I'm sorry if I've let anyone down

M

Matt Bo Eder

Guest
It's funny how, now that I'm no longer playing in a situation where I need to project to the back of house on my own without amplification while playing against a keyboardist who is pumping through 1500 watts of power, and a guitarist who's using his Fender Twin on the "100W" setting, I no longer feel the need to tune high and cut through everything.

My last update with the new band I'm subbing for Bermuda in has me tuned down and using PowerStroke4 heads and going for this Eagle's vibe, and it's working out really well. I've gotten into the blend nowadays, and I'm not really killing myself to be heard anymore and I'm really enjoying it.

But I must further apologize to my live drumming brethren, because today I've actually installed ported heads on both Ludwig kits. With the set-up of my new recording gear, I'm going with the hole. My recordings will be a lot cleaner now.

Perhaps this is just a phase, because I know I can get a great sound with ambassadors top and bottom and a non-ported bass drum. But in a mic'ed situation, lower tones are really working out. Thuddy bass drum sound is working out too. My sound may be the antithesis of the Buddy Rich/John Bonham vibe, but I think it's time for a change. I've had to do that sound with my live work for the last 30 years. Now that my live work is changing, my sound can too.

Sorry everybody ;)
 
I'm so very disappointed in you Bo!

(But it sounds like you had a good reason to go off the reservation.)

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Funny you should mention the ports on the BD. I have been using primarily unported bass drums tuned Bonham-esque for years now, and I LOVE the sound. But recently I have been jonesing for the sound of a 24" kick with a black dot batter, a ported reso, and a fair amount of muffling. I listened to Red Barchetta from Exit Stage Left and remembered how much I dug that sound back then.

Maybe it's all cyclical.

In any case, as long as you buy some new stuff now and then so I can live vicariously, I won't be too disappointed.
 
I use a ported bass drum head sometimes, even though I can achieve just about every sound I need just from tuning with a full resonant head & nothing inside the drum (including a dampened thud sound). The reason I go ported for some applications is more playing style related & gig context than anything else.
 
I use a ported bass drum head sometimes, even though I can achieve just about every sound I need just from tuning with a full resonant head & nothing inside the drum (including a dampened thud sound). The reason I go ported for some applications is more playing style related & gig context than anything else.

Maybe it's more of a Simon Phillips ported sound. I'm doing exactly what he did back in his DVD - there's a very small blanket touching the bottom of the batter and the front a bit, and the port is just big enough to get the mic into it. It's a bit more controlled as opposed to the open sound, maybe bordering on thuddy? Simon has a nice combination of the two sounds and I think that's what I'm ending up with. I'm not using as much internal muffling as one would think, but to me it's definitely a lot. Maybe as I get more "Steve Gadd-like" in my mentality, I'll start putting more stuffing in there ;)

I'm looking forward to some recording experiments I have planned.
 
Branded was a great show.. i worked midnights in a gas station in '88 at 18.. and would bring in a tiny tv and one of the shows that was on late night was branded and also the Avengers (not this comic book crap.. but the real thing) great shows..
 
And to top off the change, I'm abandoning the P-85 strainer on my Supras and have gone third-party. I am so sorry. My condolences ;)

The frumpy drumheads, the port, you're still OK, if and when you buy a ROLAND SuperNATURAL-powered TD-30KV V-Pro electric kit and a JBL SRX15 and use them on your live gigs exclusively, that's when we'll recommend you get some treatment, a 12 step program etc.
 
The frumpy drumheads, the port, you're still OK, if and when you buy a ROLAND SuperNATURAL-powered TD-30KV V-Pro electric kit and a JBL SRX15 and use them on your live gigs exclusively, that's when we'll recommend you get some treatment, a 12 step program etc.

I already had a TD-10 kit that I declared was the most expensive practice kit I've ever owned. That obviously didn't last. The 80s for me, will stay in the 80s. No need for the 12-step program ;)
 
Now THAT is cool!! ........

Yeah it was pretty cool. When I was 14 years old my Dad turns on our old black and white TV and says watch this! It was the beginning of a new TV series, and he says, "that first drummer is me!" And so every Sunday night I would watch the beginning of that show. Sometimes I even watched the whole show..... LOL


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TD-10? Well... its no TD 30KV, which I can tell you is pretty awesome. And with todays monitoring, holly crap! About the same amount of time to set up as an acoustic set too. TD has come a long way.

This was back when the TD-10 was the $%&t, before the 20 even came out. That's another pet peeve about the eKits, I suppose - they're always being upgraded, and like a computer, you're forced to upgrade. Acoustic drums don't suffer this - it's all in how you play.
 
Does the ported head feel different? I really like the rebound with a non ported reso. It feels more lively.

I watched some of that Simon Phillips tuning video recently. Very impressive how he gets such a great sound with so little effort. I cringed when he stood on the heads to stretch them out.
 
Does the ported head feel different? I really like the rebound with a non ported reso. It feels more lively.

I watched some of that Simon Phillips tuning video recently. Very impressive how he gets such a great sound with so little effort. I cringed when he stood on the heads to stretch them out.

Yeah, I do the stand on the head bit too - it does really help and speed up the seating process. With such a smallish hole and not so much muffling, it doesn't feel outrageously different. I think I struck a nice balance.

My blue sparkle kit will feel more dead, because that head has a bigger hole in it - I'm going to be recording with it this coming Tuesday so it gets the quickie-pillow-in-the-drum treatment.
 
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