Kickdrum tunnel???

[MartyMcFly]

I have heard about these kick drum tunnels for recording before. I understand the basic theory behind it. I was just wondering what the best materials are for making one? Does any company makes these and sell them? I checked the drum archives and I saw nothing...Someone please fill me in...

[RideTheCrash]

I remember reading here that some artist, who's name escapes me at the moment, used chicken wire to construct it for the actual tunnel, what they covered it with, I don't know.

[MartyMcFly]

I mean...do you use cardboard, blankets or what? I thought it was a pretty common practice....

[Gidge]

Ive always heard to use blankets...just set up like 2 chairs or two mic booms and drape the blanket from the kick to the chair/booms......

[RideTheCrash]

I usually just chuck a thick blanket over my bass and bring it out some.

[Chrisjob]

On Nirvana's Nevermind, Butch Vig used a tunnel of cymbals..

[fenix]

now...cymbals are relatively flat. How in the hell do you make a tunnel out of cymbals?

[fenix]

looks like I stumped ya.

[Tom Hicks]

I have tried it also. I put a straight-back chair in front of the kick drum, with a blanket over it. Another way I tried it was to construct the tunnel from sofa cushions. The theory is that the extra distance lets the sound sorta "bloom" and you don't get that clicky sound as when you mic right on the beater.

[coloradojay]

The theory behind it is that lower frequencies have longer wavelengths. It takes 100 Hz something like 4 meters to fully propagate (if I remember my physics correctly).

Example: I had a totally out of hand stereo in my car back in high school (90-92 before they were every-freakin-where). My 15" subwoofer was capable of playing notes that you couldn't *hear* inside the car, yes you could feel it, but not hear. As you walked back from the car a certain distance you could find a place where the sub-bass notes became audible. So the sub-bass notes sounded loud and clear once the wave form had adiquate distance to propagate (like in neighbor's houses), but just felt like vibration when you were too close to the speaker. Same thing must apply to the kick drum.

I haven't tried this technique, and my room gives me pretty stellar boom right now, but my curiousity is up, so I'm going to have to give it a whirl.

So really any way that you could give the wave some distance to bounce around without being spread out too much should serve this purpose.

Some companies like DW offer a slave drum radiator (not sure what they are really called), that bolt on to the front of the bass drum. Same concept, I guess, but more practical for live applications.

As for a tunnel of cymbals- I guess you could tape them into a V shape, but at $200+ a pop, I'm pretty sure I could find cheaper materials.

[Tim Brown]

Originally posted by coloradojay
The theory behind it is that lower frequencies have longer wavelengths. It takes 100 Hz something like 4 meters to fully propagate (if I remember my physics correctly).

Example: I had a totally out of hand stereo in my car back in high school (90-92 before they were every-freakin-where). My 15" subwoofer was capable of playing notes that you couldn't *hear* inside the car, yes you could feel it, but not hear. As you walked back from the car a certain distance you could find a place where the sub-bass notes became audible. So the sub-bass notes sounded loud and clear once the wave form had adiquate distance to propagate (like in neighbor's houses), but just felt like vibration when you were too close to the speaker. Same thing must apply to the kick drum.

That's it precisely!
Think about it, when you go up to a club, what;s the first thing that you hear?
It's the bass, because the frequencies are longer.

The Tunnel does two things - it "traps" the bass signal, and it keeps other things (cymbals, toms, snare, etc.) out if you make it "heavy" (i.e., use several blankets) enough.

It takes 10' for a 100hz wave to fully form, the waves are 10' from peak to peak.

I was the one who posted about the chicken wire and casefoam tunnel...the artist was Joe Jackson....they recorded a live record back in the 80's and that was the first time I'd ever heard of the tunnel being used.

My brother's band had a CD produced by David Briggs (recorded early Alice Cooper and almost all of Neil Young's stuff - he was NY's live soundman)....and he built one for my brother's band's CD.


Tim

[coloradojay]

Cool Tim,

Could you give more details on the Chicken wire and foam setup? How long is the tunnel? Is it the same diameter as the kick, or bigger? Or maybe just post a link to your old thread if you already eplained the construction.


BTW- I love Joe Jackson. Isn't he touring again? Does that mean new album, or just old stuff?

[MartyMcFly]

I dont understand why there arent companies out there that make them. I'd buy one...

[coloradojay]

Originally posted by coloradojay

Some companies like DW offer a slave drum radiator (not sure what they are really called), that bolt on to the front of the bass drum. Same concept, I guess, but more practical for live applications.

Check one out! They are way boomier than a regular 2 head kick.

[Tim Brown]

Originally posted by coloradojay
Cool Tim,

Could you give more details on the Chicken wire and foam setup? How long is the tunnel? Is it the same diameter as the kick, or bigger? Or maybe just post a link to your old thread if you already eplained the construction.


BTW- I love Joe Jackson. Isn't he touring again? Does that mean new album, or just old stuff?

Well, the way that they made their tunnel, was they made a chickenwire "tunnel" that was 24" in diameter. and 36" long.

The guy was using a 22" Kick.
Then, the lined the inside of it with 2" thick foam, then they stuck this over the end of the kick drum, so that the end of the drum was completely inside of the foam ...probably 2" or 3" inside...

Then they covered the whole thing with those old type of U-hail quilted sound/packing blankets.
(You can get them online for $20 each.)


I was just watching Linkin Park on TV today (they had them in th studio....I don't really care for them, but there it was ...the kick tunnel in front of the kick drum....and it was 3 or 4 feet long....My guess is the longer that you make the tunnel, the low it will go in pitch (since in some ways, it would be like a resonantor on a pipe organ....although, it wouldn't actually "resonate" but simply contain the sound. It also lowers the amount of kick in your overheads.

You are better off using 2 mic;s if you do this...I'd just put a 57 or it's equivalent right on the mallet spot, and then put something else in the end of the tunnel...perhaps even a decent LD condenser.



Tim