Excellent stuff, thank you! And yes, a playlist is a good idea (though only two videos in the series so far).

Much appreciated!

I love Rick Beato! That'd be fun. Maybe someday!

Will do!

So glad I could shed some light on that! Thanks for watching!

Thank you!! I do hope people are finding it helpful!

Thanks so much, Bruce!

Thank you!

Are we talking drums or shampoo? :) Regarding the edges, yes, getting it flat takes a bit more time and effort which translates to expense (labor and materials). This is a contributing factor to the higher cost of better quality drums (and also why a little elbow grease on one's own can improve the quality of an otherwise cheaper kit in many cases!). As for the head making contact, mylar (or polyester.. the material most all plastic heads are made from) if flexible, and will conform to the shape of an edge. It doesn't do so quite as easily has actual calfskin (or goat skin) does (one reason companies often didn't sweat the bearing edges as much back in the day), but it still conforms. So under any amount of pressure the head probably is making reasonable contact all the way around, particularly with better drums. The ideal is still a flat edge though.

Excellent suggestion, thank you!! I have added a discussion of hoop types to my topic matrix!

I SOOOO want to do this!! I'm trying to put this together for a future video, but it will take a bit of preparation, because effectively demonstrating the impact of various bearing edges means all other things, as far as possible, need to be the same. So I can't just compare one of my kit's toms to another, because so many other variables differ (shell material, thickness, wrap, dimensions, etc.), so that wouldn't really be useful. I need to have my buddy Jon (who builds drums) make a few 'identical' drums with different edges, so I can tune them the same with the same heads and compare the performance. So it's an awesome idea, and one that I'm trying to do.... let's hope I can do it soon! I do think that would be tremendously useful.

The only trouble with that idea is that it introduces the effects that the microphone adds which he mentions in the video. He would have to do close miking at different distances from the edge and room mics making a relatively long video even longer. Not to mention the effect of amps and headphones or speakers.

I will try to do this in a future video. I want to do some type of video discussing the achievable performance characteristics resulting from combinations of these various attributes. Might be a multi parter... or just REALLY long....

Excellent suggestion, and much appreciated! I'm not much of a graphics guy, but will no doubt either become one or hire one as needed for ongoing videos, and will remember to use them as soon as it seems relevant. And yes, I worried about whether people understood what 'flat' edges meant... that is why I also talked about their profile being consistent, their shape, whatever that was, but it probably wasn't the best verbiage. Thanks for your suggestion! I really appreciate all suggestions to make the channel more useful to as many people as possible.

Hoops are an altogether separate discussion... one that I haven't done yet (not directly, anyway), but I'll add that to my matrix and perhaps do that video soon! Thanks for the suggestion!

Vintage drums tend to have a vibe about them, and it is amazing how that vibe can change with sharper edges (greater tuning range, more modern sound).

@@drumdotpizza I was blown away. I honestly did not expect the edges to make much of a difference, but they really did have an audible difference after I leveled and routed those edges

Wonderful questions, all!! Please stay tuned, and I will be addressing all of these topics in soon-to-come videos. The answers are too long to write hear, so please hit the bell notification button (and subscribe if you haven't :) so you'll be notified when I upload those videos. Thanks so much!!

Heads have TONS to do with the sound... and yes, a video is coming for that...

In general I don't find the particular angle used inside the cut to be of great importance at all. I stated in the video that all the common angles used, 15, 30, 45, and 60 don't really differ in practical application. Rather, it is the treatment of the apex of the angle, the part that establishes the active diameter of the drum, that matters. Any angle can have a sharp or rounded apex (radius), and there can also be a roundover (or not) on the outside of the cut, but the inside slope of the angle pretty much doesn't make contact with anything, so it's basically passive. Only the event horizon I discussed at the end of the video changes for the different angles, and my ears really can't tell much of a difference at all, so I really don't worry about it. I hope that helps! Thanks for being here!

