Electrical Audio How-To: Removing Dimples From a Used Drum Head

Steve Albini shows you how to put the heat on a battered drum head in order to help extend its playing life.
Shot by Ed Bornstein
Edited by Jon San Paolo

[@nicolle.mp3]

I could listen to Steve talk about music related things for hours. Keep the videos coming!

[@vancedylan5842]

I have been lately :)

[@ElMoShApPiNeSs]

I could listen to him talk about almost anything for hours.

[@michaelanderwald4179]

His voice has a really nice timbre, and his pronunciation is immaculate and charming. No homo.

[@tuskedbeast]

He also speaks in complete paragraphs so none of that annoying sentence editing that's all the rage right now.

[@CAMMYSINCLAIR]

the Noam Chomsky of audio production

[@laRoz67]

I just poured vodka all over my drums and set them on fire. Now the whole neighbourhood is ablaze. I don't care. It's better to burn out than fade away...

[@andriealinsangao613]

Oy...

[@dinosaursr]

Should play Ring of Fire while it blazes.

[@texhakathisia1712]

can you use kerosene instead?

[@gkniffen]

I love Steve's vocabulary. Such a smart dude.

[@veerchasm1]

Burning vodka on a drumhead?!? Now THAT’S rock and roll

[@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245]

I can smell the monokote being heated from here. Finally my two favorite hobbies have a common tool

[@marcelb7259]

So now I'm at the point where I have drunk the vodka, set the heat gun on fire and my snare drum is full of burned holes. I may have missed something here ;-) Thank Steve for the great video and the cool advices. Cheers from Canada !

[@GabrielWiltemburg]

Love these videos, keep on posting!

[@avoiceofyourown9652]

Loving all of the videos

[@pedrozevallos3068]

Very informative and detailed indeed. I’ve never played the drums and do not own a drum kit but I did find this useful.

[@micahOnGuitar]

Love your videos! Very useful.

[@jamesdoctor8079]

We love you Steve

[@DrAlienSmith]

Very cool, did not know this at all. Thanks EA

[@evanfoster9078]

Thanks Steve!

[@mauroarriagada]

Thank you Steve!!

[@wesleydavidson4678]

Great channel!

[@nathanielnicholson559]

This had never occurred to me! I've never been one to put dimples in heads..., but I'll guarantee I'll be in need of this info at some point.

[@dannon2010]

Damn, that heat gun worked like a charm, though. I used to boil my bass strings, for gigs, when I was terribly broke. THATS why my drummer keeps cathcing on fire... I thought it was just a "thing"...

[@noisesdub]

Whoa! Thanks for this.

[@TheKevbe]

Love it!

[@paszTube]

this blew my mind

[@adee2569]

de-laminate. i love this man!!!

[@louiscarrillo5873]

awesome!

[@dutu000]

:) great tip! tested, it works 100% :) and the head can be tuned again and sounds great again!

[@lochlannwass5038]

Course it worked its fuckin steve albini 🤣🤣🤣

[@jeremybradley559]

Everything he says is gold

[@465marko]

"I have AIDs"

[@bryandraughn9830]

Especially when he says "gold"!😅

[@CAMMYSINCLAIR]

Also, you can do this with a boiling kettle, I just saved two bass drum heads, thanks Steve.

[@boobo3763]

Shit... This was cool! Thanks, Steve!!

[@vyoufinder]

Just made a reservation at my local hotel for my drums and I. Lol.

[@plotthirteen1595]

Rejuvenate your drum head services down at the towne motel. Hottest hair dryers on music row.

[@arfianfirmansyah86]

Park ✨🙌

[@stevenutter3614]

The guy at the hotel desk see you running out the door with a hair dryer. "But why? Why take our hairdryer?"

[@LB-pp7pu]

1:52 I wanted to hear how my U67 sounds kicking its capsule, I'll try it with one at your studio, where I don't care if I break it

[@ElectricalAudioOfficial]

I see the sarcastic hotel owner contingent has found this video

[@LB-pp7pu]

@@ElectricalAudioOfficial I don't own a hotel, I don't even own a U67

[@parchello]

Классный лайфхак😊

[@KingPhoey]

Fucking rad.

