Remo drumhead shootout (part 1): Fiberskyn, Coated, Clear Coated with DW drums

Back in the early 1990s, I used Remo Fiberskyn drumheads (Ambassador weight) with my Tama drums, and I liked them. But in that era before easy online ordering, Fiberskyn heads were more difficult to find, so I started using coated Ambassador heads when I moved to DW drums in 1997.

Recently I thought I’d try Fiberskyns again. So here is a shootout with Fiberskyns, coated Ambassadors, and clear Ambassadors with a coated ring—the heads that I used to see often paired with DW drums.

0:03 Ambassador Fiberskyn
1:03 Ambassador Coated
2:09 Ambassador Coated Clear

Some notes:
—Tuning: The tuning is the same for each set of heads. I tune the heads, top and bottom, to C – G – D in descending order (though the pitch you hear might be different because of the shell pitch).

—Mics: The mic positioning is the same for each. One overhead pointing down at the snare, another overhead, pointing toward the snare from over my right shoulder. Both the same distance to the center of the snare. And one kick drum mic. I didn’t do close-mic’ing for the toms because frankly I was too lazy.

My take on each:

Fiberskyns: After all these years, I like them. They’re mellower than the coated Ambassadors. A little less attack, more fundamental tone. They could sound a little flat to some people, but I dig them. I also like the surface tension. They're a little more taught than the coated Ambassadors—not flabby—so it's easier for me to play multiple strokes in a row, like with a single-stroke roll. These will be good for jazz and some mellower rock.

Coated Ambassadors: I still like these. These will work for me 95% of the time for jazz and rock, live and in the studio. A good balance of attack sound and fundamental tone.

Clear/coated Ambassadors: These are not for me. Clear Ambassadors in general just sound a little too plastic-y to me with a little too much attack and not as much fundamental tone. I could probably play clear with a dot, but without, I don’t love the sound. The heads are also a bit too flabby for me when tuned to my preferred pitches. I could see these working well for rock playing, though, if they were tuned higher. To me, the difference between plain clear Ambassadors and clear with the coated ring is pretty small.

Equipment used:
—DW drums (maple): 10, 12, 14-inch toms, 20-inch pancake gong drum (not pictured, with coated Powerstroke 3 head), 5x14-inch snare using coated with a dot beneath, 20-inch kick drum with clear Powerstroke 3 on batter, coated Ambassador with hole on front
—Zildjian cymbals
—Blue Hummingbird overhead mics
—AKG D112 kick mic
—Apogee Element88
—Logic Pro X
—iMovie
—Fujifilm X100T camera

Two other notes:
—Sorry about the camera's autofocus in the middle.
—I left the snares off so we could hear the tom tone without that sympathetic snare buzz.

Check out part 2, which compares Fiberskyn, Pinstripe, and Coated CS heads:    • Remo drumhead shootout (part 2): Fibe...