Synthetic heads or rather dead cattle? - Anybody touching synthetics lately?

[Mike]

Although I am not too enthusiasistic about non-natural skins in general (would include my clothes as well), i am curious abut possibly striking advantages of stuff like EVANS Tri-Center heads, for example or the new REMO NuSkynwhich I have heard of. I know some people of the conga community are friends of them .
So what about them? Money also plays a role.

[paulo da salvia]

I've just bought a non-natural skin from Evans. I played just few minutes in the shop before purchasing and the sound was quite good (I was playing with a LP classic model Quinto). Tomorrow I put it on my Afro drum (quinto) and I'll let you know..... Right now i can only say that the feeling to touch a synthetic skin is really different and I am not sure I'm gonna like it.
stay tuned!
paulo

[Kracker]

Hi Mike,

Somebody told me that Giovanni Hidalgo is using EVANS heads! I don't know how true it is and whether its just because he is getting paid to do it.

Personally, I would stick to dead meat sacks. :)

(Edited by Kracker at 10:40 pm on April 28, 2001)

[Laurent Lamy]

When I played with Giovanni in Paris, he did not use skins Evans.

[Bill Losh]

I am a synthetic user and will not go back!!!!!!! I live in a very humid climate, because of this my drums were seldom in tune for very long. I was constantly retuning or detuning. Synthetic will stay tuned for months, really! I play my drums everyday, multiple times a day sometimes for hours sometimes for moments, I sit down and play and don't have to worry about what they are going to sound like today. I can put them in my car, if it gets hot or cold (within reason) I don't worry. The less you tune, the more you play the more you play the better you get.
Remo for volume, you can be heard even with loud dejembes, but the tumba is a little pingy, small sacrifice for the sound you will get on the quinto and conga.
Evans more closely mimic the sound and feel of skin.
You can mix Evans tumba-Remo quinto, conga whatever if you want sounds great.
A tight Remo on a quinto might give some that loud popping slap they are trying so hard to achieve.
Note; I play LP classic wood shells. Synthetic heads on fiberglass do sound odd to me but I still use them (Evans).
Bill

[Mike]

Bill,
I don´t know what the wooden shells of your LP Classic drums will say if you let the synthetic heads tuned tight on them all the time . See, to me it does not seem too good for the whole tuning apparatus if to much power is exerted especially if you´ve got got wooden drums.
I´m still quite interested of what the sound would be like if I put Evans skins on My LP CLassic quinto for the sake of slapping. I´ll have a try (if my local dealer lets me try).

P.S.: As far as humid climate is concerned: I live in a rather moist area as well (Mild winters, rain, then chilly summers, much rain as well, but I didn´t have much of a hassle so far with tuning my CONGAS, But : My bodhrán!! (terrific Irish drum from Galway, Eire)

[Laurent Lamy]

Mike,
If you put synthetic skins on your congas, you can lose the quality of your own sound because they ring alone.

[Mike]

Could you please explain what you mean by ringing alone??? Nasty overtones perhaps if too thight (the same goes for my water bufalo heads, by the way)

[Bill Losh]

Mike, I'm not the only one who does this. I learned from others who have used synthetics for years. They tune, and unless they are playing something that needs different tuneing notes, they don't retune for months, and then it is only slight sharpening of the chosen note. I have seen no problems with this practice.
You may not like the feel and sound when you first start with synthetics but it gets better the more you play. And if you don't like it, no one will shoot you, take it off and go back to skin. It is fun to experiment, I'm thinking about trying synthetics on my Bata just to make peoples eyes roll. What I am saying is, try it, a head should cost about 30 bucks, less than a bad dinner with a girl you didn't like, and this could be a relationship that could last for years.
Traditionalist will scoff, let them, you may agree, but try it so you will know for yourself.
By the way, I love to play skin, on someone elses drum.
I love the look and feel of rope tuned djembes and Batas but mine have metal tuners. Some see this as lazy others see it as practical.

[Kracker]

Laurent,

How did you get the chance to play with Giovanni Hidalgo. What was IT like. What was HE like. Give us some info.

[Laurent Lamy]

I met Giovanni in November 2000. and I passed two days with a very nice man. We played for the big evening the LP Night of Paris. We played Abakua, Palo and Rumba in a jam at the end his solo. I had played with Orlando Poléo and Simon Ville in trio before. The LP Night was a big and beautiful Cuban Afro evening.

[Bongo Boy]

From a purely engineering design and materials perspective, there's no reasonable explanation I can think of for damage to a drum from leaving the head under tension. I've read comments regarding distortion of the shell, etc., and I think this is a "momism". (Momisms are things your mom told you that you still believe, but have never tested). I'd like to know how you can tune a drum so unevenly that it distorts the shell, yet still sounds like a drum. I don't believe it, if we're talking about anything manufactured in the 20th century or later by people who use tools

[timo]

hi bongo boy,
the distortion of the shell is possible, this is basicly because youre dealing with a natural material (unless your drums are plastic). the constant tension formed by the head pulling the stave upward might deform the drum if the tension is not distributed evenly aroud and along the drum the wood will move and the glue holding the staves will weaken. and the fact that wood has natural tensions in it, whatever the producers of drums try, also due to the changes of humidity and temperature, all this will effect the drums natural tensions and it will under time distort. though this is thought of when the drums are made, and why the wood is kiln dried and laminated from about 3 staves and of course the stave thikness effects the stability of wood and then coated with the best materials made, so that the weaher cannot get to wood. and the manufacturors think about these things... alot!
but you cant really tune a drum so unevenly that it distorts, but if you leave it like that for a while it might.

try!

personally i have the problem of not eating meat etc... and making drums, but when it comes to drums i'm a traditionalist, when i make drums and have to handle freshly killed cattle and other animal skins :p , not fun for a vegetarian, but i'm used to it. but as for now i would not consider using synthetic, because it doesnt have the same real sound of a drum,(exept on my Arabic Tabla, because thats all that is available) its kind of like playing a plastic conga, it just doesnt attract me in any way nor does it sound right for me,
but hey theres nothing wrong with it.

timo



Edited By timo on Feb. 07 2002 at 15:58

[benbaboon]

Bongo, I gotta agree with Timo since I was the proud owner of more than one "egg-head" drum. 20 years of constant pressure on wood will contribute to material fatigue..... as your mom probably already told you.

It has nothing to do with tuning the drums unevenly but rather with which staves give up first.

I tried various plastic skins at the store and at friends', and I didn't like the sound nor the feel....I'd much rather have to do some tuning and get the best out my drums.

-bb

[Bongo Boy]

Okay. I'll have to think about what's going on here.

But back to the synthetics' feel--did you find the synthetic heads more slippery or did they seem to grip or drag the hands more than natural hides? Or is it something else about the feel?



Edited By Bongo Boy on Feb. 08 2002 at 07:33