Sorry, but I am not familiar with that drum.

Hi Andy I don't normally use the fiberskyn heads on my orchestra drums but I do use one on the batter head of my jazz bass drum in the summer when its humid (instead of calf). I have been using the newer Remo Skyntone heads with the orchestra as a substitute for the Evans Strata or Remo diplomat that we normally use and they sound great. That is a similar head to a fiberskyn but more articulate in my opinion. Thanks for doing all that you do as a teacher and please stay safe. Rick

The fiberskyns are very hard to dial in on a concert snare. Skyntone is the best alternative. Renaissance snare side head as well if you trust your tuning or have someone you trust to get it done. Otherwise, the renaissance diplomat or strata 700 with a 2mil snare side is really the best thing to do for a band room setting. Very easy to dial in, relatively accepting of neglect, and relatively durable.

I have heard that they are great but I have not tried them yet. I am looking forward to it.

Definitely the stability of plastic since you don't know what the climate and humidity will be like at the audition location.

@@rickdior Thank you! one more question, did you try the Grover G3T snare? in that case, what do you think of it?

I have not played on that drum but I have heard from friends that it is very good.

Hi Dave I am not sure what drum he is playing but he did have a Gladstone. I studied a little with Walter Rosenberger at Manhattan School of Music. He was the NY Phills principal percussionist and he told me they had several different snares they would use. When I was a kid and I would go see the orchestra I was not that aware equipment-wise to be very observant. All I knew is that they sounded great! Take care Rick

@@rickdior Hi Rick, thanks very much for replying. Mr. Rosenberger was an amazing man, and an amazing musician from what I gather. The way he would organise the section was first-class. He also used to organise NYP baseball matches on tour, too, apparently! Must’ve been amazing to study with him! Thanks re the drums info too. Maybe it was a drum owned by NYP? Of course, 99% of Mr. Bailey’s sound came from the connection between his musical mind and hands, and I’m sure he could make any decent tunable drum sound great. It is interesting trying i get some intel on the drums he played. Arnie Lang said Mr. Bailey retired the Gladstone drum after not too long because the bottom head kept exploding due to the sharp edges Gladstone left when cutting the snare bed. After a while he had it smoothed out and started playing it again. Thanks for your time, and for your great videos!

Hi Mario You should try to use different snare types. It's easy with that majestic drum. I have one and love it.

Hi I have a Black Swamp maple multisonic and I like it but not as much as the Clevlander or some of the Pearl drums. That first drum is 14"x5" Thanks

Hi If it's a Pearl Philharmonic get the 6.5 Aluminum. Great drum.

Yes...from 1982 to 1986 at the Manhattan School of Music. He was something else!

Hi I like the heavy Pearl concert stands which is what I use. It has a ball adjuster on the basket portion which lets me get a very specific angle and it is very heavy with great stability. As far as cases go get any hard shell (plastic not fiber) case that has inside padding.

@@rickdior Thank you very much! I ordered the heavy duty Pearl concert stand and the square Humes and Berg hard case. I saw the two tuning videos that you made for drumset drums, have you considered the possibility of an orchestral snare tuning video? I know you get tons of video requests, but I thought I would ask. Thanks again.

Hi Robert I have spoken a little about my tuning over several orchestra snare videos but they may be hard to pin down. It's pretty simple really. I usually tune the top head to an A and the bottom to an E or F#. This is because when you activate the snares it beings up the pitch of the bottom head (around a minor 3rd) when the snares are pressing on that head. I use a Remo Diplomat snare head on the bottom and either a calf head or a coated Hazy (Renaissance) Diplomat on the top. Sometimes I will also use a Skyntone head for more rudimental stuff. Hope this helps. I may do a tuning video using several pearl drums at one point. That might be fun.

Hi Nathan That's the National Symphony in DC, not the Nashville Symphony. I need to learn to speak slower.

@@rickdior haha no worries sir thank you.

I have one and I like it very much but the strainer can be a bit finicky.

