Bass drum buzz

[jmontroy]

I don't know when I picked up this habit, but it's quite annoying. This really only occurs at soft dynamic levels, because when it's louder, I can't really hear it, or it dissapears. It's negligable. However, when playing softer, when I play a bass drum stroke, I keep my foot pressed down on the pedal, causing the beater to hit once real solid, then come back from rebound to buzz a couple times on the bass drum head before settling down. This happens on both feet, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Is it a bigger/smaller problem than I think, what can I do to fix it, any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

[Class A Drummer]

Check out Zoro's page here on drummerworld. I think he explains how this can actually help you.

[moe.ron]

do you mean you are hitting the bass drum once but the beater is hitting more? if so then i would say you might need to muffle the head a little. i had the same problem when i played a black CS head but PS3s and superkick IIs don't seem to have this problem. put a pillow on the outside wedged between the pedal head and floor tom and it worked

[jmontroy]

It's not that the beater just magically hits multiple times on one stroke. I play one stroke, one solid hit, and because after that hit I keep my foot held down on the pedal, the beater comes back to the bass drum and kinda buzzes lightly against it.

[jazzsnob]

It's a matter of control and all you can really do is work on it.

[xizoesira]

It's not that the beater just magically hits multiple times on one stroke. I play one stroke, one solid hit, and because after that hit I keep my foot held down on the pedal, the beater comes back to the bass drum and kinda buzzes lightly against it.

Maybe your beater is loose? See if it has a lug or screw you can tighten.

[Wavelength]

Let the beater bounce clean off the head, and your buzz problems will be solved. Learning this is another thing, and it will take some time...

[foursticks]

Maybe it's because your lifting your foot up and then pressing down on the pedal which could lead to keeping it pressurised. My old teacher always said 'let your foot be the pedal' which basically means DON'T LIFT IT UP AND ALWAYS KEEP IT ON THE PEDAL, obviously when you come to do doubles, ect. then you'll have to lift your foot (if your doing the slide technique for instance) but for standard singles just stick your foot being the pedal.

[Deathmetalconga]

That happens to me sometimes. It can actually be a neat effect in the right situations.

www.terrasonus.com

[samthebeat]

If you want rest your beater on the head play a loose heavily muffled head with medium to loose tension, also have your pedal set up as loose as it will go, that way it will not bounce, as long as you allways let you leg rest, the wieght of your leg should keep it from buzzing. It sounds better, i think this way for rock, funk, pop settings.

I you are playing soft and when playing an un muffled/lightly muffled open head, you really need to release the pedal because there wont be enough force behind the intial stroke, genreally, to stop it from buzing., playing softly heel down is simple to do, you just need to learn the control.

When playing heel up you want to make the stroke from your anlke/leg, then rock the foot back onto the heel to rest, so it's like down with your toes, then rest back onto your heel to realease the beater, with your foot staying on the pedal. You can also just play singles with a heel stroke, i find this quite comfortable, using your heel and toe combined to play doubles.

With bass drum technique there is quite a few ways of going around it, im sure others here do things differently, just work the problem and figure out whats causing it, then figure a way around it.

[Rboeger]

Ok dude this is a really common problem. I have it myself sometimes aswell actually. There are 2 ways to fix it:

#1: Loosen your tension on your pedal.. I Personally say this is a HORRIBLE way to fix the problem, because you should really never touch the tension once u got it how you like it. Although, try it out if you feel like it, it may be that your leg muscles are not strong enough to hold the beater down on the head at the current tension.

#2: Put more dampening in your bass drum or on your bass drum. The problem could be that the head is vibrating on your beater.

#3: Do not keep beater on head or use triggers. imo not worth it, unless your playing soft dynamic or have enough money for triggers and a brain.

IMO the best solution:
I would suggest first dampening the bass drum as much as possible. however, once you start to not like the sound and it has too much punch and not enough beef, take some out. If your drumset sounds bad to you, it will sound bad to everyone else, keep that in mind. Ok now, after you dampen it as much as you can, if the problem still exists, start to SLOWLY loosen your tension. if it gets to a point where the pedal starts to feel uncomfortable, stop and tighten it again. if the problem STILL persists, dont keep beater on head or use triggers.

Hope this helped your problem, and keep drumming!!
-Russell

[MattRitter]

I suggest you start by putting your pedal spring as tight as possible. You want that beater getting far away from the head after each stroke, and it sounds like you currently need as much help with it as possible! Use a tight spring tension for assistance while first learning this.

