply where the beater strikes, if wear is an issue.

The snare sound, incidentally, isn't what I'd normally associate with a piccolo. It has a good mid-crack to it versus that high thin "pop!" sound.

Have you read this guy? http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/ Drum Tuning Bible. On the list of "useful informative stuff" floating around the intarwebs.

(And IMO some cheap trashy hats and chinas can actually work to your advantage sonically.)

It's gotta Super Kick Dos on it, actually. And it's pretty new, I think one of my noob friends might have been mashing on the kick pedal though and that's what happened. I also ride the kick pretty hard, but there's no way that could just me playing..

I definitely had to fuck with my snare before I got it to sound like it does, actually the higher I tune it it seems like it gets more ballsy..? I also tend to wail on the bastard. It, IMO, sounds kinda paper-y in the clip versus how it does in the room. It's a pretty angry little piccolo.

It's gotta Super Kick Dos on it, actually. And it's pretty new, I think one of my noob friends might have been mashing on the kick pedal though and that's what happened. I also ride the kick pretty hard, but there's no way that could just me playing..

Dude, a 20" Mapex with a Gibraltar pedal and wood beaters- they might as well have been stone!- was about the punchiest kick I've ever heard in my life IRL, or one of. Filled in for a show for my old goth-metal band some years ago. Skinny gay guy, totally normal looking, ripped some fierce DM and Meshuggah-type stuff. I remember his kick sound perfectly; immaculate, great punch and depth. Usually it's snares I remember.

Tuning and the amount of material padding the batter head seems to do a lot for kick life... also, those things that go where the beater hits. Basically it's about how much you're gonna let the beater rape it with each hit. Mine last a long time because I pad them well and use the thick Remo Falams.

My drummer has access to like.. 4 pair of hi-hats? 3 of which are in the $200-$300 range. Which ones does he use? The $50 Wuhans because "They sound trashy as fuck".

This is totally valid considering how the instrument actually sounds! Seriously. Nothing wrong with shitty hats (they're often pretty quiet, too, which is a plus recording.) or chinas. My two usual drummerpeeps keep cracked or broken chinas around, some expensive, some cheap. For the same reason. Cheap hats break easily, but they sound nasty and don't project like good hats do (into your snare mic, etc.)...

And one of my old drummers cracked a pair of 16" Zildjian Mastersounds. Think about that for a second. I made the mistake of taking my earplugs out for a bit and the first thing he does is lay into his custom Peace bell brass snare in a tiny concrete room.

Did it sound like he had much padding in there?

Here, let me link you my live kick sound:



2:05

Re: said kick sound, I remember there being minimal padding in the drum. It wasn't wide open, there was some, and it may have been a purpose-designed drum padding thing. I can't remember the kick head, either a Superkick II or an Evans EMAD, which might have something to do with it... I think it was the former, though, and what started my getting hooked on the things. It wasn't blankets or towels or random household shit.

The drummer I've been recording this week uses Solar / Sabian SBr hats, which are total ass. I have a set too. Thing is... I kind of like how they sound, listening to the recordings... they are tamed, a bit, compared to what I'm used to. This could be of use to me. These things are generally quiet and wimpy, and since I tend to struggle with too much high hat in my own stuff... could be worth a shot...

I remember some time back, a friend brought his Sonor kit to my house. S Class or something? It had a long twenty inch kick that was fucking incredible. It seriously sounded like some techno bass sample. It was hugely bassy.

What are you using on the snare, and how's it placed, mic-wise? There's no, I don't think, hard-and-fast formula re: hat bleed, just placement, moving the hats up, and moving the mic around until (assuming it's not a figure 8 or omni) the hats are in the null point... Assuming the mic can actually reach there between the stands anyhow.