Bass drum muffling

drummingman

Gold Member
I have a pretty open bass drum. Just a little bit of muffling. I worry that even though it's loud I worry that when I do faster double bass that it may be muddy sounding. So I've been thinking about putting a good sized pillow in it for more thump and less boom. Any thoughts about any of this? Just wondering what others perspective is on this topic.
 
I like my bass drums with nothing inside. Boom !
I use an Evans Emad or Aquarian Super Kick batter head. Sometimes I have a strip of felt behind the reso head to shorten the sustain.

One of my bass drums has a front port. And when I want a thud sound (shorter note) I stuff a pillow through the port and into the drum.
Yes, sometimes ya just gotta have that short note, bass drum "thump". Hopefully, for that sound, the bass drum will be miked.


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Long notes don't work at fast tempos. Metal guys muffle their kicks.

The "When the Levee Breaks" huge kick sound is awesome, but it would never work with a fast roll.

I don't see the big deal. Put the pillow in, if you hate it then take it out.
 
Long notes don't work at fast tempos. Metal guys muffle their kicks.

The "When the Levee Breaks" huge kick sound is awesome, but it would never work with a fast roll.

I don't see the big deal. Put the pillow in, if you hate it then take it out.

^^^^spot on advice right there!
 
I have a pretty open bass drum. Just a little bit of muffling. I worry that even though it's loud I worry that when I do faster double bass that it may be muddy sounding. So I've been thinking about putting a good sized pillow in it for more thump and less boom. Any thoughts about any of this? Just wondering what others perspective is on this topic.



Im going to give you my BD muffling secret, but promise you won't tell anyone. Shhhhhhhhh, mum's the word k?




Mount the pillow from the top. This leaves the bottom of the drum bare wood (or so is desired), the pillow will hang down and rest against the head, gravity will aid the pillows movement when engaged by the head, its the bestest gate effect ever in bass drum pillowdom.


Use a pillow that's not too wide, a 'standard' works on a 20" kick and really well on a 22, a standard leaves a gap 3/4 of the way around the drum (cept' where the pillow is of course). The bare bottom makes it sound bloody ace, much better than the pillow resting on the bottom of the shell.

Dehead the batter, turn the BD over bottom side up, mount the pillow. I use 20 ga wire, it easily pierces the pillow cover and can be pushed thru the fill material. I attach the wire to the two lug screws under the pillow, one piece is all you need. Rehead... booom!
 
Im going to give you my BD muffling secret, but promise you won't tell anyone. Shhhhhhhhh, mum's the word k?




Mount the pillow from the top. This leaves the bottom of the drum bare wood (or so is desired), the pillow will hang down and rest against the head, gravity will aid the pillows movement when engaged by the head, its the bestest gate effect ever in bass drum pillowdom.


Use a pillow that's not too wide, a 'standard' works on a 20" kick and really well on a 22, a standard leaves a gap 3/4 of the way around the drum (cept' where the pillow is of course). The bare bottom makes it sound bloody ace, much better than the pillow resting on the bottom of the shell.

Dehead the batter, turn the BD over bottom side up, mount the pillow. I use 20 ga wire, it easily pierces the pillow cover and can be pushed thru the fill material. I attach the wire to the two lug screws under the pillow, one piece is all you need. Rehead... booom!

That sounds interesting. You wouldn't have any pics would you?
 
Long notes don't work at fast tempos. Metal guys muffle their kicks.

Yes. Articulation is the name of the game with doubles, and the sound usually takes a back seat.

There is a semi-solution, which is to tape a half-dollar coin (or old school: piece of plywood) to the beater spot on the head, and gain enough attack to balance the boom of an open kick. It's not ideal, but it's better than expecting to hear fast kick notes from a boomy drum with a normal beater.

Bermuda
 
^^^^spot on advice right there!]
Long notes don't work at fast tempos. Metal guys muffle their kicks.

The "When the Levee Breaks" huge kick sound is awesome, but it would never work with a fast roll.

I don't see the big deal. Put the pillow in, if you hate it then take it out.


I used to have a heck of a time trying to sneak in some double bass. Previously, my reso was a non ported WeatherKing Coated Ambassador that sported a four inch felt strip. It sounded great, but no control inherent with too much bounce and no articulation.

Here is a Remo Powerstroke P4 Coated reso-head with a three inch flat port bottom left. The batter is a WeatherKing Coated Emperor with a thin fiberglass beater plate, centered. Although you are hearing one beater, both Bomber's have their outer sheepskin coatings removed exposing their hard felt. Best I've tried so far.
 
I've used just about everything in over 20 years of drumming (pillows, egg crate mattress, Remo muffling rings, tape, etc.).

Now? I use the plain ol' Evans EMAD. IMO, it doesn't get any better.
 
I used to use a tip I read about from super-awesome drummer Russel Kunkel:

- cut a rectangular piece of light spongy foam about 4" W x 3" high and long enough to 'just' touch the reso and batter head when you lay it across the bottom.

- used that for many years - until I lost my piece of foam. Now I just throw my laundry in! (okay a towel in roughly the same shape)
 
Im going to give you my BD muffling secret, but promise you won't tell anyone. Shhhhhhhhh, mum's the word k?




