To port or not to port...and where?

Never saw a parade Marching bd drum ported nor a Symphony orchestral bd ported
So those being two legitimate drum sounds I like to incorporate strongly playing live I'm with that
 
Here is a pic of the kit at St Louis Jazz Herlin was playing this weekend. Must be a house kit based on the kick drum head. This venue has spent major $$$bucks on acoustic engineering and sound system. I could hear the kick just fine it sounded like a kick. No one in audience cared it sounded like a kick drum to them. Herlin didn't mind. Having said that, I do have a small port on my kick. Yeah your typical sound guys like ports, but per this pic it ain't all that necessary - and the sound TEAM at this venue has their own booth it ain't some dude with an iPad sitting at bar and getting high toking between sets lol.

Main reason I have a port is I bury the beater and the port helps eliminate extra beater bounces.

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Rattlin' Bones said:
Here is a pic of the kit at St Louis Jazz Herlin was playing this weekend. Must be a house kit based on the kick drum head. This venue has spent major $$$bucks on acoustic engineering and sound system. I could hear the kick just fine it sounded like a kick. No one in audience cared it sounded like a kick drum to them. Herlin didn't mind. Having said that, I do have a small port on my kick. Yeah sound guys like ports but per this pic it ain't all that necessary. Another reason I have a port is I bury the beater and the port helps eliminate extra beater bounces.

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I am loving that head logo!
 
I concur getting a pre-ported head where the hole is on the lower right quadrant. Then you could rotate it around the drum to see what sounds best to you. Sometimes I use a Beta 52 on a stand or the Shure SM91 flat mic inside the drum so the location of the port doesn’t change anything for me.
 
Rattlin' Bones said:
Yeah sound guys like ports but per this pic it ain't all that necessary. Another reason I have a port is I bury the beater and the port helps eliminate extra beater bounces.
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No one here would know because we weren't there. The bass drum is less prominent in jazz, blues and 60's music, but should sound tighterr and more focussed in modern rock and pop. Sound guys like a port hole because if you have the mic outside the drum it can pick up a lot of ambient noise from other instruments on a loud stage.
 
the bass drum as we know it was "invented" in jazz, blues and 60s music
otherwise specify it's a /narrow/commodity commercial bass drum
 
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If you like the no head sound, you could put a screen on it. I’ve been using Evans Retro screens for years. I don’t think they’re called that anymore, but a mesh head is what it is, and I love the sound.
 
AudioWonderland said:
The size of the opening is what matters, not where it is.
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Yet, some drum & head manufacturers will say 4:00 or 8:00 location is best for porting. It allows for the sound to bounce around for a bit before exiting. Giving you that "boom-ish" sound many look for.
 
Chris Whitten said:
No one here would know because we weren't there. The bass drum is less prominent in jazz, blues and 60's music, but should sound tighterr and more focussed in modern rock and pop. Sound guys like a port hole because if you have the mic outside the drum it can pick up a lot of ambient noise from other instruments on a loud stage.
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Try playing a NOLA second line groove on a kit without a prominent bass drum :cool:

If not for my burying the beater, after hearing Herlin twice last weekend, I'd say the heck with a port.
 
Cmdr. Ross said:
Yet, some drum & head manufacturers will say 4:00 or 8:00 location is best for porting.
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Having played hundreds of shows, the 3-4pm or 8-9pm port hole is at the exit correct height for low mic stands, and makes mic'ing the bass drum a breeze for sound crew. Everyone has a smile on their face and my bass drum sound isn't negatively impacted in the process.
 
I believe that a large part of the 70's/80's sound is no front head at all. Simon Phillips commented that an open bass drum sounds great through a U47 FET microphone, and he's hardly known for a dead drum tone.
 
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