Ah, so I just got to 27'13", which explains it perfectly (and I think is a first on YT). That'll teach me to not to post comments until I've watched the whole video. Cheers.

When I say the 'fundamental' is muted I am speaking of the low frequency content of the drum (usually the note that one could sing to imitate the sound of that drum). In toms the fundamental comes across as an actual note, complete with round, low frequencies. In a snare drum (which lacks sustain because 1) an almost always tight bottom head on an 2) bottom edge that has snare beds carved into it, stifling vibration) the fundamental is really just a sense of 'bottom' or 'fullness' or 'fatness', etc. to the sound. 'Fat' snare drum sounds have a lot of fundamental. Thin snare sounds don't. I wouldn't say that the attenuation of the fundamental happens at a single note, no, but rather the entire LF spectrum is minimized, including any complex harmonics that might be contributing to the low end of the drum's sound. I'm not sure how complex the LF spectrum is on a drum, probably not so much so at the higher harmonics, but being an acoustic instrument, it's probably a spectrum rather than a frequency or two. Thanks so much for being here!!

Wow!! 32-piece?? I hope you don't plan to travel with it! And yes, were it not for friction drums would sustain foreeeverrr.....

@@drumdotpizza no it’s a don’t travel set i am starting to get the things to make a studio for my music equipment. Your channel comes at the right time. I want to get the best natural sound and tone out of set. I am working on the set of 22x30 bass drums i made. Close to the sound i want but still needs adjusting bearing’s may help shape the sound more

@@jefflincoln1374 You gotta share pics and audio of that kit when you're done! I want to check it out!

@@drumdotpizza catch me on Facebook and i will send some pictures. I can’t send them on comment

@@jefflincoln1374 Which Jeff Lincoln are you on FB?

Typical tuning issues with uneven edges are odd overtones that are hard to tune out, less defined fundamental pitch and/or increased overtones, and diminished sustain. Boxier tone as well, less full and balanced.

@@drumdotpizza That's good to know. I've heard similar comments from others so this confirms what I've been hearing. If you've done the drum on a flat surface, (back of a mirror for example), with a light showing through in areas that are not completely true and you are seeing some light shine through, how much is enough that you would have the bearing edges re-cut? Should it be a perfectly flat (true) edge? Since the bearing edge affects tuning as you said, I'm wondering how long should a drum (reasonably) stay in tune? Thanks again Joel for your channel and sharing your knowledge.

Yep! I have owned three original vistalite snare drums (currently have an original bass drum shell too that I'm rebuilding, but haven't played it yet), and all three snares were very hard to tune. They each had a tuning that seemed to work, but they weren't flexible, sonically, at all. I now have two acrylic snares (all Ludwig hardware) with shells from RCI, and the edges (and tuning ranges) are fantastic. They sound great at all tensions.

I'm actually working on the outline for a video that will explain this right now. Hope to film it and have it out within the next month or so. Short answer, the physical connection between the drum and the floor is quite direct (easy for vibrations to travel) with the bracket bolted to the shell and a straight leg clamped into that bracket. By simply adding strong angles to the leg (DW/PDP use right angles on their legs) you inhibit the direct transfer of energy which helps to isolate the drum from the floor. Direct transfer of energy will rob the drum of energy and make for a dead sound with little sustain. Indirect transfer (isolation) helps to keep the energy in the drum, making for a livelier and more sustaining tone. I hope that is helpful. ??

I would use care when bending an Acrolite shell back into shape. Aluminum isn't as malleable as brass, but you can do it (and overdo it, so be careful!). Is the concern a 'flat' in one part of one of the edges? Or has it been dropped on a lug, and the shell pushed in at that point? My recommendation for how to address it is different, depending on what the damage is. ????

It does become quite muddy, does it not? I have never played the Phoenix kit, but their approach to Phoenix edges does seem to defy convention, so I'm very curious to try spend some time with them. I wish I knew someone with a kit I could mess with! Any ideas?

