Bass Drum miking without a hole dilemma

GNRFAN

Senior Member
Hey there,

My band member is adamant that he does not want a hole placed in the front kick head to allow for a rather large logo to be there, which in some ways I understand.

The main problem is, all the great bass drum sounds I have heard when I have been to gigs live have the hole in the front head, for a real nice deep sound with punch too as the mic can go right inside the drum.

Would this sound still be possible to achieve without the hole in the front, and where would any of you suggest the mic should be placed and will any tuning adjustments be necessary to have the sound I am looking for.

Many thanks
 
You can mic the resonant head in the center. That's the closest-sounding to miking a ported hole (it has the most punch of anywhere on the head). The problem is, it would cover up the logo that they are so interested in preserving. The other option, then, might be to invest in an internal miking system or mic the batter head. Most engineers I know aren't too keen on miking the batter head, as it puts their mic in a precarious position, and it doesn't capture the "big" sound of the drum. This is okay for a metal drummer who wants the "clicky" sound of the articulation of the drum, but almost everyone else wants their bass drum to sound like...well...a bass drum.

Tell him that if he wants to keep the front head intact, he needs to invest in an internal miking system, which includes the shock-mounting for the mic, a cable from the mic to the outside of the drum, AND the mic itself. Once he realizes that he's going to need to spend about $400 so he can keep his precious head intact, he just might reconsider...
 
Answer : Kelly Shu ;-)

Seriously you can get an excellent deep sound out of an unposted bass drum. It's a matter tryout & errors.
 
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Might depend on the mic used, but I've also seen a mic placed at the perimetrer of the head, close to the hoop with a closed head.
Backing the mic off of the head a few inches helps control the 'boom'.
 
i've been giging a non-ported kick for about a year now. some sound guys bitch (bad ones,) and i just tell them to blow. i really should invest in the internal, but that'll take some bucks. i just don't think porting for some sound guy is a reason to compensate my kick, not to mention the different feel and sound. i just don't like the rebound of a ported kick. most sound guys treat the non-port just fine, in fact, i had one guy use two mics, one in center front and one offset. that sounded pretty good.
 
Hey there,

My band member is adamant that he does not want a hole placed in the front kick head to allow for a rather large logo to be there, which in some ways I understand.

The main problem is, all the great bass drum sounds I have heard when I have been to gigs live have the hole in the front head, for a real nice deep sound with punch too as the mic can go right inside the drum.

Would this sound still be possible to achieve without the hole in the front, and where would any of you suggest the mic should be placed and will any tuning adjustments be necessary to have the sound I am looking for.

Many thanks

I would suggest looking into an internally mounted mic like the SHU or the May system stuff
 
Unless you want to spend a lot of money on an internal miking system for your bass drum, tell your mate that it's your drumkit and you'll have it how you want. Why not tell him to whack a great big sticker over his pickups instead?
 
I found through trial and error tests that on an unported BD, it sounds punchiest miked as close to the edge as you can get. I concur w/ S.C. to back it off to lessen any boom.
 
I don't have a ported head, and I get a great bass sound just by miking the center of the head.

Hmm maybe recording and live sound have 2 different techniques. Recording in the center of the reso head sounded god awful to me, all boom, no punch
 
One problem often encountered when miking the bass drum comes if the drum is fitted with a full front head. In this case, placing a mic in front of the drum will work, but it can lack the definition and isolation of placing a mic inside the drum.

But, there are a couple of options.

Firstly, miking the batter side of the drum will have more definition, while adding a second mic in front of the drum 'out of phase' (more on this shortly) will capture the ambient sound of the front head. However, the pay off for having the mic outside of the drum is more bleed from the rest of the kit and less attack than if it were placed inside.

One additional mic that can make an enormous difference to the drum's sound is a sub mic for the bass drum, and although there are ready made products out there for this purpose such as the Yamaha sub-kick, a driver from an NS10 speaker (though any mediumsized speaker should work), will achieve a very similar effect for a lot less money.

Mounted on some kind of stand and with a microphone cable connected with no ground and plugged into a regular channel with the phase reversed (simply re solder the '+' and '-' the other way around if you can't 'flip' the phase on your desk), this speaker will work as a huge dynamic mic and add serious low end to your bass drum sound.
 
Hmm maybe recording and live sound have 2 different techniques. Recording in the center of the reso head sounded god awful to me, all boom, no punch

Check out this recording from my latest session. I love the bass sound. This isn't a final mix or anything, the band still has to do overdubs, etc, and there is no mastering done to the drum sound yet.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/2oehix
 
Can't comment on the recording mrchattr, the link directed me to a music video, I'm pretty sure it wasn't what you intended me to hear. How far away from the head do you place the mic? I tried it pretty close, and didn't like it so I didn't try experimenting with further distance. Also I tried it on a 22" BD. What size BD did you use?
 
Can't comment on the recording mrchattr, the link directed me to a music video, I'm pretty sure it wasn't what you intended me to hear. How far away from the head do you place the mic? I tried it pretty close, and didn't like it so I didn't try experimenting with further distance. Also I tried it on a 22" BD. What size BD did you use?

What the heck? I'm sorry for that. Weird. I will try to figure it out. I use a 20" bass drum, as close to the mic as I can get. I do tend to tune higher than a lot of people though.
 
Thanks for all the help.

The problem is, the guy does all the mixing who is in my band and its his desk, so it is very hard to tell him otherwise that the bass drum would be better ported. The logo is a quite a large logo which goes straight in the middle of the head, so any hole either side of the head would block the logo.

The only other option would to put the hole right at the bottom of the head, and about a 4" hole. But convincing him that would be difficult, he is really set in his ways because he doesn't want the hole there.
 
I have been using an unported 22" head and a Shure Beta 52A for a year now with no complaints. I usually try to put the mic near the center and about an inch off the head. Works great for live setup. Don't know much about recording though.
 
Thanks for all the help.

The problem is, the guy does all the mixing who is in my band and its his desk, so it is very hard to tell him otherwise that the bass drum would be better ported. The logo is a quite a large logo which goes straight in the middle of the head, so any hole either side of the head would block the logo.

The only other option would to put the hole right at the bottom of the head, and about a 4" hole. But convincing him that would be difficult, he is really set in his ways because he doesn't want the hole there.

As i said, he wants to get an internal miking system and wants his precious logo, he can pay for it.
 
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