Bass Drum Head

[peeler]

What's the best bass drum head to buy strickly for recording purposes? Anyone like the pre-muffled heads? Which should I buy: Remo, Evans, Aquarian, Studio-X?? Others? THanks.

[pisces7378]

I like REMO myself. Bass drum heads are no way nearly as important as, for example snare heads. Now please do not think I mean they are not important at all. A $5 head you got from your little brother's Sears drum kit will sound like shit and break. I will say that "pre-muted" heads are (in my humble opinion) a marketing ploy that is just retarded in it's conception. I realize that 6th graders that are starting their first day of band class in Grammer school do not know so much about drums and need help. but Anyone that can afford one of those pre muted heads should be old enough to know that Every drummer is diffrent and every style of music has a diffrent sound and every room has diffrent acoustics. And besides, how can you deny yourself the pleasure of the laughs you get when people realize that you mute your kick drum with an old jeans jacket with a half torn off Guns N Roses patch on the back and a Whinny the Pooh Sleeping bag? I am not a fan of over muted drums at all. Especially when recording. A kick drum is quick and can sound dead enough without filling it full of shit. It can't ring out like a tin wash tub on it's side. But I always hate to hear an amature demo to hear the hallmark, "doop doop doop" instead of "doom doom doom". (Pardon my childish language, but it is true). Stick with clear heads when possible so that you can see what is going on inside your kick drum. That is if you have two solid heads and not a hole in your outer head. Or no head at all. Both are possibislities. None are better or worse only diffrent. Experiment with EVERYTHING. Life is too short to be lazy and compromise your soud just because you were too lazy to tune your kick drum. I think the tunning and muting is much more important than the head brand when it comes to kick drums. Don't buy the cheapest one but don't be fooled by fancy slogans and endorcements. Don't buy a Tommy Lee series just because you like Mötley Crüe. Microphone placement and microphone type is also terribly important. Experiment and experiment more.

Mike

P.S. Who in the hell is our president? I am living in Munich Germany at the moment and don't speak so much German and can't tell shit from Sour kraut on the news.

[flier]

I really like the Remo PowerStroke 3, it seems to make even a crappy kick drum sound pretty good.

--Lee

[Tim Brown]

Originally posted by pisces7378


Mike

P.S. Who in the hell is our president? I am living in Munich Germany at the moment and don't speak so much German and can't tell shit from Sour kraut on the news.

Hi Mike, I agree.. AND, IU'm in Florida, and I STILL don't know who thje President is! hahaha
I think GOre and LIEberman are going to whine their way into office.
I'm for Bush, only because he at least is Pro Gun.

I mean as much as all these Celebs whine about "we the peons/commoners" owning guns, are their bodyguards gonna give up guns? I don't think so!

Okay, Off my soapbox.

Tim

[Diragor]

I love the Evans Retro head kit - it has a two-ply batter head, a screen for the front head and a little adjustable pillow muffler that velcros to the shell inside. I put a kick pad on the batter head and use plastic beaters and the whole package sounds kickass.

Here's a short sample for ya - a cheesy Rob Zombie style ripoff tune I just whipped up for a local LAN gaming group. It's mono, a little bass guitar heavy and the guitar sounds muffled, but you get the idea. You can hear the kick well in the verse. It's been EQ'd here, but the natural sound is very good live as well as recorded.

http://aisle4.pair.com/files/teamlan.mp3

Mike, if you haven't heard yet, the Florida votes have been certified and Bush is the president elect, at least for the moment. Gore is apparently not done with the legal protests, so we'll see what happens.