As with all things musical how often you replace your drumheads is a matter of preference. Some players love old beat-up heads on their drums. They like the worn-in feel and sound. Other players like the fresh sound of new skins. I see the value in both but in my humble opinion, new heads are better. If drum heads were like bass guitar strings where you could throw them in a pot of boiling water to get all of the crud off and after an hour have a fresh sound, that would be great! Drum heads in boiling water would be ugly, so the only way to freshen up the sound is to install fresh heads.
If you’re going into the studio, it is imperative that you put on fresh heads. You want to give the client the best possible sound. The only real exception to that for me is if the client, or your band, are going for a particular old-school sound that is very dead and dry. Then, instead off putting a ton of gaff tape or moon gel all over your new heads, just use the old beat-up ones. But other than that, I highly suggest putting on new heads for studio sessions. Keep in mind that the heads will get worked in as the session goes along, too. If you are in studio for five days or more you may want to think about changing them again.
For live gigs it is a bit different. You can go longer with out changing. When I was playing with Cirque Du Soleil I was doing up to 10 shows per week. That is a lot! My snare and toms heads got worked rather fast, so I would change them every couple of weeks. On a more normal tour schedule where there are only four or five shows per week you can probably go longer. It depends on how hard you hit your drums.
I suggest you change the heads on the bottom of your toms and snare once a year. Some players never change those heads, but a new set will help liven up your sound. For me, kick drum heads last a long time and only need changing once the beater really starts wearing out the center of the head.
Companies are now making heads with power dots to help protect the heads and make them last longer, such as the REMO Coated Controlled Sound, Remo’s Emperor X with Black Dot, EVANS EC Reverse Dot, EVANS Power Center, and many others. These heads may give your drums a great sound with heads that last longer. Check them out.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, how often you change your drum heads is a matter of preference and, of course, what your budget can tolerate. What I described above has worked well for me over many years of playing professionally.