how to achieve this floor tom sound?

cpg

Junior Member
hello,
i recently discovered this drummer, chris bear from the band grizzly bear. he is an amazingly good jazz drummer.

anyways, what's unique about his playing is he doesn't use a bass drum. instead he uses the floor tom only! and it sounds exactly like a kick drum.

here is a video of him playing. you can hear it around 3:15. if you skip to 4:45 you can hear it pretty clearly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiUj8TNEsQM

here's another video, again around 4:45:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fKx3KGAVa4&feature=related


i asked him which floor tom he uses, but he never specified the heads. he uses a vintage slingerland, from the looks of it a 18'. anyone have any ideas as to what heads/tuning/muffling is required to achieve this sound? i currently have a 20' vintage slingerland that i converted into a floor tom and im trying to get a similar sound, i also have a 16' vintage slingerland if that helps
 
Haha I recall a thread almost exactly like this one not too long ago here! He had the same thread title, asking the same question about the same drummer! However different videos. Anyway, in videos I've seen of him he uses Remo Pinstripes on the batter head, probable another or a PS3 on the resonant side. I would tune the batter head a little lower than normal and have the resonant about medium low. This usually gets a nice punch with short decay for me, and my heads have no dampening.
 
I have a 24" Mapex floor tom, haha.

Anyways, I''m sure you could achieve the same by using some thicker gauge heads, possibly a couch pillow(?), and even about a 3-4" diameter circle cut in the bottom, just like a real bass drum.
 
Haha I recall a thread almost exactly like this one not too long ago here! He had the same thread title, asking the same question about the same drummer! However different videos. Anyway, in videos I've seen of him he uses Remo Pinstripes on the batter head, probable another or a PS3 on the resonant side. I would tune the batter head a little lower than normal and have the resonant about medium low. This usually gets a nice punch with short decay for me, and my heads have no dampening.

hello :) that was me

i decided to make a new thread since i think i wasn't being specific enough with the last one...and since then i have acquired the 20' slingerland

but on topic

in these videos i just linked, do you think he is using the same heads? i know in my last thread we figured out which batter head he used, but he was using a 16' floor tom then and in these videos its a bit bigger..probably 18'. taking into account the size of the tom that im using(20'), do you think the pinstripe and ps3 would get the same sound of these videos? im really just trying to emulate his sound with my 20', which i think should do fine

I have a 24" Mapex floor tom, haha.

Anyways, I''m sure you could achieve the same by using some thicker gauge heads, possibly a couch pillow(?), and even about a 3-4" diameter circle cut in the bottom, just like a real bass drum.

wow that is awesome, it must sound huge! basically im trying to get that huge sound out of my 20' slingerland, im currently using a powerstroke (i didnt have any other 20' heads lying around so i used what it came with, it was a bass drum before) as the batter head and it sounds alright...maybe a bit too muffled, it pretty much sounds the same no matter how you tune it, and a pinstripe on the reso. what about completely ditching the resonant head? ...idk just throwing out ideas

thank you guys so much for the feedback so far
 
I'm going to be the one to say that you're looking for a sound of a drum that was mic'd and EQ'd and everything.... but if you want that thing to roar, you could go the Bonham route and put Emperors on both sides. The Powerstroke is muffled, generally muffled just enough for a bass drum sound if you leave it without any other muffling, but a 2-ply head would be VERY open and I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for. Tuning it properly would probably give you the sound and you could always apply some minor muffling if you found it necessary...

Could get some Vintage Emperors too to match your Vintage Slingerlands.
 
Hell, get a super kick 2 on there! I forgot to take into account the size lol. A superkick 2 over a regulator on a floor tom would be....

You should definitely try it lol
 
Hell, get a super kick 2 on there! I forgot to take into account the size lol. A superkick 2 over a regulator on a floor tom would be....

You should definitely try it lol

i think i will! so super kick 2 for batter and...what's a regulator? i'm assuming that's made by aquarian also? this thing is gonna sound evil!
 
i think i will! so super kick 2 for batter and...what's a regulator? i'm assuming that's made by aquarian also? this thing is gonna sound evil!

A regulator is a resonant kick drum head made by Aquarian. If you do this, please do post a video on YouTube or something. Watch this space! :D
 
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