trouble tuning my bass drum..

S

sirslurpee

What does THIS button do?
I'm having trouble getting my bass drum to sound good... I was wondering if you guys can help me out maybe...

So on the batter side I have an evans emad. I'm using the smaller muffling ring because I think the big one takes all the boom out of it and I don't like the sound.

For the resonant side, I have 4 different heads I can use. I have an aquarian regulator, Remo powerstroke III (w/ hole in the middle (sounds like piss)), a Remo fiberskyn 3 FA Bass, and the stock PDP batter side painted black with some sick ass jack-knife carved hole in it that sounds so bad its not even worth mentioning i have it let alone actually letting it take up space in my "studio"..

Anyway, the only time I got it to sound halfway decent is when I had the fiberskyn on it.. I finger-tightened both heads, then started tuning the resonant side. I was turning the lugs in small incriments and it actually took quite a bit of tension to get it to really come out and sound good. Once I got it around where I thought it sounded best, i went to the batter side and tuned it in small incriments. I used a bass beater off my pedal to strike the drum while I tuned it up, so it would give me a good idea of the sound, and I didn't have to tighten it very much.. maybe 2 full turns or so.
The drum sounded great on the front side of the kit, but it didn't sound very good behind the kit. Also sometimes I bury the beater and it didn't sound good unless I released it and let it resonate completely.

But anyway, everyone swears that a hole in the reso head is better.. and I was thinking about it, do you think maybe I should try to get a hole-less head like a remo ambassador or an aquarian force II? I think if I'm going to get a different head I want a really thin resonant head to pair with my batter head... I want it to be really boomy with a lot of punch.
I have a friend who has a ludwig kit and he has an emad/stock ludwig holeless batter and his bass drum sounds amazing to me.

Also, I miked it when I had the fiberskyn.. about 2 and a half feet in front of it, and it sounded pretty good.. it really came through in the overheads and I didn't have to EQ it or anything to get it to sound good tracked.. So I don't think I really have to have a hole to mic it.
 
Bass drum was the easiest of all the drums to get sounding good for me.

I have an Aquarian Super Kick II on the batter and an Aquarian Force II on the resonant side. Tuned almost as loose as I can get them, reso side a little tighter, mic'ed with a Shure Beta52 about 4" from the mallet, the entire drum covered with a blanket, then an LDC in front of the blanket(equi-distant). Blend to taste.
 
sirslurpee said:
Also, I miked it when I had the fiberskyn.. about 2 and a half feet in front of it, and it sounded pretty good.. .
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Not sure what sound you're looking for, but unless you get a good mic right up on the mallet strike inside of the drum, you're not going to get that 'click' that cuts through the mix.

Unless you trigger or Drumagog it.
 
nah actually i got enough "click" from the overheads.. i really was looking for the "boom" from the kick mic... but it wasn't "boomy" enough..
 
sirslurpee said:
nah actually i got enough "click" from the overheads.. i really was looking for the "boom" from the kick mic... but it wasn't "boomy" enough..
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The second mic in front of the covered drum gives me the boom.

100 ways to skin a cat though.
 
haha i guess my question is wtf am I doing wrong? honestly, I think I'm gonna see if the guy at the 'local' drum shop will let me bring my bass drum in and maybe help me tune it with the right heads and such... it just sucks cuz I guess the characteristics of my room are so different from what are normal.. and cuz I have a very bad perception of tone. I'm okay with pitch, but tone is hard for me to hear..
 
sirslurpee said:
But anyway, everyone swears that a hole in the reso head is better.. and I was thinking about it, do you think maybe I should try to get a hole-less head like a remo ambassador or an aquarian force II? I think if I'm going to get a different head I want a really thin resonant head to pair with my batter head... I want it to be really boomy with a lot of punch.
Click to expand...

A hole in the head does not "sound" better, it merely gives more options for miking (and reduces the rebound/bounce of the beater). I have fiberskyns on both sides of my bass drum (no holes) with a small pillow just touching the batter head inside. I tune both heads to the same pitch (pretty high) and mic outiside the reso head with an RE20. Lots of boom/punch. I use a vintage bomber beater, so I don't get much attack, but that's the way I like it.
 
I find often when people want "boom" they translate that into loosening the skin. But it's possible for the skin to be too loose to really give you anything. Kind of like loosening a bass string until it's just farting out. At some point, it's not resonating. Many times, when I couldn't get a good low "boom" from my kik, I found tuning up a little bit actually gave it some resonance.

I'm not saying that's your solution, but it could be worth looking into.
 
Thanks rami.. i've been actually experimenting with tuning it up like you said... it seems that as I go up there really isn't a 'sweet spot'... it gets to a certain pitch and then the overtones start to really come out and it doesn't sound right.

It's funny because I put the same batter/reso head combo on my dad's kick drum and tuned that for him and it came out great.. but his kit is also like 400 times better than mine too...
 
sirslurpee said:
Thanks rami.. i've been actually experimenting with tuning it up like you said... it seems that as I go up there really isn't a 'sweet spot'... it gets to a certain pitch and then the overtones start to really come out and it doesn't sound right.

It's funny because I put the same batter/reso head combo on my dad's kick drum and tuned that for him and it came out great.. but his kit is also like 400 times better than mine too...
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Hey Slurp- just a shot in the dark, but maybe you need to inspect the bearing edges on your bass drum?
 
sirslurpee said:
it seems that as I go up there really isn't a 'sweet spot'... it gets to a certain pitch and then the overtones start to really come out and it doesn't sound right.
Click to expand...

Maybe you need to experiment with some dampening. Try throwing a pillow or blanket in there which should help get rid of any ringing echo like overtones that may be bothering you. I've gotten my best results with thick REMO heads and egg crate foam around the entire inner surface of the BD. It does sacrifice some sustain I suppose but it also made the drum sound really solid and thumpy.
 
You say your mate uses Ludwig and Aquarian, and you want your kit (I'm assuming it's shit but you didn't specify) to sound great using an Evans head? There's your problem. I use a Ludwig and it just tunes itself, and i dont really even have to play it...

Also, you say your kit sounds good from in front, why does it matter how it sounds to you?
 
I don't use a front head, place a D112 about 1 inch from the inner batter head and about 1 inch above and to the left of where the beater strikes.

I then place a very heavy wool blanket over the kick.

Sounds pretty good to me.
 
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