Second...use little or no muffling in the drum. You want the tiniest flaws (such as buzzes and extra hits) to be obvious and magnified! That way, your brain will constantly be working to correct the flaws even when you aren't officially practicing technique. You yourself said that your flaws have been going unnoticed when you play loud. Well...that's why these flaws have persisted so long already- they aren't screaming in your face every time you hit the drum. Create a situation where they ARE screaming in your face every time you hit the drum, and you might be surprised how quickly your body and brain find a solution.

[Gunnarsen]

do you mean you are hitting the bass drum once but the beater is hitting more? if so then i would say you might need to muffle the head a little. i had the same problem when i played a black CS head but PS3s and superkick IIs don't seem to have this problem. put a pillow on the outside wedged between the pedal head and floor tom and it worked

never compromise with sound!!! always sound first. his problem is a technical one, not a tuning-/muffling problem.

[CJM]

I had this problem when I was younger but I finally learned how to pull my foot back to release the beater instead of burying it in the head. It was hard at first but became second nature after a while and it gives you a cleaner sound.

[larryace]

I'm going counter to the majority of opinions here by stating that you need to NOT keep pressure on the pedal after the hit. You have to snap your foot up and get it out of the way immediately so the pedal board can spring back unimpeded. It makes for a much cleaner bass drum attack. Sure you can use that bounce for an effect, but generally speaking, let that footboard rebound fully. Unbury that beater! With all due respect to you, I would consider unwanted bounces sloppy pedal technique, not clean and precise technique. (That is not a personal attack, I am just trying to help)

[GRUNTERSDAD]

This is burying the beater and I do the same thing. Here two things that will help.

1. Use a felt beater
2. Loosen the batter head a bit and get rid of some rebound.

But if I could do it all over again I would learn to play without burying the beater.
And Larryace's last statement is true. I know it's bad technique and take no offense.

[Rboeger]

I really dont find anything wrong with burying the beater. Sometimes it is impossible to hold the beater up, such as slow double bass things. Most double bass drummers bury the beater, however if you are playing with low dynamic level, there is no need for burying the beater.

Probably the best thing you can do is play heel down when u play softer things.

[MattRitter]

I really dont find anything wrong with burying the beater. Sometimes it is impossible to hold the beater up, such as slow double bass things.

Ahhh...a common misconception. My "Unburying The Beater" approach has nothing to do with trying to "hold the beater up." The main stroke that my system revolves around is a stroke created by dropping the leg so that the heel collides with the floor or heel plate. If done correctly, the beater rebounds immediately away from the head. Some people call this a "heel stroke," and some people call it a "leg stroke." In any case, it really needs to be seen to be understood...but just know that holding the leg in the air has nothing to do with it. I've used "Unburying The Beater" for slow double bass many times.

[nona]

Burying the beater is one of my bad habits also. I think old school Rock drummers have always been taught to play with their heel up (to get more power)...which introduces this problem. I believe the real solution is to teach yourself to play with your heels down. This unfortunately is easier said than done. I catch myself all the time (especially during a gig when I'm a bit wound up). So, I have to make an extra effort to keep my heels down which is very annoying.

[larryace]

I play heel down mostly, letting the beater rebound fully after each hit, but playing heel up I definitely don't bury the beater either.
Playing heel up doesn't mean you can't let the pedal board rebound. I use my toes instead of my whole foot. I play with just socks on so I can feel things better, (plus less weight to move around) maybe try taking your shoes off and practice rebounding heel up and heel down?

[beatboy21212]

Burying the beater is one of my bad habits also. I think old school Rock drummers have always been taught to play with their heel up (to get more power)...which introduces this problem. I believe the real solution is to teach yourself to play with your heels down. This unfortunately is easier said than done. I catch myself all the time (especially during a gig when I'm a bit wound up). So, I have to make an extra effort to keep my heels down which is very annoying.

Hello, I know this is totally off subject but how do you feel about the Sonor Force 2001. I just traded myn in for a 4 piece Gretsch. I had a wicked time tuning the Sonor. Do you find the same problem?

