This is probably my favourite choice for a snare head when recording of all the heads I've tried. I use a 14x6,5" Recording Custom birch snare and this head has just about the perfect amount of dampening, no kind of dampening required. To me, this model gives a more open sound than a head with a sound control dot in the middle without being too ringy with undesirable overtones. For some live situations a less controlled head might be preferred, depending on the music, I have played in smaller bars and clubs, and in those situations the Genera Dry works great. I also recently slapped an old one of these I had lying around and still got it easily tuned just fine. Durability is definitely a strong point. If you find yourself using some dampening with a G1/Ambassador or a CS-type head with a dot, give this one a try.