i have a Remo Black Max head on the top of a Yamaha SFZ. Then on the bottom, I have a Remo Ambassador head that has been tuned as tight as possible without it breaking. Since the SFZ snare drum is "free floating", I can keep the Black Max head tight without risking warping of the shell.

for a corps-size college marching band we have a fairly small battery that often gets burried under the sound of the band. can someone give me some tips how to tune our 5 Pearl ffx snare drums to maybe get more sound on the field?
14" Pearl ffx
top- white max/ black max
bottom- falam II
ralph hardimon sticks

thanks!

The first sugestion i'd give you would be to add a sound projector. It's a really cheap way of improving your volume, however i've heard that some people don't like the sound of the drum with them added. Try one out, you can usually get them from the company that makes the drum, in this case Pearl.

Hope this is what your looking for!

yeah, we do have the scoops already. sorry i forget to mention that in the above post. anything else? thanks a whole lot!

I have another noob question. What sort of sound does a kevlar head snare side have opposed to a Mylar. My school has mylar, but inresponse to another thread I wanted to know the difference. Also, is it common to have Kevlar on kevlar or mainly kevlar on Mylar. Thanks for the help.

Mylar vs. fiber (kevlar or aramid) snare side heads:

Use of both mylar and fiber resonant (snare side) heads is about equally common.

A mylar head, being a thin plastic membrane, vibrates very well and provides a great deal of snare response in general, and more sensitivity at lower volumes (i.e. ya hear the snares really well even though yer playin' quiet-like). A great deal of snare response is generally referred to as "wet." I think of it as crispy -- like eating potato chips.

A fiber head doesn't vibrate as readily as a mylar head and so provides a very short snare response, making each note stand out clearly. The trade-off is reduced snare response -- you simply don't get as much snare sound. This quality is generally referred to as "dry." I think of this a crunchy sound -- like chewing ice or a maybe a Chick-O-Stick. (I'm hungry -- can ya tell?) A fiber head *can* still have fairly sensitive qualities, depending upon it's tuning.

If you put a mylar resonant head on one snare, and a fiber head on another and compare them there really is quite a difference in sound.

I'm gonna go with Derek & Gonzo on the first page, I always used flam ll battery heads until I was introduced to tenduras. Premier tenduras are the best way to go they are so durable that you could tune them with a power drill without tearing it, but i don't recomend trying that.

Could someone explain how to take the snares off to get the bottom head on, I'm doing all our new heads Thursday and I don't know how to get them off. Using Yamaha SFZs.

Pearl FFX1412
Black Max/Hazy Ambassador

my procedure is as follows, remove the bottom head and then the top head. dispose or donate or whatever you wanna do to your old ones.

then i remove the snare feet from the bottom rim and i dip each lug in a little vaseline or lithium grease, whichever i have handy

i put on the bottom head and tighten all the lugs down as tight as i can get them with just my fingers.
then i use my hand to put firm pressure downward on the center of the head, it should go down quite a bit and identify any lugs that are too high, which you can loosen untill they are at a similar level as their neighbors. this ensures that your head is centered and all the lugs are even before you start cranking.

i turn each lug about 2 full turns going in a criss cross pattern. i balance each lug and then tighten in criss cross one more time. i attempt to balance the head as best as i can at this stage, but it is wise to wait for the head to stretch a bit before doing this. if i press down on the center of the head right now it still has a lot of give (note, if my head is tuned where i like it, smacking it at the very edge with my finger produces a timbale like sound)

the batter head is a little more mysterious to me. what i find works well is to make sure that the bottom head wont make any noise (put the drum on a towel) and then go through the same steps as i did for the bottom head. but afterwards, i tighten in a circular pattern untill my forearms burn (im using a tiny drumkit key). and balance afterwards. this leaves the head producing a full sound free of overtones in the center and an annoying ping on the edges.

now for the snare guts, i make sure they are straight across the head and i loosen them untill i can hit the bottom head and i cant hear it ring anymore.

doing all this i have ended up with a snare that really sounds like what i hear in my head when i think 'snare drum,' a dark cracking sound.
using a mylar bottom, i need to rebalance the head every few days or so.