Bass drum heads, muffling, etc.

Hi, i've been trying to tune my stock bass drum heads, and it feels like there's no sound in them at all. Is there any way i can put a file with some sound of it in here?
It's really just a punch from the beater you can hear, the only muffling is a rolled up towel, like Simon Phillips, the heads are tuned Medium tight. They have no wrinkles!
God i hate this. Im sick atm so i walk alone at home trying to mess with this... AND IM TIRED OF THIS! Really thinking about just ordering those new heads.
Remo Powerstroke 3 batter, and what reso? heard good stuff about that remo..

Hi!
first, you got to know which sound youre looking for. If you know that, thats a big step.
Then you take every mufflers, tapes, whatever away from your bassdrum and your heads. After that, you just tight all screws finger-tight on your batterhead.
Then, you put your finger right in the middle of the head and push it down. By tighten up the screws, you have to remove all the wrinkles.
(The more you push, the more your bassdrum will produce a higher, more responsive sound.)
Do the same thing with the reso-head.

But if you do not get the sound you wanted, i suggest to buy some new heads.
Remo's PS 3 is a really good choice for the batterhead. If you do not care about 20 $ more, Evan's GMAD is also a very good choice because of its muffling system.

For the resonanthead i would just recommend a single-plied head. If you like a white one, Remo's Coated Ambassador is a really good choice.
If you buy new ones, just put them on your drum, finger-tighten all screws and push it three or four times down to make sure, it fits perfectly to your drum. You can try this with your old heads to.
Hope, that'll help!

Helps good, But i've tried the wrinkle technique, and much else.. they keep making a "CLICK, "DACK, CLICK" Sound... which ain't really that good to me, im looking for a "BOOOM", so i won't be needing that much muffling.

I have yet to play a kit with stock heads and get the sound I want out of it. If you've tried everything you can think of, then my guess is you are on the right track with the thought of new heads. Replacing the batter alone will change EVERYTHING about your kick.

Hey man, I play around with my bass drum tuning more than any other drum. Start with the drum itself... what size is it? What's the material? What sound are you trying to achieve? Some drums just don't sing man. And some that do sing not like you want em to sing. So you muffle those ladies. But the ones who can sing, you wanna let them have their spotlight.

Take all your muffling off and knock the wood, try to hear what's coming out. Tap the shell. Tap the heads. You actually might have some dead heads on there. PS3's are standard and have muffling in em that is usually enough. Go PS3 front and back. Coated with give you warmth and character. Clear will give you clarity.

I personally like a double ply front head for added warmness and durability. It does kill the tone a little but that's okay I want a focused thud with warm overtones. I want my bass drum to sound like you're getting punched in the stomach and losing wind. I use felt strips to muffle, but that's me. I've had good results from just the standard PS3. Good luck!

My Kick is a 22' 100% Birch Yamaha Stage Custom, not coloured, the heads are some Yamaha batters and resos. 45 degrees edges as far as i remember, Wooden reifs if u can call it that, ( can't remember the right word ) also. They have 6 layer´s, words for this missing... translating from dansih -.-' pretty tough..
But well it has multiple holes for aie, which obviously makes the fell better when u have a reso with no porthole. It's overall sound was actually best without porthole, but i made one, in hope of a uber sound. ( THAT was with the stock heads, im still using )

How deep is it? What kind of beater do you use? The "click clack" sound is that initial strike and is dependent on the beater and your front head. Whatever you hear afterwards, all that resonance and overtones, are due to your reso and shell depth. The pitch depends on your size / wood / tuning.

What kind of "boom" are you looking for? Is there a kick drum on youtube that you really liked the sound of?

I really like this sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPau0eRCS8Y Maybe a little deeper tho. The beater is made of felt, and is round. Atm it sounds more like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS1_aiikwZ8&feature=related really shitty, but i have no kind of muffling like that wardrobe. i got a rolled up towel on the batter. Tuned fairly tight atm. Sizes are 22x 17, Natural wood finish. Btw! it sounds decent when i play very carefully, but when i really hammer it like i would do normally it sounds like the video listed above.

Notice the different techniques in the two videos. The first guy releases the beater while the 2nd guy is burying the beater. When you bury the beater it acts like a muffle and kills some of the resonance. By easing off after the hit, you let the drum play a more whole note. The 2nd dude is choking the drum with his beater, and with his blankets he stuffed in it.

A tight head with a lot of muffling like a towel will give you that high pitched sort of pop sound. I know it's a factory head, but what kind of head is it? Does it have a PS3 type muffle ring around the edge? I bet the 2nd guy doesn't even have a reso head on it.