Hi Jess This is funny You may want to spend less time thinking about these things and more time working on the playing aspects of them. Over-analyzing tension on each individual snare is a waste of time since they will loosen up individually anyway over time as will the heads and so forth. Are you going to spend hours everyday measuring, tensioning and fixing? Learn about the drums you have by working with them daily (and playing and recording alot ) but going full drum anal retentive and over thinking everything is going to eventually drive you crazy. Thanks Rick

@@rickdior Haha.. yes, no worries there. I'm a commercial session, studio and touring drummer-turned snare builder and was legitimately curious about one aspect of many, (including length and breadth of snare beds, how and if they differ from kit snare drums, to bearing edges. etc..) I have been researching the building aspects for over 14 months and have started gathering equipment and the like. The details you speak of are exactly the kind of thing that goes into engineering the Pearl and all your other well made snare drums you care for. Conversely, a great many players (myself included for many years), tend to take for granted how much goes into a true, quality instrument. In any event, there is very little on the subject published on line, and was simply attempting to not overlook something, no matter how small. As this was literally the first time I've inquired on this subject from a veteran player, in a field other than my own, I will most likely direct my inquiries elsewhere. Thanks for the reply regardless. ...As for the old saying "there are no stupid questions". . .

Hi Jess I understand now. You should have stated that you were building drums in your first posting. I have had students in the past that obsess over every minute detail about their drums and they waste so much time on that that they never really learn how to play them so I guess I was channeling that. That does make a difference with your obsession with the details of individual snare wire tension. You do have to remember that once the drum is built, played on and gigged with, its going to change quite a bit. As you know over time the wood will (even with a finish on it) dry out a bit, snares will come loose and it will be for lack of a better phrase, broken in. It is very easy to replace snares on a drum. What you need to worry about is the strainer system which as I say in the video is one of the most important criteria for me when a choose a snare drum. The best sounding and most easily tune-able drums are the ones that are built to high specs with the best available hardware and shells. There are only a few companies that build a drum in mass quantities that I trust to use with a symphony orchestra day after day. I have built snare drums in the past, both stave and ply and I can tell you it is very difficult to get a drum with the same exact specs to sound the same. This is because of small details in the shell makeup as well as snare beds and bearing edges. You have to have some pretty expensive woodworking equipment to reach this consistency although with CAD machines it's getting a bit easier. As you see in the video even the Pearl concert drums that are the best mass produced drums available (IMO) differ so much with a calf head vs. a plastic head. This is compared with two of the exact same drums side by side in my video. So if you are building drums of the highest quality I would worry about head choice and strainer system more than anything else since at that level that's what makes the biggest difference and that's what professional orchestral percussionists think most about with snare drums .

@@rickdior Hey Rick :) Well..., mentioning that off the bat.. Sorta feeling out the waters regarding mentioning what I'm up to.. As a player, an avid fan of orchestra and fine engineering, there is sometimes a disconnect between the instruments artists use and their makers. I feel a well thought out, thoroughly researched and well executed design, By and For artists, could have some value to players out in the field. You did touch upon the precise reason I asked that question in the last sentence of your reply... (and thus, hence my initial question.. ((Insert chicken and egg syndrome here ;) - I have a design in the works using a dual tension, three-point strainer ( albeit for ~ but certainly not exclusive to ~ rock, pop, jazz, etc.. ) with a spring loaded pre-calibrated visual aid for fine-tuning snares for use specifically for some of what you mentioned in your video : Auditioning and fine-tuning quietly, Or for when you are not allowed to make a sound at all. Calibrating the system once finished will be based on tension readings after getting very sounds. While not for everyone, assuredly, this is a bit of fun + science/engineering + music and 'instrument enjoyment by its player'.. (A key factor for inspiration, especially for writing). I was just curious if this was at all in practice, given the amount of precision in Orchestra instruments. Cheers!

Hi I purchased many of them several years ago when they had a US distributor. I don't think that's the case anymore, so you will have to get them directly from Europe. They will be expensive but they are high quality heads.

@@rickdior thans for your reply! how would you recommend I go about getting them from Europe?