Bass drum head surgery

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jrlemonz

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I just bought a kit to do drum tracks with, and the bass drum head doesn't have a hole in it. I have never mic'ed a kick without a hole in the head. I'd rather not get a mic that really goes inside the drum, and rather not buy a new head (this one works just fine otherwise). Would it be ok to cut a hole in the head to stick the mic in? Or would that severly screw up the tone/tuning? I just figured I'd ask before attempting, although I'll probably end up just buying a new head. It isn't that big of a deal, but figured it would be better to save $30-50. Thanks.

Jake
 
You can cut it, just use a cymbal as a template and a sharp work knife on a flat surface, be careful. I like a medium sized hole in the center of the skin, some people use a smaller hole off to one side, dont go too close to the edge though. It won't screw up the tone but it will change it, you can mic the kick from outside the drum in front of the non-playing head if you want, it will give you a softer more resonant kick tone which suits some types of music.
 
vox said:
You can cut it, just use a cymbal as a template and a sharp work knife on a flat surface, be careful. I like a medium sized hole in the center of the skin, some people use a smaller hole off to one side, dont go too close to the edge though. It won't screw up the tone but it will change it, you can mic the kick from outside the drum in front of the non-playing head if you want, it will give you a softer more resonant kick tone which suits some types of music.
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Don't use a CYMBAL for a template! Ughe-what a God awful sound-if you're gonna do that, just take the entire front head off!

Use a Coffee Cup, put it about 4" in from the hoop, and trace it with a marker of some type-then, cut it out with an exacto knife.

You still want MOST of the front head there to add the extra sustain and low end.

Tim
 
Sorry to alarm you Tim :D I didn't mean a 20 inch ride, my buddy has a little 8 inch cymbal that does fine, it lets you have some mic position options.
 
vox said:
Sorry to alarm you Tim :D I didn't mean a 20 inch ride, my buddy has a little 8 inch cymbal that does fine, it lets you have some mic position options.
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Okay Whew!
Hahaha
I was having visions of a guy cutting a 18" hole in a 22" head! Hahahahah!

Tim
 
Cut it last night, used a coffee cup. It sounds exactly the same as before. I have tons of muffling in the drum, cause it sounds horrible without it, so I think that helped the sound stay relatively the same. Thanks a lot for the advice! Much appreciated.

Jake
 
jrlemonz said:
Cut it last night, used a coffee cup. It sounds exactly the same as before. I have tons of muffling in the drum, cause it sounds horrible without it, so I think that helped the sound stay relatively the same. Thanks a lot for the advice! Much appreciated.

Jake
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What kind of kick sound are you trying to get anyway?

If you're unhappy with what you're getting I might be able to help.

Do me a favor, and tell me th following things:

1.what size drum it is?
2. What kind of heads are on it?
3.what do you have for muffling?
4.what kind of mallet is on your kick pedal? (Hard or soft -meaning what is stiking the skin plastic, wood, or felt?)


You shouldn't need a TON of muffling in the kickdrum, and if you don't know how to tune-don't be ashamed by that either, most Drummers don't know how to tune a kit. I've found that generally the ones who do-have had training. I did the whole marching band thing, and Orchestra and all that....I even had a shot at going to texas A&M in the drum corps(s) (hehe)...but that was back in my pot smoking stoned metalhead ddays and I was "gonna be a rockstar!".

Anyway these rules generally apply to all kick drums:

You can either go really Tight and pack the drum with crap-it will be lifeless as hell, but it will actually record pretty well; Steve Jordan from the Original Blues Brothers, and the Original Drummer on Saturday Nite Live and the David Letterman band, supposedly had his kickdrum SUPER tight (like as tight as his snare-he tuned the kick and snare to the same note, but an octave apart) and played with a Wooden Mallet.

Now, I personally do not have any holes in my Kick heads-I like the sound of a full front head. There's very little mufling in my Kicks. They "Boom" to some degree, instead of just "thump".
The kind of music I'm doing determines my tuning. For anything that's sort of "pop" I'll tend to tune the kick higher, and use a felt Mallet.
For Hard Rock, I'll go a little lower, and maybe use a hard Mallet.
I'm getting ready to record some Material with a new band I'm playing in, and it's "Power metal" so, I tuned the kit to the lowest nots they would go and still produce tone (which is REALLY low considering the drum sizes).

I've done several postings on kickdrums, and how to tune them and all that..Just do a search on Kick drums, and my name...you'll get a ton of stuff! Hahahaha


Tim
 
I know how to tune my kit properly, ts just a really cheap kit. I did the marching band thing, and the drum corps thing. I tune it really tight, and put tons of muffling in it. I believe it's a 23". I use a felt beater, but I might change to a wood one to get that early Metallica sound (even though I hate them , they had nice drum sound). I get a really lifeless tone that records well. The drum sounds horrible when I get that "boom" and have tone. I play a progressive metal/progressive alternative and the thump it give sounds pretty good. It only has 6 lugs per side, and is very intermediate/entry level type stuff. I got the whole kit sounding like one that cost $1000 more by muffling everything with a stretched piece of fabric on the inside of the heads. I changed all the heads, and put tons of stuff in the kick to get it have a thump, and no tone. SOunds pretty good. I have nice cymbals too (Sabian AAX Stage Performance hats, ride, and 2 crashes, 16" and 18", along with a china, few splashes and a bunch of weird cymbals from the 40s that sound really weird) which makes the kit sound better overall. Thanks alot for the suggestions guys.
Jake
 
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