Synthetic "Sufi style" heads?

[orbis]

After having watched several YouTube videos of Sufi dholis, I noticed that many of these players are obtaining "tabla style" pitch bends with the dagga side of their dhols.
http://youtu.be/TVDYURVucmI (these guys for example)

It seems to me that any video where this pitch bend is being obtained, the player has a synthetic dagga head. (I've seen videos of Ravi Dana for example using some sort of synthetic head) I am very interested to know if this type of head can be purchased anywhere.
Hoping that someone can shed some light on the issue for me. Any information that you might be able to provide regarding the subject would be greatly appreciated... Thanks in advance!

 

[taminder]

you can use regular 10mm heads...i have it on one of my dhols

you need to dampen the sound by putting dents in the skin (or by putting something else on the skin to dampen it)

here's an example:
Dhol Ludi .MPG

 

[orbis]

Interesting thought.. Thank you for the reply! I'm wondering though, on the video in your response, there doesn't seem to be much bass sound coming from their dhols. Do you think it could be the recording?
Also, any ideas on where I could buy a synthetic head that is already setup to accept ropes??

 

[orbis]

What would need to be added to the head to dampen the sound?

 

[taminder]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think they like their dhols with less bass... that's why they only dampen the skins by putting dents in them.

you'll get more bass sound by dampening the heads with drum damper pads or
http://www.musiccenters.com/bin/d_tape.jpg

 

[orbis]

Wow, thanks... Don't know what either of those are, but I'll definitely look them up. Am I right to assume either would need to be installed on the inside of the head?

 

[taminder]

the outside. I'm sure you can put it on the inside too when you find the sound you're looking for

 

[Dholi harsh]

From what i've seen, you can take any synthetic head, the same as you would use for your tilli side, and use that as your dhaga side... from what i've seen, people put something called "masala" on the inside, when i used to use masala i used to make it with glue,dirt,water,a little bit of mustard oil and a little bit of clay. When you mix all of that together it turns into something that looks and feels like putty. Apply the putty to the center of the head (a small circle the size of probably a closed fist would be perfect) and you will achieve a deeper bass sound

 

[orbis]

Thank you Harsh for your suggestion... I am familiar with the "masala" you're talking about (also called "dholak masala" I think).. I would like to ask you if know anything about loading a goat skin head on a dhol. Is this something that people do? One of the first things I did (just for fun) when I first got my dhol was to try loading the the bass head with silly putty. This is how many people (myself included) weight the bass head of a mridangam. However, it didn't seem to have any real effect on the sound. Any thoughts?

 

[CrankD Music]

Use your old treble skins installl the skin and stretch it by using your dagga and putting a circle on the skin.(Use sharp side of dagga follow the shape of the skin about a inch in from the rim. you can make as many circles as you need to make the bass deeper everytime you make a circle tighten and tune the bass. When you make the circles dont put to much pressure it could rip the skin.