How do you want your bass drum to sound?

How do you Want your bass drum to sound?

  • Dry, punchy thud

    Votes: 15 60.0%

  • Attack, pitch and resonance

    Votes: 8 32.0%

  • Michael Jackson beating on drum case

    Votes: 1 4.0%

  • prunes

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Total voters
    25
bassbrad

bassbrad

New member
As Drummers: How do you want your bass drum to sound? I'm caught in a bit of a battle between a "producer" and band at the moment over the bass drum sounds. The producer insists on the dead impact sound ala Michael Jackson beating on a drum case (his example), that mid 80's 90's compressed puh sound all impact no resonance. The band really prefers the sound i am getting, it actually sounds like the drummers kit-plenty of punch and impact but you can actually hear the pitch & resonance of the kit including the bass drums. This particular drummer plays double bass, has switchable beaters and mufflers and changes the sounds from song to song, IMO it really add a flavor to each song. For the 1st mix I just compressed the bass drums a touch but allowed the sound to resonate very naturally, the band loved it but the "producer" criticized the sound. So I did a 2nd mix by gating the bass drums to just hear the impact, the band and i hate that mix, since we are used to hearing the resonance of the bass drums, something musical is really missing.
So what do you think?
Suggestions and examples:
 
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I'm not really a fan of those choices. Where's the big fucking bass drum option? Zep fans will not be happy.

I like having a deep round, but not too resonant bass drum. Just enough high end to cut through, but not clicky. I prefer my bass guitar to be the punchy instrument in the lower end of the spectrum.
 
It depends. Sometimes I like a nice resonant airy bass drum. I'm not a great clicky fan, but I can live with it if the rest of the sound is dense. In the main, I like a low, thuddy BOODOOF that punches you in the solar plexus. But as I've recently thought about the different snare sounds I like, so I've been doing so with the bass drum. It's interesting that on sooooo many songs that I really love, I'm not particularly thrilled with the bass drum. But I don't care. Love them ditties.
 
Like a basketball. A ten-ton basketball bouncing on the Moon. If the Moon had 1/1000 of its gravity. And was made of polished hardwood.
 
I want it to sound like a powerful thud that makes the sound of your heart in your ears pounding after great sex sound shallow by comparison.
yeah, kinda like that! :cool:
 
I want that Bonham thud sound. Right now I am just using two condensers and a kick mic. It doesn't sound too bad but would love some pointers to get that Zep sound I am looking for.
 
Bonham sounded great because he could tune. And because of the way he played.

Its actually not that hard to get the former, so I'd concentrate on that. Learn how he tuned his drums (info is all over the internet, so its easy to find). The feel is a whole 'nother ball game.

Its so funny how people always want Bonham's bass drum sound, yet they buy 20x18" bass drums. Yeah, he had a massive bass drum sound....with 14" depth!
 
You've got to match it to the song and the genre.

But typically I want the bass drum to be as low as possible, and sort of like the word "TUG!". It's comprised of two elements, the "T" sound when the beater hits the head and the "UG!" sounds which is the whole drum resonating.

I really don't like the lightweight "all treble" kick drums on drum machines of the past. Some have the same sound and weight as a fingersnap. Almost always when I use a kick drum sample I have to seriously roll the top off with some shelving eq.

I've been using a 26" 70's Slingerland with a calf batter and huge lambswool beater and it sounds like a subwoofer. It's the same pitch as thunder and musicians love it. It's been good for jazz, Hawaiian and Elvis gigs. For loud gigs it wouldn't cut it and it actually sounds the best when you play it really soft so you can more hear than feel it. It's beauty gets lost when you record it though, it's better live.
 
I like a smaller or shallower bass drum tuned just a bit more loosely than it would prefer. I like to hear a bit of beater attack, a good punchy thud, but it still has to have a little resonance to it.

I want it all. All the time.
 
There are many bass drum size and design available in markets. Bass drum have three major type instrument. Its sound quality is good like effective and attractive to every one.
 
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