Deep bass drum sound

Anto

Junior Member
Hey guys, I own a 24" bass drum and would like to get rid of that "thump" sound and get a more mass heavy bass drum sound, what heads would you recommend? A sort of bonham sound if you know what i mean. Also, what would be the difference between a ported vs non ported drumhead in therms of sound?
 
Well, Bonzo used A coated Emperor on the batter side. And a Coated(?)/Smooth Ambassador on the Resonant side.

He liked to use felt strips on the batter side and resonant side. No pillows or bathmats or anything.

And finally, and this is something I do too, he liked to tune his bass drum tight.
I find this really helps to get a nice boom out of the bass drum, even with my 20" kick. Not TOO high though, or else it'll just be a sad "bimp".
 
Thanks man I'll try that, but what about the ports, what difference would a head without/with ports do?
 
Lets not forget that live and studio mics are used and thousands of watts and subs with mid high and horn cabinets help that out a little. The full head gives you more resonants and think thats what your looking for when you say "mass"! Start off the kick drum batters tuned up higher as Mr.L stated will begin to get you there. Get your reso head up firmly not to tight but above wrinkly for sure. Then tighten your reso and get someone behind the kit to hit the drum. Instruct them how you do it and have them try to emulate your approach to the pedal into the drum. Tell them to hit the drum the same way each time and as the drum is hit you start detuning a top lug and listen to the reso head. You want to hear the pitch go down, if it doesn't return the tension back and move on to the next lug. As you tune each lug you should come up with one or possibly two to three lugs that make a difference in sound. Use those lugs for your low end and the others to maintain mass. Listen if you have a 10 ply 15mm drum made out of saw dust and dog crap don't expect much but if you take your time and get a consistant pedal hit you should be able to get the best out of your total application. Take your time and sit down in front of the drum and learn. This will workout much better with another drummer doing the hitting. You may need to go back the next day because you will need to practice this and make it become a "fine tuning" experience. A non drummer will be complaining in less than 3 minutes hahahaha!!!! Drummin is so easy! Doc
 
If you're burying the beater, try not burying it to hear the difference that it makes. The difference is more pronounced on an unmuffled drum so try it when your drum is already set up as the others suggested. I stopped burying a few years ago and never looked back. I do sometimes bury in certain situations, dependent on what sound I need. Sometimes a wild boomy 24" is just a little too much :)
 
Great posts you guys, I agree about the whole burying the beater thing. In general, I like to let the beater bounce off the head, but on occasion I bury it to tame the drum.

At concert band, I play a 22" with an approximately 10" port on it. It allows you to bury the beater very easily, but I find the sound really flattens out and becomes very dead with very minimal resonance and sustain.
This could be the sound you want, I imagine it'd work very well for some sorts of metal, or rock, but I'm not a fan.
 
If you're burying the beater, try not burying it to hear the difference that it makes. The difference is more pronounced on an unmuffled drum so try it when your drum is already set up as the others suggested. I stopped burying a few years ago and never looked back. I do sometimes bury in certain situations, dependent on what sound I need. Sometimes a wild boomy 24" is just a little too much :)

Yes! I did that too, played for 10 years burying the beater into the batter head, not only it gives a drier sound (the head cannot vibrate), but it's also raising the pitch of the drum. I've been playing by letting the beater rebound from the batter head for 20 years now, it took some adjustement at the begining, but the drum sound much better, with plenty of low end (the head can vibrate fully) and I use very little damping, a small towel rolled in a "croissant" shape resting on the batter head. For tuning my batter head tension is about a turn above wrinkle and the resonance head tension is medium to high, it produce a deep sound without being too boomy.
 
Thanks a lot for all the answers! Doctor Dirt, the "mass" thing was actually a typo for "bass" but it does fit the description fine! I'll try the tuning method you suggested, at the moment the heads are basically as low as they go without wrinkling. Any suggestions for the heads i should use?
 
To me I gather you want some needy tone in there? Tune up, way up! Higher than you think. That will give you bass heavy tones. My 22x14 with a clear ps3 and a wide open coated ambassador is all deep bass tone, especially with a band. I can link you to a clip when I get home. It sounds WAY bigger than its size.
 
My recommendation would be an Evans EQ3 clear batter with an EMAD reso head and an EQ pad or similar inside the drum (though not touching either head) in order to disrupt the symmetry inside the shell. Tune the batter just-above-wrinkle or to desired feel and take the reso up 1/4 - 1/2 turn more than you usually would. The reso head will help carry the tone of the drum while the REMAD port helps to cut down on higher overtones and allow air to escape.

Cheers!
 
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