⁠@@drumdotpizza if I ever make any friends rich enough to own a PHX and a Pearl Reference, I’ll let you know lol I may decide to go with a Pearl Reference set or a Yamaha PHX someday but one person owning both kits seems pretty unlikely. Seems like it would be the ultimate variable-bearing-edge/wood-type drumset shootout though!

Interesting! I never gave much thought to a softer angle have greater edge stiffness due to the increased mass there (or the lower stiffness of steeper edges). I would think that, while totally true, the impact of this would be minimal so long as the tension applied to the edge isn't extreme. On a softer wood shell, like poplar or basswood, I can see this becoming a practical issue, but for maple, birch, and the like, much harder veneers (particularly with the preponderance of glue used in thin shells) this wouldn't be a real concern. VERY interesting food for thought though.... you can just rock me to sleep tonight!!! :)

@@drumdotpizza and also : as you truely state the global impedance of the shell, in contrast with the one of the head will make more sustain for heavy and stiff shells (remember Stephen Volpp Peavey design ? This was about getting a big impedance at head boundaries and still keeping a light shell), it is also true that shell do not radiate sound (not very much) but rather influences head vibration (which radiates the most) through coupling , and the coupling element is the BE in the case of structure borne vibration but you also have to consider the shell being loaded by the sound pressure waves inside - I have built a rig to measure shell behavior in that regard and first conclusion is that in the frequency range of a snare for instance, it is the mass law. Cool to consider 80’s work on drum acoustics but since then some progress has been done (not by any major brand) by universities and…Repercussion !

Does a heavy shell drum with a 2 ply coated head = a dull sounding drum? Answer: it depends. On sharp edges, no. Dull edges? Definitely more so. Keep in mind, too, that my comment about the dull sounding combination (heavy shell, round edges) was taking into account some distance between the mics (or listener) as well. High frequencies are literally dispersed and absorbed by the viscosity of air, so several feet away the life that may exist up close tends to be severely mellowed, particularly if that 'life' (HF content) was minimized to begin with by round edges, muffling, etc. Miked up close, however, it is easy to retain the HF response.... room mics will not hear it that way, however. Perhaps DISTANCE should be another topic for another video? Never thought about that as a worthy topic individually, but maybe it'd be useful, particularly for the people who fancy using as few mics as possible to capture drums. For many years I used coated Emperors on my heavy late 70s Ludwig kit with fantastic results (studio work, miked close). The edges are 30-degrees on those drums, but they've been finished to a fairly sharp apex (by my friend Jon Zoog at Dallas Drum, not by Ludwig). The sharpness of the edges allows for plenty of HF content, though even single ply heads and sharp edges will still produce a darker tone when auditioned across a room if the shell is really dense/heavy. More recently I have really been digging Aquarian single ply texture coated heads (I need to do a review of them), because their film is stiffer than Remo or Evans, and the tonality is something of a balance between a coated Ambassador and a coated Emperor. They have more authority and are a bit more controlled in a 'not dull' way, if that makes any sense (I am extremely sensitive to muffling and prefer none for my general playing style (though you wouldn't know that based on recent uploads to this channel... but I have another coming shortly that will be more typical of my tuning preferences). So I've been using the single ply Aquarian TC heads lately, and they are very lively, yet refined as well. Got a bit OT there, but hopefully that helps answer your question! Thanks so much for your kind words and for being here!

@@drumdotpizza Great answer! Thanks so much for taking your time to write back. I also like minimal dampening on toms when possible. Feel like often when there's a lot of dampening, the toms ultimately end up getting buried in the mix. And that's the last thing I want as I love the toms - probably my favourite part of the kit!

I am unfamiliar with that, by the name anyway. Thanks for the head up! I'll have to look into that.

@@drumdotpizza I was hoping you would know about it. I can hardly find any info online....