[dairyairman]

Burying the beater is one of my bad habits also. I think old school Rock drummers have always been taught to play with their heel up (to get more power)...which introduces this problem. I believe the real solution is to teach yourself to play with your heels down. This unfortunately is easier said than done. I catch myself all the time (especially during a gig when I'm a bit wound up). So, I have to make an extra effort to keep my heels down which is very annoying.

oh no! you don't have to resort to heel down playing to fix this problem! i'm a living breathing example of a rock drummer who plays heels up and i never bury the beater. you just have to relax a little bit after each stroke and let your heel drop like matt ritter was saying and the beater will bounce back. but keep your toes on the pedal to prevent the beater from bouncing back so far it hits the top of your foot.

[Mr. Jenkins]

It sounds like your problem has to do with improper weight distribution. You probably have too much weight on your toes after the stroke which is keeping the beater to close to the head. When the beater toggles after the stroke it results in extra unwanted notes.

Here's an easy exercise... rest your foot on the pedal (heel down) and put enough weight on the toes to get the beater 3 inches from the head. Examine the weight distribution of the heel and toes in this position. Should be something like 10% weight on the toes and 90% on the heel. Now do a stroke and end in this position. The beater should rebound off the head effortlessly! If your beater is three our more inches away from the head it can toggle a bit and you won't get any unwanted notes.

DO NOT TIGHTEN your spring tension. It may fix this issue but will cause several others! Have the tension loose enough to get nice full rebound strokes.

Hope this helps!

Mike Packer

[nona]

BeatBoy, I love playing the drums, but there are 3 things I hate about it : 1. Setup, 2. Breakdown, and 3. Tuning them. Anyway, I really like my 2001s. But, I see it as an intermediate set. Its great for rehearsals and gigs. However, as my band works more in the studio, I feel that it just doesn't have the sound I'm looking for. So, I've been doing some homework and so far, the set I'm thinking about is the Gretsch Renowns. I also looked at the Sonor 3007s, but IMO so far its Renowns.

[beatboy21212]

O nice. I had the same issue with my Sonor in the studio, especially with the bass drum resonate side. It was a nightmare trying to gate out. When I traded in my kit I found it had poplar shells on it. They are a cheaper shell that complicates everything. I just upgraded to a Gretsch Catalina. It's middle road but sounds great! I am unfamiliar with the renowns but I've heard great things!

I feel like Sonors are great drums, but there hit or miss! I'm not sure what you've checked out but if you want something affordable that looks and sounds great you should check out the Catalina Mod. It's a great all around kit. The only thing that's questionable is probably jazz. Enjoy your search!

[MisterZero]

This is a great thread. I have been having this problem with my Gretsch Renown bass drum for a while now. I have been playing on Roland V-drums mostly, then I got back into the acoustic realm and was surprised at how awful my bass drum response has been. My rolands had a thick, deep rubber pad for a bass head, and it worked perfectly. I use heel-toe for double bass rolls, kind of cheating, so it's effectivley a RR,LL,RR,LL roll similar to a 5 stroke. I can't do it on my Renowns. The bounces are all over the place. I will try some of this advice although playing heel down ain't gonna happen, (30 years of heel up).

Also, a tad off topic, but shouldn't my bass drum beater be perpendicular to the floor when striking the bass drum? Mine, Tama Iron Cobras-Dbl, is largely forward and it doesn't appear as though it can be fixed. Any thoughts?

Thanks

[jameswadewilson]

I have lots of technique problems, but one thing I never did was bury the beater. Well on purpose anyway! I never considered burying the bass drum beater any more than I'd consider burying the stick.

That being said, I recently saw a video of Vinnie Coliuta playing where he was obviously burying the beater. And I suppose I would now if I wanted that sound...


oh no! you don't have to resort to heel down playing to fix this problem! i'm a living breathing example of a rock drummer who plays heels up and i never bury the beater. you just have to relax a little bit after each stroke and let your heel drop like matt ritter was saying and the beater will bounce back. but keep your toes on the pedal to prevent the beater from bouncing back so far it hits the top of your foot.

[veggo32]

Non ported bass drum resonant heads can cause this problem. If this is it try porting your reso a bit like 4", you won't lose the thump but the air will escape a bit, just enough to stop this. If you don't want to do this then work on technique.

[blasterbeat]

This happens to me sometimes when playing a certain groove but it kinda enhances the beat. Just a matter of personal taste I supposse.

[crihopcre]

uhm,Thanks so much 4 sharing with us,bros :-)
__________________

Telemarketing services company and firms - (http://telemarketingservicescompanies.com)Telemarketing companies professionnal - (http://telemarketingservicescompanies.com/telemarketing-companies/)B2B outbound telemarketing lists for lead generation (http://telemarketingservicescompanies.com)