BASS DRUM TUNING

Fendi

Junior Member
THE BASS DRUM TUNING THREAD

I just bought an Evans Genera Clear 22inch bass drum head.. I'm still figuring out how to tune the bass drum.. Can someone help me and provide me some tips on muffling, tightness of the skin? thanks :)

fendi
 
Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

If you want a slappy sound, then tune the head as low as it goes, but still has a slight tone. You'll probably see a couple wrinkles in the head, but don't overdo it.

Tune the front head low too, but then up a little bit more than the batter side. I like it to it to have a nice tone.

Then for muffling, depending on the size of your bass drum, I would use one pillow that bareley touches both heads. If you can't find one that barely touches, try having it barely touch the batter head, and most of it touching the front head.

I use EQ2 clear heads with a ported EQ3 head on front. Right now I'm using an Emad, and no muffling on that side, then the evans pillow on the front head.

Hope this helps.
 
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Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

i have two pillows inside, how do i align them properly? help
 
Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

take an old thick drum head (i used to circle i cut out of my front head) and cut a piece the size of a side plate. tape it in place on the batter head so that the beater will hit it in the center. but only tape it on the top. there will be a tiny space between it and the batter. this clicks and deadens the ring on the batter skin slightly. as an added bonus it means that the head won't be worn away by the beater.


j
 
Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

Fendi said:
i have two pillows inside, how do i align them properly? help

Two might be too much. There is a point that chokes the drum out completely, and you have a 70s funk bass drum.

With one pillow try laying it length wise so an equal amount of it is touching both heads. If its a long pillow it will cover too much of the batter head. I only like it to barely touch my batter head. If its folde up and goes higher than the where the pedal strikes, then you probably have too much of it on this end...move some of it to the resonant side.
 
Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

Fendi said:
I just bought an Evans Genera Clear 22inch bass drum head.. I'm still figuring out how to tune the bass drum.. Can someone help me and provide me some tips on muffling, tightness of the skin? thanks :)

fendi
I am Greg Pinney. It is very simple to dampen your bass drum. Most drummers do this. Put a pillow or a medium size blanket in your bass drum. dont tighten the head alot. If you leave the head a little lose you will get a nice dampen tight sounding bass drum. (Only turn the tuning pegs about 2-3 1/2 times each.)
 
Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

thanks so much everyone here for your advise, i finally manage to get my bass drum sound :D so check out: Fendi's Drum Riff

http://www.myspace.com/prognosian


This is my new evans genera 22inch clear bass drum skin.. Check it out, tell me what you think? thanks everybody!!

Fendi
 
Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

I recently bought a Evans EMAD batter head (22") and a new resonant head with a port hole. I was one that could never get a good bass drum sound. This EMAD really transformed the sound of my kick. There is no internal muffling and it sounds nice and punchy. I took the recomendation from a fellow poster on this forum....thanks for the good advice.
 
Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

I find I don't have to use pillows for a nice punchy sound. I also don't use the ported kick drum head. I find that the hole really effects the sound of the kick drum. If you use a Powerstroke 3 for a batter head and Aquarian force 2 on the front. You can have a louder punch sound. I think the pillow makes your drum sound smaller.
 
Re: how do i get a tight bass drum sound?? Help..

The evans Retro Screens on the resonant side gives it a loud punch and gets rid of a lot of the resonation in combination with an evans eq3. I love it.
 
Tuning bass drums

Which is the easiest way to tune two bass drums to get the same sound? I have two but i can't really get them to sound the same can anyone help me out? Thanks JT
 
Re: Tuning bass drums

It's a very difficult thing to do. My advice would be to count the turns you put in each head and model the other drum exactly on that. Personally I would try to tune both bass drums different, as Ginger Baker does. I think that allows for a more adventurous approach.
 
Re: Tuning bass drums

I try to get both my kicks in the ballpark, but I don't think they will ever be perfect.

The reason is, is that they are at different angles, and one is close to smaller, higher pitched toms as secondary resonant cavities, my rt kick is near larger, deeper toms. My right kick will always sound a little bigger and deeper.

With less toms, it's easier, but the kicks are still at different angles with respect to your ears and seating position.

It really has to come down to what MFB said: same heads, same tension.
 
Re: Tuning bass drums

if you've spent the money on the drums you may as well spend a tad more on the sound. buy a tension watch from tama. this is about as accurate as you might get. some bass guitar tuners might help as well.

like most people say get them similar but don't worry if they are slightly different as this will make for more musical variety particularly where you are playing paradiddles and double stroke rolls etc.

j
 
Re: Tuning bass drums

If you're really concerned about the sound and want them absolutely exact; then you're going to have to go for broke and get triggers. Triggers and a MIDI module will cost you, but nowadays a lot of metal drummers trigger their bass drums partly due to difficulties in tuning them the same.
 
Re: Tuning bass drums

NUTHA JASON said:
if you've spent the money on the drums you may as well spend a tad more on the sound. buy a tension watch from tama. this is about as accurate as you might get. some bass guitar tuners might help as well.

like most people say get them similar but don't worry if they are slightly different as this will make for more musical variety particularly where you are playing paradiddles and double stroke rolls etc.

j

I am contemplating getting one of those. I found that the right head combo is 80% of the battle. I am digging these Aquarians... I am not fighting with a cold/thin sound anymore.
 
What can i do? a bass drum tuning dilema

What can i do to get the best sound out of my bass drum.

i got a blaket inside, a powerstroke 3 on the front with port hole. and an evans emad batter. The size is 16 deep i think, and 20 diameter.

not to mention it had a tom mount on the top but i took it off. so there are holes in it :(.
 
Re: What can i do?

Blankets muffle the sound, giving it a more "clicking" noise instead of a booming bass sound. Finding the best head and tuning it like-wise for whatever you like playing is the way to go. That Powerstroke 3 is a good step in that direction, but I would suggest Aquarian's SuperKick II.
 
Re: What can i do?

Thry this, take the blanket out tune the reso head up to med-hi tention and the batter to a med- lo tention.This is not absolute you will have to find the tention combo that works best for your drum and heads but it should get you close. You definately don't need a blanket with an emad but the emad reso might help. Let me knpw if this helps.
 
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