Bass drum tuning

Seeker of Rock

Seeker of Rock

The One and Only
Is having a little more tension on your kick heads a bad thing? I was reading up on bass drum tuning and saw recommendations to leave them as relatively loose. I tuned my drums yesterday and gave the bass a little extra tension than before and I kind of like it.

I haven't re-mic'd it since retuning, but are there any drawbacks to close-micing a bass drum with its heads tuned a little tighter?
 
Well if you like the sound of it now, try it miced up.
What sound are you looking for? There is no single "right way" to tune your drums. It depends on what you like. What heads do you have on it out of curiosity?
Do you want a meat slap sound? Boomy, dry sound? Cannon sound? :D

Yes, tuning the heads looser is good for a nice meat slap style sound on the kick. I had my kick drum head pretty tight for the longest time, I guess I liked how it sounded, even though it was very mediocre. I have a terrible stock head on it for making it sound good other than a meat slap sound. I still use it, but tuned it looser for that sound because it's the best I can get with the head at the moment.

Good luck, and I would do some comparison tests with how it sounds loose versus more tightened up. :)
 
I have the Aquarian SuperKick II beater/reso combo on it. I like the sound of it now, but was watching an Evans video earlier where the guy said to tune kick as loose as you can get it and I'm just wondering why.
 
Seeker of Rock said:
I have the Aquarian SuperKick II beater/reso combo on it. I like the sound of it now, but was watching an Evans video earlier where the guy said to tune kick as loose as you can get it and I'm just wondering why.
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Because like that you get a deep thud without a ton of resonance. Most tom-like drums sound best when they're tuned to their lowest clean pitch.
 
Semi OT

As a starting point, should I be using a pillow on the inside shell of my bass drum? The PDP kit came with a novel little pillow complete with velcro to adhere it to, but from a micing point (inside from an offset hole) I'm wondering if what the standard practice for this is, if there is one.
 
The pillow is to keep the head from resonating forever. If you need it, use it.

Little pillows, like the one you are describing, work great for their intended purpose. Just don't fill the kick drum up with a closet full of blankets and pillows.
 
Farview said:
The pillow is to keep the head from resonating forever. If you need it, use it.

Little pillows, like the one you are describing, work great for their intended purpose. Just don't fill the kick drum up with a closet full of blankets and pillows.
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Hey Farview, how's it going man? Yeah, I won't go stuffing my kick full of shredded OC703 or anything newbie like that, but I may switch that tiny little hamster pillow out for a standard bed pillow.
 
The less pillow, the better. You just need a tiny bit touching either or both heads to make a big difference.
 
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