Mount the pillow from the top. This leaves the bottom of the drum bare wood (or so is desired), the pillow will hang down and rest against the head, gravity will aid the pillows movement when engaged by the head, its the bestest gate effect ever in bass drum pillowdom.


Use a pillow that's not too wide, a 'standard' works on a 20" kick and really well on a 22, a standard leaves a gap 3/4 of the way around the drum (cept' where the pillow is of course). The bare bottom makes it sound bloody ace, much better than the pillow resting on the bottom of the shell.

Dehead the batter, turn the BD over bottom side up, mount the pillow. I use 20 ga wire, it easily pierces the pillow cover and can be pushed thru the fill material. I attach the wire to the two lug screws under the pillow, one piece is all you need. Rehead... booom!

If I was going to muffle a bass drum, this is how I would do it. I'm just pissed off I didn't think of it. Capital idea.
 
Long notes don't work at fast tempos. Metal guys muffle their kicks.

The "When the Levee Breaks" huge kick sound is awesome, but it would never work with a fast roll.

I don't see the big deal. Put the pillow in, if you hate it then take it out.

I wonder about this. Simon Phillips, from his first DVD back in the 90s, used two bass drums with just a rolled up towel taped against a regular clear ambassador and used a wide open redo front head with a small hole for the mic. He even said when playing double bass, to not play them so hard as that rumbling sound would just over-power everything else. So, if that is true, could you play double bass using a lighter technique to let the drums speak on their own?

I get the extreme metal guys totally damping and even triggering electronic bass drum sounds to get that machine gun effect, but that's on that end of the spectrum. If you're a middle-of-the-road double bassist, lightening up your technique would do wonders towards hearing all the bass drum strokes, no? Or is playing lighter asking for too much?
 
I generally don't muffle bass drum, the Evans EQ4 /EQ1 is enough for me, but when needed, I only use an old t-shirt. Either touching the front skin or the batter.
I also used that light, yet efficient enough, type of muffling before the pre-muffled PS or EQ.
Ported front always, 4/5". Can't play with a full front.

Really don't need heavy muffling, pillow or whool cover, to get the slap. Filling the drum too much lowers projection and volume.
 
If you look at what, say, Simon Phillips does, and what Dave Weckl does, it's apparent that they do what they need to do in order to get the sound they want. I think this applies to every drummer. We all manipulate our drums to sound a certain way.

Muffle, or not, your kick to your tastes.

When I play live with no mic in the kick, everything comes out. When I record, I place a few small pillows in an arrangement that gives a low, tight thump.

Just last week, I tuned my 16" bubinga floor tom as low as possible and still have resonance. The tone & pitch was perfect but it resonated too long for the recording, so I applied gaffer's tape to the outside of the reso head to shorten the decay. It worked perfectly.
 
if your bass is smaller than 24" i don't think you need a pillow. as the OP said .. try an aquarian batter head instead.
 
My preferred bass drum set up is an Aquarian Superkick 1 coated or clear. Coated being my preferred head but the clear will do in a pinch. The Superkick 2 is far too dead. The coated Superkick 3 is really nice as well, especially for Rock gigs. The dot in the Center really focussed the attack. I use a single ply resonant preferably without a port. I will ocassionally add a felt strip on the resonant side.

My other preference is for a Remo PS3 coated with the Remo Dave Weckl adjustable bass drum muffling system and a smooth white Remo PS3 resonant side.

A small rolled up towel placed between the bass drum posts and the bottom of the batter head is another great way to muffle drums quickly.
 
I have a pretty open bass drum. Just a little bit of muffling. I worry that even though it's loud I worry that when I do faster double bass that it may be muddy sounding. So I've been thinking about putting a good sized pillow in it for more thump and less boom. Any thoughts about any of this? Just wondering what others perspective is on this topic.

Everyone puts too much muffling in their kicks, even the metal guys. Muffling kills volume like crazy, even if it sounds "better," so for metal, you want to be careful cause metal should be loud. I'm not saying don't muffle. I'm saying think about a couple other things first.

What head are you using? Did you pick one that is inherently very dry like an EQ2 or an EMAD or GMAD? If not, go buy the right head.

Have you tuned it right? Tune it way down, loser than you think it should be, basically to the point where the head just barely loses it's wrinkles. In fact, if you see a wrinkle or two, it still might sound better. Just play it and see. Make sure you're also using a ported reso that is also tuned low.

Are you using the right beater? For fast metal, you should probably be using wood or hard plastic, just like the sticks you use on every other element of your set. Felt is not gonna work. Tama makes a great wood-tipped beater for like $18 bucks. You might consider investing in one. There are plenty of other more expensive options as well.

Only after all these other considerations should you consider muffling. Even then, use it sparingly. Why use a pillow that kills volume by blocking airflow when you can buy sticky weather stripping for the same price and put just a little bit on the inside of your head? Then you've got muffling, a good thud, but also volume and beefyness. Experiment with where you put the weatherstripping on the head. Move it from the outside edge to the middle until you find the right sound.
 
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Everyone puts too much muffling in their kicks, even the metal guys. Muffling kills volume like crazy, even if it sounds "better," so for metal, you want to be careful cause metal should be loud.

Muffling kills volume, but metal is virtually always miced if not triggered.

Volume isn't really the prime consideration at extreme speed, it seems.
 
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