Fiberskyn heads vs. Controlled Sound heads on North floor toms--who wins? What do you think?

Viewers challenged me to try Fiberskyns on my North drum kit. I did, and here is a head-to-head comparison! (Get it--head-to-head...?:))

[@skraegorn7317]

I’ve never seen them for sale but North used to sell these as marching tenor drums. The Blue Devils marched with them in the 70’s and 80’s.

[@markdolphin1446]

Nice slingerland yellow jacket bass pedal,Looks like the one i sold to KIDCRIS a couple of years ago, SELL IT BACK TO ME I MISS IT!

[@christhedrummerkimball]

I completely rebuilt those after I got them--and repainted them! They work great.

[@seanmyers6222]

Badd ass drum kit

[@christhedrummerkimball]

Thank you--I'm fortunate to have it. I appreciate you watching!

[@aaronritzenthaler]

I’m a fan of no muffling, if you like muffling, go electric imo. Drums were meant to resonate, except for PDP’s, no one needs all that ringing in their drums 🤣

[@christhedrummerkimball]

I have a friend with a recording studio who always wants drums muffled to the hilt. When we play live he always wants me to play electronic drums for that very reason! Thanks for watching and for sharing your thoughts.

[@carldacious]

Cool video! I personally liked the fyberskins unmuffled best! 5:30 and 14:00 were very nice. However, depending on the genre, instrumentation, and song any of your configurations could be the right answer!

[@christhedrummerkimball]

Thanks for watching--I completely agree with you. The type of music dictates the amount of muffle!

[@carldacious]

You are most welcome! Also, next time you do one of these demos, try putting your phone in Airplane mode. I have found those electronic sounds to sometimes be caused by interference from a phone's network activity!

[@christhedrummerkimball]

@@carldacious Great advice! Thanks for the tip, I appreciate it.

[@carldacious]

My pleasure! Keep drumming up some great videos!

[@christhedrummerkimball]

@@carldacious Thanks--will do!

[@shanemichaels124]

All by itself, outside of a "playing with the band" environment, I think I prefer the Ambassador heads no muffling at all. (Unlike your Sonor kit, where I preferred the Aquarian rings). One thing I would like to suggest for future uploads... Consider giving us a sound reference near the beginning. Were all listening through an unimaginable array of speaker/amp/soundcard/ambiance differences. I got the notification while on my phone, so I grabbed my "mastering headphones" (open back) and only got halfway through and gave up. Moved to the smaller "bedroom computer" (Bose 3-2-1 set up) that sounded much better. But with no frame of reference, made it harder to critique. The larger tom (16" yeah?) Sounds like the bearing edges are possibly more rounded (larger radius) or something. Was considerably more dead than the other. (Sounded better tuned higher without any muffling, Ambo heads) Overall an interesting upload, I've only ever demo'd the Fiberskyn on a marching snare...not particularly useful, lol

[@christhedrummerkimball]

Great suggestion--although I'm not sure what kind of reference would be best. Maybe part of a recording of a song? Thanks again for watching!

[@shanemichaels124]

@@christhedrummerkimball even just some of the rest of the kit, the snare in particular might do. Especially if you haven't changed the heads on those, then not only would there be a reference here but also your other video of this kit too. (any difference in recording method would become part of the reference) ... just a thought. It's a great upload, there can never be too many videos that cover the infinite subtleties of "how to get the sound you want" for live performance or studio recording, especially for younger, less experienced players...or even younger recording engineers.

[@christhedrummerkimball]

@@shanemichaels124 All good points! I just ordered Fiberskyn Diplomat heads for the entire North Kit. Some of the sizes are special order so it may take a couple of weeks to get them. Once I do, I'll do a demo of the entire North Kit with Fiberskyn heads.

[@shanemichaels124]

@@christhedrummerkimball Nice...and there's a bright side too, with the North kit you'll never have to buy the bottom heads! lol

[@christhedrummerkimball]

@@shanemichaels124 :)

[@TheSPACEDIEVEST1]

I think the fyberskins sound best. I would of liked to hear them tune lower personally. Your 18”, I think, wasn’t producing as much as I would of liked; it sounded dead to me. I hope you don’t take this personal; this is my opinion and I enjoy your videos. Have a nice evening

[@christhedrummerkimball]

Thanks for watching and for our comments! The largest floor tom is 16", the smaller is 14". The problem with going lower is the head just starts to sort of flap rather than resonate. An 18" would be able to go lower, however, but as far as I know North never made an 18" floor tom.

[@kylejf2108]

that buzzing sounds like cellular/radio interference. Faraday caging your studio will rid that. The sound from the fiber skin, just without top aquarian ring inspires me more. Thanks for this comparison.

[@christhedrummerkimball]

My pleasure, and thank you for the suggestion on getting rid of the buzz. Someone else suggested I put my phone on "airplane mode" to cut off any cellular interference. Thanks for watching!

[@kylejf2108]

cool, yeah. that could work too. sadly though if you are close enough yo any comm tower your interference can come grom outside. That's great troubleshooting!

[@christhedrummerkimball]

@@kylejf2108 I'm not sure where the tower is, but since I started turning off the cell signal in later videos, for the most part it seems as if the interference has gone away.

[@derricktrahan3645]

8:05 - 8:10, 8:50 - 9:00 Those are good sounds.

[@christhedrummerkimball]

Thank you, and thanks for watching!