Vintage Drum Sound

[Puck]

Hey guys I am starting a new project kit .

 

I got a used pacific Fxr 4 Piece birch kit. 18x22

9x12 14x16floor.

 

I want to do the kit up with a vintage vibe. I will be wraping it in either an oyster or sparkle. But more importantly Is the sound I am going for. I was thinking of trying to put on some Aquarian modern vintage heads. Something that is similar to an old calfskin head. Think of Ringo's drum sound. Kinda the sound from that era. Anyone have any recomendations on heads or achieving that style of sound?

[offramp]

Well, the first thing, that you're not going to be able to do much about, is the bearing edges; by todays' standards, the bearing edges of the time were rather broad and 'soft'. I have a set of '70 red sparkle Ludwigs that I've thought about having the edges reshaped but can't bring myself to do it.

 

A consideration for head choices should be Remo coated Emperors for the batter heads, and Remo uncoated Ambassadors for the bottom. Emps are thicker than Ambs, and the coating helps keep the attack and tone a little more subdued.

Plus, they haven't really changed in 30 or more years.

[ArtVandelay]

Ringo used a ton of damping...tape, towels, whatever they could get their hands on. The latest Modern Drummer has a section on him and he talks about his sound. If you want to do what he did, then get either real calfskin heads or some heads that try to mimic calfskin - try Remo Fiberskyn heads in the Ambassador weight - and then if that's not enough, use some tape to dampen the sound even further. That'll get you closer the Ringo sound. Ringo claims his best sound came from real calfskin heads. Oh yeah, and get George Martin to record you.