General thoughts that might help you: 1) sharper edges will add more complexity of tone to your kick and floor tom with greater sustain as well. Any drum will have attack when it is struck (that is a function of the stick hitting the head), but the darkness of tone after the attack is a function of the edge and shell (and head/muffling). All things being equal a sharper edge will allow the fullness of HF response from your head (if you're using a thick/double-ply/muffled head this will have less impact). 2) Generally matching both sides of the drum with the same head allows them to interact similarly. That is, if one side has a sharp edge and is therefore free to vibrate while the other is rounded and muffling the head, then the muffled head will stifle the vibration of the otherwise livelier head. Usually you want the two to work in concert with each other either to vibrate freely or be more controlled. You have to decide if the expense if worth it, of course, but I think you'd enjoy the improvement (most likely) that new, sharpER edges would give your drums.

I agree with you almost entirely!! ALMOST, because I do find that the material used in the shell does, in fact, affect the sound, though if you watch my video on tone woods you'll see that I do agree it is secondary to many other factors. Lately I have been big time digging my 5x14 "Vistalite" snare (made with an amber RCI Starlite shell.... MUCH nicer edges than any original vistalite I have played)... it is a mellower, more controlled sound than any of my wooden snares. With no muffling it has just the right amount of musical harmonics/overtones (10mil single ply coated head). I'm just LOVING that drum right now, and the viscosity of the shell material does make it behave quite differently. Then metal, of course, But yes, most woods are easy to confuse, sonically. In my tone woods video I did a comparison of very soft (poplar) shell and relatively hard (sugar maple) shell with identical edges cut by a buddy of mine. They are, in practice, interchangeable with a quality recording engineer/mixer, but the differences are noticeable (and VERY noticeable to the player (me) in the feel of each drum while playing). Thanks so much for your input! I believe we are cut from the same cloth! ;)

I'm a 45 degree guy. Hard to beat the tuning range and overall quality of tone from a 45 degree edge. When I have edges cut I generally do a single 45 with a very small 45 counteract on the outside just to help the head clear the shell a bit... I don't want a lot of contact between head and edge. I like sustain, and sharper edges yield greater sustain from the heads. I can muffle a variety of ways to get the sound I want at a given time, but it's near impossible to add sustain to a drum that doesn't inherently have it. My 2 cents!

Depends on how they're treated (the tension they have to support) and whether the wood they're made of is hard enough to bear that tension. Softer wood will have softer edges. Tuned with high tension this will likely break down the edges over time and warrant a redo at some point.

Were those the 80s era that had more lugs on the toms? 12" and 13" toms with eight lugs per side, 14" and larger with 10 lugs per side, etc. I find those drums hard to tune, and really don't have the low range of tuning that normal lug arrangements do. It's been awhile since I have played one of those kits. I wonder if the edges of that time also hit the collar of the heads? I never thought to look when I ran across one of those. I recently modified a 12x11 mid-80s 8-lug tom to a 12x8 6-lug tom for a friend of mine (in fact, that's the tom in the video on shell's inherent pitch!). I didn't mess with the edges, though, now that I think about it. It tuned up great when I got it back together, so maybe those edges are fine. I'm a Ludwig fan, but there are definitely some sketchy QC years there in the late 70s/early 80s. I've seen all kinds of odd things from them in that era. Still a big fan though, and love all my Ludwigs. Thanks for sharing!!

@drumdotpizza no..I bought it in 2015. Stunning kit but it was a pain to work with. 8, 10 12,15ft 16ft 22bd. Went back to Tama.

@@Camcodrummer Love Tama too! My other fav...

