Question about DW woofers

[dogmanaut]

Hey, I just bought a DW drum set that came with a woofer. I've never played with a woofer before--or even heard one played--so I've got a few questions about them. First of all, do you use any kind of damping inside the woofer itself or is the super boomy sound the whole point? Also, I need to decide whether to buy a cradle or try to get the bass drum attachments factory installed. Which is the better way to go? I'd appreciate anyone's help on this.

[Chonson]

Hey, I just bought a DW drum set that came with a woofer. I've never played with a woofer before--or even heard one played--so I've got a few questions about them. First of all, do you use any kind of damping inside the woofer itself or is the super boomy sound the whole point? Also, I need to decide whether to buy a cradle or try to get the bass drum attachments factory installed. Which is the better way to go? I'd appreciate anyone's help on this.

I tune mine (8x28) for more resonance - but quite low (lowest resonating pitch, really) and then tune the kick for punch. My woofers have a small patch of foam in the middle center - no more than 3-4 inches across (instead of the usual velcro points for the DW cushion inside the kick). The stock heads are fine.

I opted for the cradle vs the bars; I think the bars kind of are contrary to the concept (a resonating bass drum.. so let's clamp it tight to another drum?) of the drum. The drum's a bit shaky on the cradle as a warning, though, so if you intend to gig it (why?), you should absolutely go for the bars.

Bear in mind it's a specialized sound and it's only going to work for certain recording vibes - things where a note is more important than a punchy thump or click. It's a different beast than a subkick or running multiple mics on one drum. I had better luck pointing the internal D112 at the kick batter vs trying to null out the kick's attack by pointing the 112 at the resonant head; I had a fuller, more integrated sound.

IMO it's really a recording tool as it lets you heavily sculpt and tune your bass drum sound - you can gate one or both drums, apply different compression ratios, different EQ, etc. You can go from an orchestral type bass drum to almost an 808 without needing to re-mic and re-tune.

Live, in the practice room, etc - not as useful or different sonically. I can't imagine the circumstances that I would ever gig it.

[cornelius]

I'm using a 22" woofer with a 20" kick - I'm on the same tip as Chonson...
I would always suggest cradle, because I like the woofer to be at least one size bigger than the kick - wouldn't mind having a 28"...

[Mikecore]

I think it's really more of a recording animal than live (anyone notice Bozzio stopped using them live, and he's using smaller kicks than when he had woofers). They are supposed to be resonators, but to get anything out of them live you are getting into a balance between the two drums AND the rest of the objects running into the PA. If your bass player has some kind of "harmonic convergence" with the note your woofer is tuned to, it will feed back like all hell, and the solution to that is to haul out the offending frequency at the board, which kind of negates the purpose of the woofer in the first place.

At least in a studio situation there's little likelihood that other instruments are going to mess with the drum itself and then you can resonate to your little heart's content!

If you don't find it useful at all in those scenarios, I would suggest slapping some spurs on it and using it as a remote bass. I have an 8x22" and it KICKS all on its own. I would give that a try anyway, since you can control both drums independently and you still get the extra tone you're looking for, provided you have no problem with adding a remote, coming up with the extra stage space and microphone, and dealing with the extra resistance of playing two pedals at once.