Drum Skins - What the greats prefered

[Ecuarumba]

hey guys...I was thinkin today about my own personnal preference of mule skin on all my drums and was curious about what the greats prefered....Mongo, Barretto, Aguabella, Puente...etc..yall know the list lol... I figured even those who today endorse certain companies may actually prefer other skin than the ones they play on...so I just thought I'd ask...

Anybody have any info or anecdotes about this?

[yoni]

Hi Ecuarumba,

Only well-known greats I met in person were Ray Barretto and Giovanni, and I didn't manage to ask what skins they preferred (though I DID ask Gio how much to tighten heads, and he said one turn on each lug for tightening and loosening. Others have told me that loosening all the way is best between playing, who knows...?)

Like you, I also prefer the sound of mule skin, but I think about 90% of the sound is in the hands anyway...

All the best,

Yonatan



Edited By yoni on 1149667498

[Seisporocho]

HI! Just became a member of congaplace 10 minutes ago and this is my first time writing in this site.

Skins have become one of my favorite subjects recently. I have become obsessed with finding the perfect skin. Here is what I've found so far:

1) Steer - To answer the question on "what do all the greats use?" I read in http://www.pacifier.com that most recordings done in the 50's and 60's were done with steer skin. Tough and melodic but not great for crisp, loud slaps. A very vintage sound...Big tones.
2) Mule - used by many and with a high reputation as a quality skin. Tough and supposedly (I never had one) best all around. One major weakness (from what I've heard) is that they are EXTREMELY sensitive to moisture and humidity and don't stay tuned in those conditions. (Being a Miami resident, that has become a major concern for me! IF anyone has first hand experience on this, I would love some feedback cause I have access to mule skin but haven't invested for that reason!)
3) Water Buffalo - This skin is what LP and major conga companies use. Just recently bought a water buffalo skin. I haven't put it on yet but it looks great and just feeling it, I know it's going to be a great skin. Thick. It isn't as tight as mule or cow skin and has a translucent quality that makes me wonder how it will really sound. ButI think we all know how it sounds since we have all at some point owned a pair of LPs or Meinl's! I think it's a good overall skin for the price.
4) Cow Hide - This is the interesting one. NOT all cowhides are the same and necessarily good. I currently bought Puerto Rican cowskin, Venezuelan cowskin and Peruvian cowskin. The best out of the three is the Venezuelan...thick, tougher, tighter, not translucent, and just awesome tones and slaps. The Peruvian (that I get) is a bit more translucent and has to be tightened alot to get brighter tones so the skin doesn't last that long. Good tones once tightened a bit thought and nice slaps when sanded down a little. Puerto Rican is similar to the Venezuelan yet it lacks the brightness in tones that the Venezuelan has.
Soon, I am getting a hold of african cowskin so I'll keep you posted. There is also another connection for Costa Rican cow skin and will keep you posted on that.
5) Elk - Recently explored with Elk skins. Never seen it done before so thought I'd try it out. What I found is that the skin is thinner than cow or mule or water buffalo but really, really tough. I couldn't even cut it with a blade when taking the excess skin off the wet-mounted head. The texture is almost 'velvetty' and even better when sanded down a little (gentle on the hands). Not the best for congas or tumbadoras from what I can tell. The sound and tones are too soft. If playing with a loud band like I do, forget it. I think it's ok for intimate environments or recordings though. I've also noticed they loose sound when the conga is put on a stand high above the ground. Regardless, it is PHENOMENAL for quintos and re-quintos. This skin gets ridiculous tones and slaps when tightened alot. I mean just awesome!! I have it on my 10" quinto and have put it on a 9" quinto and it sounds unbelievably bright. The tones travel and cut through anything and the slaps are out of this world. It is my fav for the quinto so far.

I think in the end it alot has to do with the player's hands and technique but it is important to understand 50% of a player's sound is on the kind of heads being used.

hope this is helpful....

Seisporocho

[CongaTick]

99% is in the hands and heart.

[higueraja]

I have experienced a lot of skins on the many brand congas I have played for over 30 years. My opinion, like many others. It is mostly on "HOW" you have worked-out your chops.(develomental techniques) that is going to dictate yous sound. ADJUST to the type of Gig.(indoors; outdoors; acustic; amplified;ext...). Outdoors on the beach with fluctuating humidity?, I go with Evans heads. Indoors and on the studio I prefer what is going to give me a CLEAN NOTE for each conga. Remember also that you have to DEVELOP THE ABILITY to play in a manner where you can adjust your FEEL to the rest of the musicians playing so that "IT IS MUSIC" you are playing AND NOT A FASHION SHOW. Don't let your instrument's LOOKS outperform your ability artisticaly play your congas. jorge.

