Felt sound control on bass drums . . .

M

mandrew

Gold Member
Does anyone else remember when bass drum heads used to come with a 3" strip of white felt behind the reso head for sound control? Why did they get away from it (it was used for many years), and would it be good to experiment with it again, instead of poking holes in the heads? What are your thoughts?
 
The idea never really went away. The method just became less popular in the 70's and 80's when things like, removing the reso or stuffing the bass drum with pillows, or even the emergence of pre-muffled heads probably negated the need for them.

Many guys still prefer it as a form of dampening and it seems that many more are jumping on the bandwagon of a single ply bass drum head with felt strip. What was once old is becoming new again, it would seem.
 
I've got a felt strip on one of my kits. My first kit,a 1980 Rogers XP-8 came with two felt strips on the kick.
 
I've got a Yamaha 22" bass drum with a felt strip front and back. Has a great "boom". On my Gretsch 20" bass drum I have an Aquarian SKII on the batter side and an Aquarian Regulator with a 4" hole on the resonant head. Gives it a nice punch. Gibraltar sells the felt, but you can get the same stuff at a fabric store for a lot cheaper. I would suggest getting a strip or two and experimenting. You'll either like it or you won't. It's definitely a lot cheaper than buying a new drum head.
 
It really never entirely went away, it's just another very adjustable tool that we can use to get a desired result.





Dennis
 
I've got one on the front and back of my 3 ply 24" Ludwig kick. Works quite well for me!
 
It is still common in use as you see from the responses. Felt strip muffling remains one of the most effective ways to control ring on a bass drum. Four out of the five bass drums that I own currently have a felt behind the resonant head.
I feel that the foam muffled resonant bass drum heads that the manufacturers sell are muted too much for my taste. The bass drum reso heads that have the mylar ring around the perimeter don't offer enough control. I prefer a moderate amount of control. The felt provides that for me and I can easily adjust the amount of control that I desire.
 
I used to use felt strips and still do on one of my kits. Several years ago I picked up some Remo muffle rings dirt cheap (around 90% off) when a local music store went out of business. I like the way they make my drums sound but I wouldn't be adverse to using the muffle strips again. I use them on some of my toms.
 
I always have, and always will, use felt strips on the reso. The width just gets bigger with the size of the drum. No laundry in my kicks thankyouverymuch!

But then, I still use my wallet on the snare if I want a dry sound so I'm certainly not up to modern styles hahaha
 
JohnnySomersett said:
No laundry in my kicks thankyouverymuch!
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I decided to retune the bassdrum in the shared rehearsal space where I play with my band, and someone had put a 1.5x1,5m, circular, thick carpet in there, just lying in there and filling out almost the entire 22" drum, but barely even thouching the drumheads. Went ahead and tuned the damn thing without muffling, sounded huge. And now we have a nice carpet on the floor instead. ;)

So indeed, no thanks to stuffing the BD full. But an Evans EQ pad against the batter head is really nice, makes it a lot easier to play imo. The velcro underneath helps it stay in place.
 
drumming sort of person said:
I don't want anything between my drum's bearing edge and the head.
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Pro Drum in Hollywood, sets up heads (for those who want felt) by using packing tape to tape the felt strip to the inside of the head. No felt touches the bearing edge. Everything is within the boundary of the head.​
 

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AirborneSFC said:
Where do you guys get the felt from and does it present any negative effects/damage on the hoops or bearing edges?
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Any art and crafts store. A square yard is about $5.
No damage.Felt is soft and not much contact there . The circumference of a 20" bass drum is about 70", only 4" is in contact with felt (for a 2inch wide strip), Even less for larger bass drums.

I posted this comparison on a 22 inch bass drum in another thread.
First bass drum to about 25 secs is the popular Remo PS3, no felt, the 2nd after 25 secs is a good old Remo Ambassador, no packing, just a felt strip. I quite prefer the 2nd. I've stopped using pre-muffled batter heads. Felt rules!

https://soundcloud.com/aftrglow/tama22-ps3-vs-amb2
 
I prefer the sound of a more "open" bass drum, but I much prefer the feel and playability of a bass drum with a pillow in it.
 
harryconway said:
Pro Drum in Hollywood, sets up heads (for those who want felt) by using packing tape to tape the felt strip to the inside of the head. No felt touches the bearing edge. Everything is within the boundary of the head.​
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The only problem with this is, you have no control to alter the strips or their placement once they are taped onto the head. This seriously constricts the amount and sound of the dampening. With felt strips you can vary the width of the strips, the placement of them and also how tight they ride against the resonant head. The closer to the edge, the less dampening affect. I never saw or felt any bearing edge damage from the felt strips that I've used, so I never worry about it.

I buy my felt strips by the yard from fabric stores. They sell them in different widths and thicknesses. I, well actually Wanda just cuts and trims. She doesn't allow me to use sharp pointy things.

Dennis
 
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