Its an opinion question of course. I think in terms of tightening up the tone, you can achieve that using either method. However, using an extra skin ring gives you that little bit of extra attack that the tape does not provide. That being said, there are any number of materials you could use other than the extra skin ring that would give a similar result. Heavy mylar sheet may work, iron filled adhesive backed rubber sheet would work, silicon/epoxy mixtures may work, differential head thickness works, etc etc etc. You'd really have to experiment to figure out what would be best for you. The above have been used at different stages by myself and others with certain advantages and disadvantages associated with each. At the outset, wrapping your drum up in electrical tape might seem like an easy way to go (and it is), but it might not provide the widest range of possibilities tonally after its application. Again, the tape will dampen the unwanted pingay/buzzy sounds, but it can also do a lot of deadening, so you have to be careful not to go too far. Try other things though, you never know what you may stumble across!

R

Thanks Rob I will have to do a bit of
experimentation on this :P
The skin ring sounds interesting, must
try it...

Cheers,
Cillian.

Yeah, Norbert Eckermann uses the skin ring on his "tabla" bodhran, and I've seen drums by both Darius and Alfonso with similar appliques. I've done it a couple of times as well, though I think that Norbert is the only maker right now who employs that method regularly.

R

I'm coming more and more to the opinion that tape should not be near the front of the drum, simply because it really REALLY dulls the sound of the Tipper hitting the skin - I can see no point [for my 'style'] in reducing any of the stick attack sounds, particularly with rods which are my standard tool.

I think too that many contemporary drums are over-taped both in terms of the physical amount of tape but also in terms of the distance it encroaches upon the playing surface. I do think that this is possibly because of the growing desire for soft-sounding drums 'straight out of the box'.

I certainly wouldn't the trade attack or definition of my tipper strokes for 'pillow-like' bass but no 'bite', an unfortunate trade-off I have remarked upon consistently in at least one popular model. Instead I seek to find both in the one drum or one drum's set-up. It has taken me a while (and Rob's great drum building skills) but I almost have it now and know how to make it the way I want for the MKIII.

My opinion [currently] is that edge weighting appliquées [taping] should be on the inside of the drum and just enough of it to absorb the reflection of vibration through the skin to the edge and back that causes the ringing tone.

Muting this effect certainly does not take 2 inches of tape on the playing area, definitely less than an inch and more like a half inch or less. My hand is so rarely off the skin when playing that I'm tending toward no tape and allowing the drum to be a little more 'lively' with dampening provided by the hand, but I understand if that's not for everyone.

The Eckerman Tabla bodhran with its inner skin-ring is probably the best example of attack that I have encountered, however for my money it lacked the bottom end although always sounded gorgeous for Paul Phillips.

As we are finding out, the world of bodhran design is yet full of uncertainties and unknowns despite the recent flurry of patents and design registrations. There are many many theories, prototypes and nearly-there designs available and under consideration. Threads like this one can be quite significant and I'm grateful to everyone for your participation, particularly to Rob who has shared so freely of his experience.

P

Hmm... Thicker skin means more bass, and yet when there is a skin ring around the inside edge it adds to the higher reaches and takes away from the bass?
I think I will need to do a lot of experimenting before i understand skin and sound..
so maybe a cresent of skin up the top? I think you were saying something about that in your egg review..
Had any further success there Paul?

Cheers,
Cillian.

Hey Cillan,

QUOTE:
Hmm... Thicker skin means more bass

no :) - a thicker skin is stiffer and vibrates less-freely which is why it takes a physically larger drum to allow the vibrational frequency to be sufficiently slow to achieve bass notes. Once the drum is played-in then the skin loses rigidity (or increases elasticity) and it can vibrate more readily at slower frequencies.

Thin skins are much less rigid to start off with which is why they don't need 18-20" drums to achieve the same tonal range. Of course there are exceptions - Rob has some relatively thick-skinned drums with gorgeous bass notes but he has worked the skin for flex.

QUOTE:
when there is a skin ring around the inside edge it adds to the higher reaches and takes away from the bass?

Again no, it adds to the attack or bite of the stick impact sound.

I was maybe unclear in my eckermann drum reference (to which I think you are referring) which had a medium thick skin and for me didn't have a deep low bass but a toneful note in the low/mid range, a lot of that was Paul Phillips' Tuning decisions. It didn't 'do it' for me personally but I'd not say that the skin ring reduced the bass. It does reduce the overtones in the same way that the taping does.

Chemically softening the skin however will take away from the attack sound and deliver increased bass (mimicing the playing-in effect); the greater the degree of softening, the greater the decrease in attack. If you imagine the sounds of hitting a piece of stretched rawhide and comparing that to hitting a piece of stretched chamois - rawhide will be all attack and no bottom end and chamois will have a fat bottom end but a pillowy attack stroke.

There's a balance there to be struck in there, it's really fickle and easy to overcook the softening process. Even though I am a professional instrument designer/maker, such skin-specialist knowledge is the reason I don't make bodhrans, instead I leave it to the guys like Rob who know exactly what they are doing.

The crescent of skin at the top of the egg MkI does work at increasing the attack and works very well, it's the one thing missing from the MKII and I'm working out with Rob the best way to remedy that. He'll be here in a couple of weeks for a wee visit and we'll maybe have a look at it then.

Hopefully I have managed to explain myself a little more clearly Cillian, everything affects everything else and the whole thing is about finding a balance between all the elements that suits how you play.

P