[Berimbau]

I totally agree with Jorge, if you are a good conguero, you should be able to get a good sound out of a mediocre drum skin or even a mediocre drum. The choice of any drum skins or brand of congas are really up to one's personal taste, and these days the choices are fairly staggering!
For me and most working congueros, stability and reliability FAR outweigh looks or "trendiness." Any of the hand made drums will, of course, be of superior quality. Yet most players tend to leave those tubs at home or limit their use to studio situations. After over 35 years of playing congas, I still prefer my old wooden LP classics. Heads, parts, etc., are still readily available but largely unnecessary as and they were built to last. Mine survived the eye of Hurricane Katrina!!
Now I have seen great congueros rock the house with a single crappy drum. So really at the end of the day it is the player that we remember, not their drums!



Saludos,



Berimbau

[congamyk]

Seisporocho WELCOME to the forum and thank you
for the information. Many people here did not know that.
Your's is a very well written and detailed expose'.

Of course 99% of your sound and technique is in the mind, heart, soul and hands, we all know this.
But this is good information to have even if I or others never use it.
As a sax player, I know that sax players spend many hours and thousands of dollars in resources
for the right horn, mouthpiece, reed and ligature set up.

Information is power, Seisporocho thanks again for sharing.



Edited By congamyk on 1157560908

[Facundo]

Ecuarumba,

Just to add a bit of history to this, back in the 60's there was a company called Amrawco out of Chicago that supplied hide heads to music stores. They sold calf skin from trap drums and tympani. Heads for those drums used to be tucked but you really had to know what you were doing. However, their conga heads were mule. The only cow skin on congas were on drums from a Mexican company called Zimgar. The mule heads were what everyone I knew used back then. Even if you had a Zimgar, it was replaced with the Amrawco mule when a new head was needed. I don't think Amrawco in still in business anymore. It seems like when LP and some of the other large companies started making congas that cow and water buffalo became popular. Maybe, I am dating myself but it is surprising to hear mule heads being discussed like they are a new discovery when at one point they were the commonly used.

It's true that different types of skin have different sound producing properties. What anyone likes is subjective. However, I agree that it is all in the hands in the end.

Facundo

[Seisporocho]

Facundo, that's interesting! Maybe you could tell me if mule skins are ok when dealing with alot of humidity? Regardless of humidity, how do they compare to good cowskin or water buffalo??...thanks


Congamyk, thanks for the reply.

Seisporocho

[Firebrand]

my preferences:

I've given up on real skins...i've had two gigs where the humidity or extreme cold changed the tuning of the drum SEVERELY...it made it impossible to play them. Ever since then...I tried LP Synthetics (which were Evans ones, really), and I hated the little triangle muting thing in the middle...it killed the ability of the drum to overtone when you did open crack hits. I tried Remo Fyberskins after taht...fell in love...tight, high pitch, great tone. Never will go with anything else.

I've played on Custom-made Mule skins from Colombia on friend's congas...I like the tightness and sound of those. My friend Victor Sterling (and respected conguero of Connecticut) uses Colombia-Mule skins on his congas. I prefer synthetic though

I can't completely vouch for Giovanni, but, I'd say that Giovanni prefers synthetics too. I've seen perform with synthetics a lot...although, you give Giovanni a damned card-board box and it will sound better than me on a real conga!

Stay away from the waterbuffalo skins...sound dead and flat, and you can't get anything approximating high-pitch on those. The Sonor Cubanos come with them, and they suck big time (my opinion, of course).



Edited By Firebrand on 1157570159

[Seisporocho]

Thanks for the reply!

Seisporocho

[pavloconga]

Welcome Seisporocho and thanks for the invaluable information on skins!

It's always good to know the characteristics of different skins. Down here in Australia I've even tried kangaroo skin - which can be good on djembe type drums but it does stretch quite a bit.

Here's a question for you (or anyone else that may know): I have some pretty old Gon Bops (see pic) and wondering if you or someone else may know what kind of skins they originally came out with.

The Gon Bops skins seem very different to all my other congas (LP Palladiums, Aspires and old Classics). The skin is quite smooth, VERY thick and yellowish in colour. I believe they're the original skins that came with the drums from new. They're probably around 25+ years old (I've had 'em about 10 years).

cheers and thanks!
Pavlo
Australia

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[OLSONGO]

They were cow hide, you could probably put some life into the ones you currently have, if interested let me know, and I will tell you how.
OLSONGO



Edited By OLSONGO on 1157651861

[pavloconga]

Sure, I'm interested to know! The quinto sounds great, esp for rumbas, but the conga is a bit flat.

thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Pavlo

[OLSONGO]

Pavlo you will need long lugs to reach the rim, by the looks of it you may have already used most of the lug.
First you wet the skin, when it is soft, place the hoop on top and with a string or rope rap it as illustrated,( this is because you have little hide to work with) next place on the drum and hold it with the lugs and cut the string, then tighten til the head is a bit above the rim, let it dry naturally, if its dirty clean with soap and put a bit of oil and place in the sun, there you have it; a renewed head. I did this with an LP head and I was surprised by the results.

Paz OLSONGO



Edited By OLSONGO on 1157681515

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