Shell interiors / Pingy Sound ?

[michaelg]

In your experience, can the shell interior surfaceof a drum influence the sound ? and if so by much ?

I ask as I recently cleaned up/plugged some holes and repainted the interiors of an old ludwig kit with a semi gloss antique white that dries hard.

Unmuffled and wide open, the floor and bass drum sound good but are a touch pingy sounding, in particular the bass drum.

I wonder would going over the finish lightly with some sandpaper take a little of the high freq ping out of the sound ?

 

[green glass drum]

Ping or "Boing" can be caused by insufficient air flow though vents or most commonly, no air vents.
On toms, especially big ones, I have added vents at the nodal point giving the drum 2 vent points.

 

[Malc]

My 24" Premier Resonator BD had that pingy thing and never sounded how I wanted it until I took out the liner out,which was glossy black. I use an Emad2 and remad reso to tame it as well.
The toms however have retained theirs as they don't appear to have the same problem,although I use EC2s batters over EC reso's which probably helps.

 

[Seb77]

I nticed this to be stronger with some shells more than thers, but it's not only the surface structure. Satin birch, no smooth lacquer, sounds quite pingy.
For a non-permantne, effective solution, there are a few videos on the Sounds like a Drums yt channel about taming this using some absorbing material inside the shell. You could try attaching a (paper) towel to a few lug mounting screws inside the shell. Same effect as a curtain or carpet in a room.

 

[vinnyrac63]

Carnauba wax. Not for the feint of heart. Works wonders on maple shell interiors.

 

[scaramanga]

What has worked for me is breaking up standing wave resonance by putting something in there, no to mute the heads but to alter the interior geometry. You know what works great? A yoga block. Use elastic strips to keep it in place.