Bouncing problem

metalheadxp

Junior Member
Okay need some advice here. I have Yamaha stage custom set. Still using the factory Remo heads and kick pedal. I have the batter head tightened only a half of a turn past when the wrinkles disappear. I'm one of those guys that "buries" the pedal. Problem is it bounces, so I get a "brdrdrdrd" instead of a "bump". Now is that something I can fix changing the head and/or pedal, or do I simply need to change my playing habbit?
 
Are you burying the beater as a matter of choice or is that your one and only method of playing? If the latter, you may want to learn how to unbury the beater which will essentially eliminate the mini hits you describe.

I think this is a technique issue more than an equipment issue
 
"Burying" the pedal is what is causing the rumbling/bouncing. Try dead sticking a tom, you get the exact same thing.

If you are trying for a clean quarter note, why would you bury the pedal?
 
You could/should learn to unbury the beater....as a new technique....or you can continue burying but port the reso head.
 
This is a pretty common problem judging by the number of times it is posted. I've had this problem myself, since I've been playing by burying the beater for over fifty years. This problem came up for me when I decided to play with an unported resonant head, which made the batter head "bouncier" because of the now-compressed air inside the bass drum. I tried various batter heads, multiple tunings, and a variety of muffling techniques, all to no avail. Once I put the ported head back on, though, the problem automatically disappeared. You don't say whether your resonant head is ported, but you might try that. By the way, don't worry about the wrinkles in the batter head. Loosen the head up to almost zero tension and work up from there. If the beater bounce is gone once the head is loosened, then tune upward until the bounce reoccurs, then back off the tuning again until the bounce is gone. If there are wrinkles at this point, just ignore them.

Out of curiosity, what changed about your kit when this problem started? Did you just buy the Stage Custom kit? Do you still have your old pedal to try with the SC kit? Is the front head ported? Did you ever have this problem on your old kit? Have you tried adjusting the Yamaha pedal's spring tension and beater height? Some more details would be very helpful.

GeeDeeEmm
 
Following this thread with interest. For me burying the beater is pretty much my only option so interested to see how this issue is resolved.
 
You can't bury the beater with a full front head without unwanted bounces, it can't be done!

Port the reso or rebound the beater, your only options.
 
Port the reso or rebound the beater, your only options.

+1 on that. You need a big hole in the reso if you're bashing.

Alternatively, get rid of the reso altogether.

When I played punk, I cut a hole in the reso so big there was only about two inches of mylar around the edges. That was just enough to protect the bearing edge and hold a dampening blanket in the drum, if a sound guy insisted on one. Sound guys loved how easy it was to work with a single headed bass drum and always gave it a big sound.

Once you let the air out of your bass drum, you'll probably find double strokes much easier to play as well.
 
Following this thread with interest. For me burying the beater is pretty much my only option so interested to see how this issue is resolved.

Are you and the OP burying the pedal on purpose? I've heard of deadsticking the toms, which is just burying the stick, but I've never heard of burying the bass drum pedal. When you deadstick a tom, it's to get a short, muffled sound, is that what you are going for on the BD? If so, the pedal should naturally have some bounce to it as the heads are going to bounce back.

Based on the other comments, if you get rid of the reso head, or port it, it should cut down on the bounce you're getting, but it will also impact your tone.

I guess I can understand burying the head as an accent, but is that how you hit most of your BD notes? In addition to this issue, doesn't it make it tricky to play doubles, or 16th notes?
 
You could embrace the rumbling rebound and incorporate it into your own, new style.

I can see your youtube videos lessons already:

"How to play the rumble technique: Part 1,2,3"

(part 1,2,3 . . . . . . get it?)

and

"Fast double bass - 400 bpm - rumble technique"
 
A port will probably solve the issue. Quick check, take off the reso. head. Is the issue solved? Simple. I'd use a smaller 4" or 5" port, then.​
I've never had this symptom, with 20" and 22" kicks. I found it occurred when I stepped up into my first "big" kick. It was a 28x14. And a port solved the problem. The larger drum sizes, with more air volume inside, fought back with more resistance. Once I found the "easy" fix, I worked on my foot technique. I don't have the 28" anymore, but I play 24" and 26" kicks .... no ported reso.​
 
You could embrace the rumbling rebound and incorporate it into your own, new style.

I can see your youtube videos lessons already:

"How to play the rumble technique: Part 1,2,3"

(part 1,2,3 . . . . . . get it?)

and

"Fast double bass - 400 bpm - rumble technique"

LOL cool idea! But no. To answer everyone's question, I just bury the pedal naturally. Not trying to, it's just how my foot works so to speak. lol.
 
I had the problem one time playing another person's kit. The head was ported so I was kind of at a loss till I noted the spring was was really tight-I loosened it up and could bury it then with no double.
 
Funny story. I had it with an orchestra I played with but it was with this little Sonor Safari kit. It was in a small practice room where the whole orchestra was crowded. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from till I realized a large orchestral bass was sitting on a stand three feet away and it was harmonic resonance. We had to rearrange the room a bit to get rid of it.
 
This is a pretty common problem judging by the number of times it is posted. I've had this problem myself, since I've been playing by burying the beater for over fifty years. This problem came up for me when I decided to play with an unported resonant head, which made the batter head "bouncier" because of the now-compressed air inside the bass drum. I tried various batter heads, multiple tunings, and a variety of muffling techniques, all to no avail. Once I put the ported head back on, though, the problem automatically disappeared.
GeeDeeEmm

Wow, GDM, I went through the exact same thing when I tried an unported head! It was not too long ago - I was really freaking out about how bad my foot technique had suddenly become, so I came on this forum to ask about it. Came across this Larry fella, and he said something similar to this:

You can't bury the beater with a full front head without unwanted bounces, it can't be done!

Port the reso or rebound the beater, your only options.

I immediately ported the head and everything was awesome again. Right again, Larry.

(To be clear, I do think a drummer should learn how to play both ways - burying the beater and letting it rebound. This old dog is learning the new trick, but slowly...)
 
Are you and the OP burying the pedal on purpose?

In my case yes, I do bury the beater on purpose. I have some mobility and strength issues with my right foot resulting from nerve damage sustained in a motorcycle accident. Burying the beater seems to work best for my circumstances.
 
In my case yes, I do bury the beater on purpose. I have some mobility and strength issues with my right foot resulting from nerve damage sustained in a motorcycle accident. Burying the beater seems to work best for my circumstances.

When I started playing (just 8 months ago) I couldn't even imagine how to play without burying the beater. But at the same time I was really annoyed by the extra bounces. It's not necessarily any harder to play without burying the beater. It's just a technique you have to learn and get used to. There are a couple of good bass drum technique DVDs that cover it very thoroughly. There's Matt Ritter's Unburying the Beater and Jojo Mayer's Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer - Part II

--
Steve
 
Back
Top