Go with a dual PS3 or ebony on the reso (if you want a wetter sound). Play around with tuning. I'd avoid any type of muffling until you get your most desired sound out of the kick. Remember muffling only removes characteristics, it doesn't add new ones. So muffle to enhance a great sounding kick, not to fix a bad sounding one because it doesn't work that way. Good luck man, keep us updated.

Go to the Drum Gear section and look under Heads and Sticks and you may find your answer. It looks like this.

It's the heads... I got the Yamaha Stage Custom and their heads are, well let's just say it "cheap".

Yea, the only kit I’ve ever played where the stock heads sounded really, really good was the Mapex Saturn. Most kits come with sub-par crappy heads. A new batter head will do wonders for the sound, brother.

Ethan01 said:

Notice the different techniques in the two videos. The first guy releases the beater while the 2nd guy is burying the beater. When you bury the beater it acts like a muffle and kills some of the resonance. By easing off after the hit, you let the drum play a more whole note. The 2nd dude is choking the drum with his beater, and with his blankets he stuffed in it.

A tight head with a lot of muffling like a towel will give you that high pitched sort of pop sound. I know it's a factory head, but what kind of head is it? Does it have a PS3 type muffle ring around the edge? I bet the 2nd guy doesn't even have a reso head on it.

Go with a dual PS3 or ebony on the reso (if you want a wetter sound). Play around with tuning. I'd avoid any type of muffling until you get your most desired sound out of the kick. Remember muffling only removes characteristics, it doesn't add new ones. So muffle to enhance a great sounding kick, not to fix a bad sounding one because it doesn't work that way. Good luck man, keep us updated.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I've got to disagree about muffing - in the case of the video sound he preferred - far from removing anything, the muffling in that video pretty much defined that sound.

Talking this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPau0eRCS8Y

Look at that batter (I think, a Pinstripe) - that's a pillow or blanket pressed up against the bottom third of the head - and from the sound of it, significantly touching the front head as well. In my experience, there's no way to get THAT sound without muffling in way that is at least somewhat similar.

And personally, I don't hear that sound as anything "less" or as having anything missing. I just hear a sound quite similar to the sound used on hundreds of records, many of which I actually like.

So you say you'd "avoid any type of muffling until you get your most desired sound out of the kick" - but if the sound in the video is what he's going for, he's never going to get anywhere near it until he starts muffling. I've just never found a reason to teak and tweak the sound before getting it closer to the final ballpark.

My 2 cent, anyway.

David

At the moment i have absolutely no muffling at all, I have a towel touching the batter head, and that's basically it. It still sounds very clicky - To me. And i've also tried to hit the drum in different ways, Choking, releasing the beater after a hit... and so on.

My instructor tells me to bring in the kit at wednesday, so that's what i will do. We will then try to tune it the best we can and see if it will do any good. If not, i might replace the heads.

The tom heads, might be all right, if i get em tuned right, so i'll bring them too. Keep in mind, that this is my first kit. I don't know how to tune porpperly, only watched some vids on youtube, and anything besides the "Bob gatzen method" is shitty videos of a kid messing with blankets.

I will keep this thread up, and write back at Wednesday. Hope it will be good, because i can't afford to waste money. Even if i get the heads, i probably won't be able to tune them that great.

Thanks all! keep the replies coming. Really want to hear different methods, different views, different styles of muffling, tuning, playing etc. !

dcrigger said:

Sorry, I've got to disagree about muffing - in the case of the video sound he preferred - far from removing anything, the muffling in that video pretty much defined that sound.

Talking this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPau0eRCS8Y

Look at that batter (I think, a Pinstripe) - that's a pillow or blanket pressed up against the bottom third of the head - and from the sound of it, significantly touching the front head as well. In my experience, there's no way to get THAT sound without muffling in way that is at least somewhat similar.

And personally, I don't hear that sound as anything "less" or as having anything missing. I just hear a sound quite similar to the sound used on hundreds of records, many of which I actually like.

So you say you'd "avoid any type of muffling until you get your most desired sound out of the kick" - but if the sound in the video is what he's going for, he's never going to get anywhere near it until he starts muffling. I've just never found a reason to teak and tweak the sound before getting it closer to the final ballpark.

My 2 cent, anyway.

David

Click to expand...

Hey man I agree with you, though it's a PS3 on the batter not pinstripe. He does have quite a bit of muffling inside. I guess I didn't make my point clear in my previous post... I meant try to get the most desired sound outta the drum without any muffling. Then, enhance that sound with muffling according to taste.

The only muffling in that Video is a towel touching the batter. Nothing else.. I want it about the same way. seems good.