This could prove to be a great thred indeed.

It is really quite common to pack the interior of drum lugs with felt or cotton. I would guess that felt would hold up better. I am quite certain that there will be many on here with a lot of helpful suggestions forthcoming.

Certainly it's not wrong to want the drums rattle/buzz-free. And I also have a '59 Ludwig kit - with its original plastic heads - that I record once in a while.

But, when using vintage drums, for a vintage sound, should the mics even be close enough to the drums to pick up the buzzing? Close-miking didn't really gain popularity until the late-'60s and beyond. A vintage drum only sounds vintage if it's recorded (and tuned) the same way it was 'back in the day'.

What I'm saying is, feel free to pack the lugs. But more importantly, honor the kit's sound. Put some 'air' in there with the appropriate non-close miking.

Now, please turn to page 67 in your hymnal... Let There Be Drums.

Cotton balls have been proven to stay intact for 30 years.

I verified this when I restored/dismantled my Blaemire kit from the 70's.

Make sure to push the loose cotton threads sticking out of the lug back into the lug with a match book cover before completely tightening screws.

good recording. SA

My Camco's were buzzing quite bad.

A piece of felt in every lug did the trick.

Makes me want to go to Joann Fabrics and get felt!!

I record A LOT and yes felt in the lugs is the way to go. It's time consuming but works wonders and you will be happy with the silence.

Beau

I put standard, craft felt (~1/8" thich)in my '66 Star kit. Though much less often, i still get some buzzing from all the drums...mostly the 14FT. When I cleaned my 80's Slingerland snare, I noticed much thicker felt, about 1/4" or more. Not even sure where one gets this thicker felt, but I'd use at least a double layer of standard felt.

As for recording,

I clase mic'd my '49 WFL snare & Star bass the recording sounded fantastically vintage without buzzing on the snare & barely audible buzzing from the drum. I got excellent, non-buzzing results on the Star toms by micing ~4" from the drum. I only hear the bass buzz when listening to the isolated bass track. It does not come through in the mix at all and I'm not using fancy recording software, just GarageBand.

Good luck!

Brian

I never noticed the buzz until I was in the studio recently.

Definitely going to hunt down some of that felt.

Sometimes it`s not the spring vibrating, it can be the incert buzzing inside it`s cabinet or if the lug has no separate cabinet, the incert buzzing inside the hole on the caseing, or you could have fractures in the metal at the screw studs from over tightening.

Weather proofing Poly. foam sold in shaveing cream type cans can be bought at Home Depot or hardware stores. If you take your time, you can fill, trim and install them fairly easy but be sure to practice if it`s your first time. The foam will completely fill the lug caseing and then some so take your time and you`ll not need to do this again. If you ever have to remove for whateva,..drop the lug casing into a coffee can full of gasoline and just like a Dunkin Donuts cup,..the foam will disolve !!