[@johnpeters8060]

oh, look, it’s an Evans drumhead! #dimpleking

[@scorinth]

How about hydraulic heads? Come to think of it, do they get dimples? I am not a drummer.

[@SuperWave86]

Haha i like the Flamboyant roadie way! Set it on fire 🔥 🥁 🤣 lol j/k

[@bryandraughn9830]

Any tips for getting the drummer to SHOW UP?

[@zb9141]

Is the phrase "make fire under his butt" common in English? I guess roadies use actual fire. Recording engineers would use a hot air gun. Both methods have been proven to really make the drummer show up, but the roadies' method is a bit more dangerous when you consider the possibility of causing permanent damage to the drummer's butt.

[@williamthomasmi10]

Salt and pepper to taste

[@fender666gh]

BRB booking a hotel room for my snare

[@jeremybradley559]

What about boiling water.

[@TempoDrift1480]

If you are dimpling a drum head like this then you have some major technique issues. When I see this its almost always because the drums are set up at 45 degree angles-basically like what you see in a garage or basement or middle school band room, or JC Penney catalog ca 1994.

[@arthurlauth1380]

Maybe my understanding of English not perfect but why is the hair dryer not recommended ? I tend to use a hair dryer to 'soften' the glue on new heads when I'm mouting them on drums for recording, it feels to me that they stay in tune better because the glue doesn't 'crack' but takes its shape way more evenly. Am I the only one doing this ?

[@ElectricalAudioOfficial]

I believe he's saying that the heat is so concentrated in one area that it can cause a hair dryer to fail. A heat gun is designed to heat a much smaller area.

[@arthurlauth1380]

@@ElectricalAudioOfficial Thanks ! Is there anything you usually do at EA to ensure better stability for new drum heads ?

[@ElectricalAudioOfficial]

@@arthurlauth1380 Nothing other than stretching them quite a lot when we put them on.

[@dinosaursr]

I used a buddies hair dryer to warm ski boots and didn’t take long to fry it. The heat bounces back to the dryer and overloads it.

[@stevealbini402]

@@arthurlauth1380 I like to whack the rim (!) with the butt of a drumstick to seat it firmly, I do that all around the rim before I start tensioning the head.

[@blacksnowflake1470]

I thought the roadie trick was to use the lit end of a cigarette?

[@tplilsby5719]

can you do it on a coated drumhead?

[@ElectricalAudioOfficial]

Yup!

[@tplilsby5719]

​@@ElectricalAudioOfficial ok thanks

[@tplilsby5719]

hey, @Electrical Audio I have thought a little more about it so you can use it on the ambassador coated drumhead or what?

[@ElectricalAudioOfficial]

@@tplilsby5719 yes indeed

[@tplilsby5719]

@Electrical Audio ok I just had to be 100% sure before I did something stupid, thanks for your time and help have a nice day

[@drummachine86]

I honestly dont get why I would do this and not just replace the drumhead.

[@lochlannwass5038]

Cause money

[@AnodyneHipsterInfluencer]

If you can get your hands on a heat gun you can probably get your hands on a new snare head tho.

[@SimonChampagne]

My favorite trick for this is spending 15 dollars on a new head. But yours is cooler.

[@rothloaf1980]

Watching this vid for Albini jokes. I never could find a way to easily tell a punk drummer to buy new heads for recording. "But this is punk rock!" Call me a jerko, but I have sat by a board waiting for the inevitable playback point when the sound says "I told you so," and the drum tracks are deemed crap by the band. Help the engineers. New strings, new heads...

[@shelster9967]

Here’s how you do it......remove all the tension rods, then the top hoop. Remove head, throw in trash then replace head with a new one. Reinstall top hoop, tension rods and tune new head.

[@dappawap]

never use your own hair drier lol

[@simaojoseph]

Stop revealing all the tricks!!!

[@djprivileged7845]

Get a new head. This guy is so overrated.... This totally proves it. Case and point.