Mass and edges are two different things. I am not intimately familiar with the design of Recording Custom drums other than the fact that they are birch shells and have the stretch lugs. I am told that they are, compared to more modern designs, thicker, heavier shells, but I have played RC drums in the past, and I don't remember them being anything like what I would consider a heavy shell, like a late 70's Ludwig or Sonor Phonic. Greater mass (from shell or heavy lugs/hardware mounted to the shells) will promote the fundamental tone of the drum and make the harmonics a lesser percentage of the sound (the mass doesn't choke or otherwise diminish the harmonics, mind you, it's just the increased fundamental that makes the harmonics a smaller overall percentage of the drum's tone. I'm not sure what you mean by 'earthy', but if you mean a stronger fundamental tone, more focused, with greater sustain that other drums, then yes, they are probably more MASSive (dense, greater mass) either because of the shells or the shells and hardware together (the hardware will have similar effect of a thicker, more massive shell). Also stock RC drums have no isolation mounts, so the brackets bolted to one side of the shell will put all the force of gravity pushing down on that drum on that one spot, inhibiting vibration of the shell. this will also promote the fundamental tone. Does any of this seem to apply to RC drums in your experience? Thanks for reaching out!

What your saying, if I understand it correctly, is spot on: the transfer of energy, all things being equal except the thickness/mass of the shell, is going to be the same. The question is how does the shell respond to that amount of transferred energy? It is basic physics that fixed energy will excite more reaction in lower mass, all other things being equal, so the lower mass shell will vibrate more in response. The shell with greater mass, however, will react less to the transferred energy. Is this enough to excite the denser shell into practical resonance? It won't be as much as with a lower mass shell, but it could still have an impact. The greater the vibration of the shell, however, the shorter the sustain of the drum. This is just a result of the energy being bled off the head(s) into the shell, which removes that energy from the heads (sounds like I'm repeating myself, but literally, with less energy in the heads they simply won't vibrate (sustain) as long). So yes, a lower mass shell, again all other things being equal, will vibrate more, and that shell vibration disrupts the purer behavior of well tuned heads, attenuating the fundamental tone/pitch of the drum, creating a shorter and more harmonic sound. Does that make sense? I'm happy to continue thinking of other ways to explain it if not, no worries. Please let me know! And thanks for reaching out!!

@@drumdotpizza Your explanation is great! I just realized that I have misunderstood one of your points and made it worse by phrasing my question totally wrong! What I intended to ask was "Does the AMOUNT of bleed really differentiate in thinner and heavier shells (let's define thick as heavy and thin as light) and is therefore the reason for a difference in sustain." In this and your last video you were saying things like ".. it robs the energy from the drumhead as it starts to vibrate." which I incorrectly interpreted as an argument that the amount transferd is different. But you were talking about about wave cancelation all along. Sorry for the misunderstanding, I rushed to false conclusions! But here is a another thought you can help me with: A thicker shell reflect the soundwaves inside the sound chamber better/longer, since they can't penetrate the aswell like in a thinner shell. What characteristics does that enhance? I heard people saying it makes for better projection and more volume (Ford drums compared it to a canon, but there we have an opening). But I never understood the correlation completely. Shouldn't it also interfere with resonance and sustain if more soundwaves bounce back to the drumhead?

@@ckdrums3408 You're getting into some serious physics here with the interaction of sound bouncing around inside a cylinder and interacting with the drum heads! (And you have brought up something with your new question that I frankly haven't spent much time thinking directly about, but I believe I can venture a somewhat educated guess :) Yes, greater mass will contain more frequencies for longer, but there isn't much mass in a drumhead, even 2-ply heads (less mass in a head than even a thin shell), so essentially, except for high frequencies, and perhaps some hi-mids (not sure exactly where the line would be) it's all gonna leave the drum by way of the two 'openings' at each end anyway, so I don't see a thicker shell making much difference in that respect. I will say, however, that the hardness of the interior finish greatly affects the higher frequency portion of the sound. High frequencies are stopped by even low mass, so they will stay inside the drum longer if it's got two heads. Inexpensive drums usually don't have a finish on the inside -- it's bare wood. Without some kind of seal on that wood (tung oil, polyurethane, etc) even fairly hard wood will suck up high frequencies fast. By sealing the wood the highs hang around a bit longer, providing a clearer, more articulate sound. Many a cheap drum set can be improved significantly by just sealing the interior!

