Coated Drumheads vs. Clear Drumheads

When choosing heads for your drums, you have two features to consider: the thickness of the drumhead and whether it's coated or clear. As compared to clear drumheads, coated drumheads produce more "attack," which is the sound of the contact between the drumstick and the head. So if you're doing a roll, then you're going to hear the individual stick strokes on a coated drumhead, whereas a clear drumhead will simply resonate, making a sort of glowing, rumbling sound. On a (properly tuned) clear drumhead, the drum roll will sound more like one constant sound instead of a series of attacks.

So if you're looking for clear sound definition, where you can hear each attack, then you should go for a coated drumhead. These are favored in jazz drumming because jazz drummers typically play many notes, and they play them at all different dynamic levels. A coated drumhead accentuates the attack even of very light grace notes. The same notes played on a clear drumhead may not be heard.

With clear heads, your drumming is going to blend into the overall sound of the music better. But for that reason, some of what you're playing might not be heard. Rock drumming tends to favor this sound, where the drummer sounds powerful but doesn't stick out too much.