BASS DRUM TUNING

Re: THE BASS DRUM TUNING THREAD

Free the bass drums! I finally took the pillow out of my kick and it's much more open, sounds so much better. My parents upstairs also noticed the difference in sound (my dad said his computer chair was rumbling from the noise :p). I'm looking into something like the Evans EQ pad to help control some of the overtones, and shorten the sustain so I still get the boom without too much rumbling.
 
Re: THE BASS DRUM TUNING THREAD

it completly depends on taste on how you tune your bass drum. Progressive drummers like Mike Portnoy and Neil Peart have their bass drums at a very low tuning and hardly any dampening. Were as jazz drummers use a fair bit of dampening and higher tuning.
 
Tuning the kick/bass drum

Hi, i'm currently not happy with how my bass drum sounds so i wanted to experiment with new sounds. Hopefully you guys can help

1) How do people tune their kick drum so they get a nice, rich, boom sound when they hit it?

2) How do people tune their kick so they get a click sound? For example listen to Jeff Kummer the drummer in this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er_yYzd7NUo

Thanks for your help in advance
 
Re: Tuning the kick/bass drum

To aydee: thanks for telling me but i already did that before posting.

My question was how to get particular sounds, not how to muffle or which skins to buy. I actually want to get a click or a boom which I cant seem to get on my kick.The other threads mostly talked about rough tuning and muffling and what skins to choose.

Someone said using a wooden beater would help get a click, but is there a particular way of tuning to enhance the sound?

Could someone tell me how to tune a kick so i get a click or a boom as in tune medium/ tight/ loose? Thank you
 
Re: Tuning the kick/bass drum

To get a "boom" try tuning the batter and reso head to the same (or close) note/pitch. Not to low though or it will not resonate.
When you do hit the bass drum remember not to leave the beater into the head. Meaning let the beater impact the head then let up on your foot a little so there is no contact between the beater and the head after the impact.
 
Re: Tuning the kick/bass drum

To get the click years ago I used to use a lot of muffling and had a coin taped to the batter head with gaff tape.

I use a 20x14 so my boom isn't big, but I don't use thick heads on it and one or two pieces of dacron (cortelle) in the bottom for some muffling. I play heel down and don't leave the beater in the head, it bounces off and I use a felt beater too.
 
Re: Tuning the kick/bass drum

tiffanyl said:
To aydee: thanks for telling me but i already did that before posting.

My question was how to get particular sounds, not how to muffle or which skins to buy. I actually want to get a click or a boom which I cant seem to get on my kick.The other threads mostly talked about rough tuning and muffling and what skins to choose.

Someone said using a wooden beater would help get a click, but is there a particular way of tuning to enhance the sound?

Could someone tell me how to tune a kick so i get a click or a boom as in tune medium/ tight/ loose? Thank you
Click to expand...

also you could try Professor Sound's Tuning Bible, its got information on what you have to do to get that exact sound you want, and has information on what woods make what sounds plus anything you want to know about anything about tuning.

it helped me HUGELY

http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/id6.html.
 
HELP tuning a vintage bass drum

I have a set of '65 Slingerland's with a 20" bass drum. I have never been able to tune this drum properly without having to muffle it (pillow) to get a decent sound. Does anyone have any experience with this type of drum that could offer any head combination or general advice? Currently, I have a Remo CS Black Dot on the batter & a Remo Ebony pinstrip on the reso. Thanks for any tips..

Edit - I should mention there is currently NO hole on the reso head.
 
Re: HELP tuning a vintage bass drum

Well, first off, using an ebony Pinstripe as resonant on this thinner bass drum might not be a good idea... that's probably a BIG reason why it sounds better without the front head, with no holes and no muffling the sound will be too weird, those two heads react very differently and the sound will be too dry when you have response and too dead when you have that low tone... I bet that's what's happening to you.

You could explore with other ebony heads such as ambassador... or maybe putting a hole in front and some minimal muffling... if you don't want muffling, I'd suggest using another batter head, maybe one with dampers such as EMAD and also a soft beater.
 
Re: HELP tuning a vintage bass drum

Your head choice is your first problem. Having a 1-ply batter with a 2-ply resonant is not a good combination. It should be the other way around.

For a vintage bass I would personally put two single-ply heads like an Ambassador on both sides, and use a felt strip to muffle both.
 
Re: HELP tuning a vintage bass drum

brotherbaker said:
Thanks guys. I knew that the head choice was an issue. I appreciate the feedback.
Click to expand...

Your current head should could work too for the time being, just switch the heads. Put a felt strip on the front head if it rings too much.
 
Re: HELP tuning a vintage bass drum

fourstringdrums said:
Your current head should could work too for the time being, just switch the heads. Put a felt strip on the front head if it rings too much.
Click to expand...

Can't, see attached. :-(

This head was a gift (with my initials). I am thinking of changing the batter head & cutting a hole in the reso. I am hoping that will work nicely. You think the EMAD would be a good choice as Guillermo suggested ?
 

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Re: HELP tuning a vintage bass drum

brotherbaker said:
Can't, see attached. :-(

This head was a gift (with my initials). I am thinking of changing the batter head & cutting a hole in the reso. I am hoping that will work nicely. You think the EMAD would be a good choice as Guillermo suggested ?
Click to expand...

Yes the EMAD is a great head, but I would still be wary of using a 2 ply as the resonant, especially if you cut a hole in it. You may wind up with a dead sounding drum.
 
Re: HELP tuning a vintage bass drum

Being a Remo guy, my first batter choice would probably be a Powerstroke 3. Ambassador, Controlled Sound, Emperor, and Pinstripe as other choices. As much for looks as anything else, I like ebony reso. heads. I'd run an Ambassador weight reso.(if you want some open overtone) or a Powerstroke 3 (combined with a P3 batter, for a real tight, punchy sound) I find 20" kicks really don't need ports, least none that I've ever owned and/or played.
 
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