@@drumdotpizza Your videos certainly spark new trains of thoughts in me which is highly appreciated. When my love for the technical aspects of drums emerged around 8 years ago, I always tried to amount as much knowledge as I could by watching all the videos from different drum makers like Ford, Kirsch, Guru etc. but the topics always seemed to be narrowed down alot and biased on their own concept. Having a professional drummer of many years talking independently about experiences and debunking (or demoneking) marketing hypes with 30 minute videos is pure gold for me. I would love to throw some of the concepts and ideas that I gatherd from reaching out to different drum makers over the years at you and hear what you think about them. Your time is problably very limited, but if you ever have the time and desire to make a podcast for your channel with this kind of theme... let me know! Until then, can't wait for your next video! See you there!

It will be a beautiful, controlled sound. The hardness and mass of the maple will keep some life in the sound (softer wood with greater surface contact with the head from the rounder edge would absorb more energy, but maple is fairly hard and dense, so that edge would be good to produce a controlled sound, but not dead. Would this be for live/miked use, or for recording? What type of music (and tuning)?

I was planning on this being a live kit. As of right now, I haven't worked on the kit as I'm in ill health. As soon as I'm feeling better, I'll start this build. Say a prayer please!!! 🥁🥁🥁

@@williamfotiou7577 I will indeed say a prayer for you (just did, actually, and have made a note to do daily for the next week). Please let me know how things go!! 🙏

You can mellow the apex with sanding, yes, but be very careful to do so consistently, so you don't wind up with high and low points along the circumference of the edge.

I am honestly not up to date with all the current drum designs (I'm an old fart who loves his vintage Ludwig and Tama drums!). That would be a great question for the folks at Drum Center of Portsmouth, however. Ask for Tony. Those guys know the products they sell and can point you to the products that meet your design requirements. I'm more a vintage drum guy, I'm sorry. I do hope that helps. Seriously, reach out to them, email or phone. Tell them the type of characteristics you're looking for, and they'll let you know what is available to match. Thanks for reaching out!!

Hardware absolutely affects the mass of the shell! And yes, some really heavy drums are so as a result of the hardware (and some of these companies brag about the thinness of their shells... so odd!). Mass, whether in the wood or the hardware will affect the drum's performance. Have you watched the first part of this series? All about the effect of mass on a drum: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qbF0haeDptbMqWw.html Thanks for your comment!!!

I've never used it, and I'm not quite sure what I think. It makes a great deal of contact with the rounded collar of the head, so I would tend toward 'rounded' category of bearing edge with all of its attributes, EXCEPT there is a space between the rounded portion and the apex. I would think this break might very well create an inert portion of the head just beyond the active diameter, which might mean characteristics more like edges in the 'sharp' category. I saw a video on their new edge a couple of years back (are they still around? Just looked, and can't find an active website (though may just be my broker acting up?)). The guy tapped the head of a tom, and it appeared to have great sustain, but I'm pretty sure I'm hearing the camera's built in compression, which would create that same effect with any other tom (sounds like camera audio used for that video). If that's the case, then his tap test is really for nothing. Also would really like to hear it against an 'all-other-things-being-equal' drum fro comparison. So my answer is, "it's compelling, but I would like to see more." Assuming it works exactly as he describes I would categorize it as a sharp edge, and would expect a single cut (outside to inside) edge to produce similar results is the diameter is slightly undersized. Basically, any portion of the edge that stretches beyond the shell (into the collar) is effectively inert. The portion that matter is that which makes contact with the shell. It's that little inert 'dip' in the Guru bearing edge that is a magic of that design, assuming it performs as claimed. I love seeing people thinking outside the box and coming up with new ideas. Not everything has been tried, believe it or not, and there is much more to be discovered and implemented. I hope Guru is still around!! Thanks so much for the question!

