If you really want to get into it.. Start by adjusting the beater, cam, bass drum head angle, and tension without using a spring,.. If you can,... get the beater going freeflow sort of like the fulcrum of the freehand technique of bouncing the stick.. On a physics level that would be the optimum set...

Holy shit.. saw the Cobham vid.. There's 12 grand or more in toms mics... hahah awesome..

I'd say from a physics perspective there would be... But It would be per beater, cam, ect..
Similar to the "Ideal" fulcrum point on the stick,.. every stick would be slightly different but there would be a spot that would be the best from a physics angle...
Someone should do a study haha..

Hardware won't change the resonant pitch of a drum,.. Just reduce it.. Or create a slightly different overtone series, but the resonant pitch will be the same If you want to go for a specific note,,.. tune your bottom head to it.. The top one will shape that pitch a bit here or there more the charac...

Alot of it has to do with the bearing edges.. moreso than the wood type.. Some bearing edges require more tension for some tone.. Perhaps your oak drums have a different bearing edge that allow for lower tuning.. Looking on the DW site on tuning they suggest tuning both heads the same with ambassado...

I'd have him finish his lessons, but I'd teach him songs using charts.. so he has to read as well..
Plus he has to play stuff note for note, all accents doubles ect have to be perfect.. which leas to technique exercises..

In my experience, I'd rather have a killer mic and a weak preamp then a killer preamp and a weak mic.. I've done extensive double blind testing with every component in a recording chain, and the difference between mics are way larger than the difference between preamps. I own a Universal audio La610...

I haven't used to drum mics system from them, but I've heard the mics,.. and while pricey they are awesome..
If you have the money definitely worth checking out...

If you can afford it, get a couple Neumann km 184's as overheads If you have those in a good room with good drums,. you can pretty much use any low budget mics you want on the other drums.. You will however need to be an even player,.. With the recorderman technique plus a kick mic you can get a kil...

http://www.rhythmtrainerapp.com/

This program for the Iphone can do some crazy time signature/subdivision stuff.

Check out the video..