high tension on kick drums for speed?

stabmasterarson

Senior Member
I'm trying to speed up my double bass and I read this is a good way of doing that in concert with loosening the pedal spring tension. I use a drum dial, my batter is at 72 and my reso is at 75 on 22"x18 tama rockstar kicks. What tension do you think would be a "high" tension on a bass head of that size?

Has anyone who plays metal tried this trick out?
 
it is simple physics. the tighter the the head the faster the recoil, the more bounce there is. Jazz drummers use tight bass drum heads all the time. The real question will be the sound, if you will like it or not.?
 
Just for kicks (pun intended ha ha) you might try and up the reso tension to like 80 or 85 and see if that helps with the rebound.
 
When I saw Gavan Harrison at PASIC he told us he stuffs his BUD with pillows. This gives him more bounce to play the fast patterns.

I though that was interesting.
 
When I saw Gavan Harrison at PASIC he told us he stuffs his BUD with pillows. This gives him more bounce to play the fast patterns.

I though that was interesting.

That will help but you also have to like that sound. That was my way for 20 years but after trying the Aquarian Super Kicks 8 years ago, I stopped doing that. It was a pain to play my usual way because I was so use to that "firm" or "heavy" feel from having the pillow or whatever inside the drum. It takes some getting use to but sounds much better having the drum open rather than stuffed.
 
You shouldn't compromise your drum sound to ease your playing. Practice until you can play a loosely tuned drum. It's possible. Countless drummers before you have done it.
 
maybe its just a personal feel thing but i found i can play way faster with maxed out pedal springs and my bass skin tuned just past wrinkling.
 
You shouldn't compromise your drum sound to ease your playing. Practice until you can play a loosely tuned drum. It's possible. Countless drummers before you have done it.

I hear you. I have a lot of practice to do. The only thing is, I can't play faster than 130bpm 16ths cleanly, and I play in a death/thrash metal band. It's the music I love so I am trying my damndest to get my speed up. I'm 34 and haven't been playing drums seriously very long so I have my work cut out for me so I'm looking for whatever aids I can. I practice an hour a day on average. The sound on the kicks isn't bad to me, it's a little higher, but very attack-y with no overtones, so it sounds good for metal, imo.
 
I tighten both my batter head and pedal spring to do faster bass drum patterns. (I use single bass) I like a tight head and pedal becuase the tight head rebounds the beater faster, and the tight pedal does most of the work for me, bringing the beater back so I can hit it again sooner.

I just can't stand loose heads or pedals.
 
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