@@drumdotpizza thanks for your reply. Guru it's sadly no more. The founder/owner had to retire due to health problems. They made some gorgeous drums... I have made a "test drum" rig with a 10" shell with the Guru edge. In my completely unscientific estimation, I would say that it works as advertised. My test rig is basically like a roto tom with no shell, just a bearing edge, made out of wood. Side by side with a 10" roto tom, it definitely has longer sustain. I also think it has a stronger fundamental tone and fewer/quieter overtones. I am also a big fan of Peavey Radial Pro drums. They also tend to have a great deal of sustain, though probably not for the reason that they advertised. They have super sharp bearing edges and the additional mass of the "radial bridge" at the top and bottom of the drum. I love that you, and a few others on KZfaq, are talking about the actual physics of drums, rather than the myth and marketing about what characteristics contribute to how a drum sounds. I look forward to more of this topic.

AND.... I'm guessing that thin, 4-ply Keller tom shell is maple? The Imperialstar shell is not only thicker, but the Lauan (Philippine Mahogany) it is made of is considerably softer, and the I guarantee there are more vertically oriented plies in that Imperialstar than the Keller (almost certainly the interior ply is vertically oriented.. almost all Imperialstars I've owned have been). Both have a very low inherent pitch (when you do the thump test on the shel).. the Keller, because the veneers are so thin they wood fibers don't resist the bending like thicker plies do, so the pitch isn't raised as much under the tension, and the Tama, because of greater mass (9 plies) and lots of vertically oriented veneers. It's all so complex and interesting it just makes one's head spin, no?? I'm actually about to tackle tone woods in the next installment in this series. I'll try to keep it under an hour.... wish me luck!!! :)

Great question! From a purely physical perspective muffling works, because it absorbs energy from the drumhead, that is, energy in the drum head is transferred into the gel, tape, ring, wallet, etc., removing it from the head, absorbing FIRST the high frequencies and then, depending on the amount of muffling, the hi-mids, the mids, working on down.... Rounded edges, provide greater surface contact with the heads, so they have greater physical area to absorb energy from the heads. Round edges won't absorb energy like overt muffling will, but the greater contact does transfer greater energy from the head to the shell (compared to a share edge that provides little surface area contact). As for the latter part of your question, greater energy transfer into the shel will increase the likelihood of the shell beginning to resonate (vibrate) a bit of its own, which is an entirely different pattern of vibration than that of the heads. This cross vibration, 360 degrees around a cylinder, basically, disrupts the vertical energy of the heads and lessens the pronounced fundamental tone/note of the drum. As a result any harmonics present will be a larger percentage of the overall drum sound compared to a shell that isn't vibrating much on its own. Therefore, a more massive drum shell (with literally greater mass) is harder to excite into vibration, and therefore retains more of its fundamental. It is entirely possible to have a massive (literally) shell with rounded edges, but is so great in its mass that it still doesn't vibrate much. This drum would have an attenuated high end (because the shell is still absorbing energy from the head due to the rounded edges), but with a shell mass great enough that it doesn't vibrate much it will still have a strong fundamental. It is also possible that a thin/lightweight/low mass shell should have a sharp edge, but it so lightweight that the shell is still excited into vibration easily, absorbing and disrupting the heads vibration producing a short, punctuated sound that is somewhat bright (not much fundamental). This latter is the state of most inexpensive drum lines with shells made almost entirely of poplar. The fact that they are inexpensive doesn't make them short and punchy -- it's the lightweight and comparatively soft wood that is responsible for that (lightweight and soft compared to maple or birch or other more traditional tone woods). Some of these inexpensive drums can be worked to become much better instruments (truing edges, finishing/sealing interior, gluing the wrap (which is usually taped on such drums), etc.). There are also some very nice custom drums that are largely poplar (INDe's Studio Mod line are great drums that use poplar as the core of the shells with harder woods on the interior and exterior. Nice drums, with a bit more controlled sound, punchy and detailed, but contained and versatile for recording). I hope I explained that well enough to make sense. Thanks for the question!

