Bass drum click
- Thread starter HeadRush
- Start date
zambizzi
Platinum Member
I don't care for it but maybe that's because I'm not a metalhead. I like a nice punchy kick but the clicking seems a little weird. It definitely puts focus on the bass drum and I can see how a lot of double-kick playing would be better articulated w/ the additional click sound.
eddiehimself
Platinum Member
Yeah, a whole half step! He didn't mean E flat tuning, he meant like C and B and even lower tunings then that. I was recording a song in C tuning and it's just almost impossible to hear the bass drum without that click and what sound there is just doesn't have any attack whatsoever. It's also about fast double bass drumming, you wouldn't believe how when you start to get the speed up on double bass pedalling you can just loose all definition if your bass drum isn't tuned right. Just listen to one, the "click" is the only thing you can hear because the rest of the sound is just not fast enough to keep up with that double bass pedalling. Also the other problem is that if you still have that boom sound, when you start to play fast your poor bass player just gets completely lost in the mix. So if you have an old school bass drum you just end up in a recording with a bass drum with no attack and just a completely boomy sound at the bottom of the mix drowning out the bass guitar. It sounds terrible, trust me.
At the end of the day it's a bass DRUM and when you're talking about modern types of lower tuned/fast metal with lots of fast double bass, the DRUM definetly takes precidence over the BASS.
metal overlord
Gold Member
Exactly.
My band play's in drop A with all that low end thunder you'll never hear a bass drum.
And I still have to double mic both kicks so you can hear me.
Crazy+Hands
Senior Member
During many riffs metal guitar players pic along with the kick drums, and without extra attack they can't hear what your doing and it won't sound as tight.
Also, most drummers lead with their feet during blast beats/skanks so if you can't hear the attack of the drum, it will sound sloppy because you can't follow your "anchor" in the beat. The click of the bass drum also makes bonham-style triplet fills between the toms/snare and kick(s) sound much more cohesive and more like a roll between hands and feet.
eddiehimself
Platinum Member
It's not nesiceraly supposed to be more noticable, it's supposed to be the same really but i think because it's such a dry, tight sound compared to the other drums in a recording that it might have that effect. The reason it's so noticable i thought i'd already explained. It's because in metal it is a hugely important percussive tool. It's almost like the way the snare is used in traditional drumming but because you're using your feet it means that doubles and triples and fast rolls are no longer restricted to fills and you can keep on playing a beat above it which in conjunction with the guitars and bass gives you an extremely heavy sound when used right. That's basically the fundemental basis of heavy, fast metal music and without the very important tight, cutting sound that you get with the clicky bass drum, the music simply wouldn't be the same.
Hard one to imagine- this click! I have heard people say that DW bass drums have a thwak kinda sound maybe due to the holes near the tension lugs on the heads- I dunno! For me I prefer for rock my bass drum to sound full and thud real deep.
But like any drum set up its a matter of preferance in the end and I guess a combination of experiance, heads, wood, beater and many more variables or it could be simply they have no clue it could be better and thats all they know or are used too.
To be honest for my first 2 years learning to play the drums- tuning was not mentioned much at all.We certainly never ever had a lesson in head seating, tuning or selection. I learned all that myself with trial and error and from asking more experianced drummers advice later on in my travels- I aint proud and if it helps me why not.
But like any drum set up its a matter of preferance in the end and I guess a combination of experiance, heads, wood, beater and many more variables or it could be simply they have no clue it could be better and thats all they know or are used too.
To be honest for my first 2 years learning to play the drums- tuning was not mentioned much at all.We certainly never ever had a lesson in head seating, tuning or selection. I learned all that myself with trial and error and from asking more experianced drummers advice later on in my travels- I aint proud and if it helps me why not.
diosdude
Silver Member
When I'm playing thrash or something else as fast, there needs to be 100% articulation in the bass drums or they might become an indiscernable rumble that blends with bass guitar, especially if the band detunes to drop D or lower. Any drum smaller than bass will have frequencies that naturally cut through the mix. Back in my techno-speed-grindcore days my guitarist would lock on to my double bass like a superfast metronome. That wasn't possible unless i had my bass drums triggered out to a highly compressed sample. The result sounded like a great white shark, riding on top of an elephant, trampling and eating everything in its path.
www.myspace.com/torquemetal
www.myspace.com/torquemetal
freebirdgdw
Silver Member
I like a sort of middle ground between the rock 'thump' and the metal 'click'. It's because there's nothing like having a great big bass sound in rock music but in some faster passages with heavy guitar, you do need some separation in the sound. I like a fairly deepish sound but plenty of attack. I've got a danmar double bass pad atm but its too clicky for me and it's meant to be un-removeable 
. I think next time I'll go with one of the evans pads which is meant to enhance attack.
. I think next time I'll go with one of the evans pads which is meant to enhance attack.