@@drumdotpizza Yes that all makes sense! Definitely going to prioritize more massive drums from now on.

Well... it certainly can be. The edges will affect harmonic content of the sound (so yes, in that respect), but also the nature of the shell's material itself will definitely affect the tone/harmonic of the sound too (acrylic vs. wood. vs. metal vs. fiberglass...). Some shell's produce naturally greater harmonic content than others.

Thank you so much! I couldn't find that when I was putting this together, so I'll swap that in. Very helpful!!!

@@drumdotpizza Glad to help. Really enjoying your videos. I have a 1979/1980'ish Ludwig modular set with the Ludwig die cast hoops on the toms (10, 13,14,15) and virgin 22" kick.

You could round those edges a bit and mellow the brightness, but if you want more body you'll need heavier shells (or some EQ on the other side of a microphone).

Some manufacturers may prefer a shorter sustain and higher harmonic content in their drums' sound. Transferring energy into the shell (by way of rounder edges the give greater surface contact between head and shell) is a way to achieve these objectives.

You analogy is not far off! Guitar cabinets are made of plywood! Marketing has taught us to think of the wood of a drum as if it were the single veneers used for fine acoustic guitar or violin crafting. But drums are generally just plywood. One wouldn't consider plywood for quality acoustic guitar construction. In truth the type of wood DOES matter, but it is one of many variables and other variables (like edges) are more significant.

If the shell is light enough to vibrate, then allowing it to do so (through rounder edges and isolation mounts) will dampen the fundamental, making the harmonic content a higher percentage of the sound. This also shortens decay/sustain, but again, if that is the sound you want, then thinner, vibrating shells are a way to that end. If the shells are too dense then all the surface contact in the world between head and shell won't actually make the shell vibrate much.

Well, technically that depends on what you mean by 'resonance.' If you mean the shell vibrates longer when thumped (with no hardware on it), then yes, modern, thin, rigid shells (that have higher glue-to-wood ratio than older, thicker ply shells) do, indeed, vibrate longer than thicker shells. Thinner veneers' used in modern shells also have less resistance to strain (being forced into a curve against the grain) resulting in a lower pitch compared to the thicker veneers whose greater resistance so such strain results in higher pitch. So modern, think shells generally have lower pitch (when thumped) and vibrate longer (when thumped). Thicker vintage shells (1980s) generally have higher pitches and don't vibrate as long. The effect of all this on the tone of the assembled and tuned drum, however, is something of an inverse to the raw shell. Modern shells, due to their ability to vibrate easily do so when the drum is played which actually dampens the fundamental tone giving a higher harmonic content (so the drum sounds 'brighter' than a thick drum). The thicker shell drum, whose shell doesn't vibrate so easily will resist vibrating a bit more when played yielding a stronger fundamental pitch (boom!) with the same amount of overtones, though given the strength of the fundamental tone the overtones are a smaller percentage of the overall sound, so the tone is mellower overall (though louder from a purely amplitude perspective). You're right... it's weird! ;) If, however, you mean

I think you are describing why I didn’t like those Yamaha Maple Absolute shells when compared to my Recording Customs. I thought they were going to have a “lower” pitch and more sustain and instead it felt more like tin cans. It was very confusing and went against all the marketing. They were “pretty” but so much weaker and didn’t pack the wallop of the RC and early 80s Ludwigs I had.

You mean no separate 'edge' formed into the shell?

I had to re-cut (table saw) a new edge... it's 90 right now, Ive tested it. It's thuddy but good, not over toning. The Pearl factory was 45. Have you tried this?