Bass Drum hola, question for Harvey

[cordura21]

Bass Drum hole, question for Harvey

Harvey, I was reading your article called "Some Common Misconceptions About Music" and you say that although the hole in the front head can be used to "port" the drum like a bass reflex speaker to have a better bottom end, this is unnecessary as the front head itself acts like a passive radiator, thus resonating the air inside the drum.

My question is: doesn't the presence of that hole change or cancels the resonation that the front head gives to the drum? And shouldn't you try to keep the hole as small as you can, maybe even plugging the mic inside the drum and then closing it? Or is it too much, as the sound of a bigger hole is much the same of a smaller?

Cheers, Andrés

 

[Harvey Gerst]

For most rock applications, the size of the hole doesn't much matter, as long as you can shove a mic thru the opening without the cable or stand touching the head. Most engineers use that mic placed about 3 to 4" away from the beater head to get the click of the pedal and they don't worry about what the back head is doing, unless they have a second mic outside the kick. Even then, I usually use a mic about 4 to 6 feet away and build a padded tunnel.

What seems to work best is a 4 to 6" hole cut in the upper right-hand quadrant of the kick's front head, so that the bottom of the hole is above a horizontal line at the center height of the kick. That means, draw a horizontal line seperating the top and bottom halves of the front head. Mark a 4 to 6" circle at the right side, with the bottom of the circle, just touching the line.

 

[littledog]

Even then, I usually use a mic about 4 to 6 feet away and build a padded tunnel.

This is a technique that I've heard about, but haven't actually tried. Could you discuss the specs of the tunnel you use, and/or what materials you used to build it? Would this be an ideal application for a 47FET type mic, or do you use something different?

Forgive me if there has already been extensive discussion on this, as I've only been here a short time.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

It's pretty straightforward; we use a couple of low drum mic stands to make a couple of "T"s that we hang packing blankets over till we have a tunnel extending about 4 to 6 feet out from the bass drum. The mic (usually a 1" condenser or a ribbon mic) goes at the far end of the tunnel. The blankets isolate the sound of the kick from the rest of the set. We hold the blankets in place with clothespins.

Another trick is to put a second bass drum shell (minus one head) in front of the first to create a tunnel, and mic the end of that.

We don't use either of those methods very often, but it's nice to know about when you want the "whomp" of the kick accentuated.

 

[Shailat]

Off Topic

Harvey,
I just read your stories for the first time and was curious about something.

You wrote that the first band took a long time to finish the album with multiple mix's. Aside from annoying, they must have logged many studio hours to your delight? am I wrong?

Same with the heavy metal band. You write that you could have booked another band. Yet here we charge the musicians even when they come late, and if they are stoned and cant get it down they still ! have to pay the bill at the end.

Basicly what I'm asking is do you bill per project?

Every time I bill for a project and not by the hour or day, I always feel like I'm getting screwed. I've tried to take on some projects in hope that they will sell and I'll get to see some real ! money for exchange of closing the studio and letting them work and work and work......I'm still waiting....

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Re: Off Topic

Harvey,

You wrote that the first band took a long time to finish the album with multiple mix's. Aside from annoying, they must have logged many studio hours to your delight? am I wrong?

We charged them by the song, not by the hour, so no, we didn't make a lot of money on the project, but it was a great learning experience to determine just how much leeway we should allow any group.

Same with the heavy metal band. You write that you could have booked another band. Yet here we charge the musicians even when they come late, and if they are stoned and cant get it down they still ! have to pay the bill at the end.

Since most bands prefer to pay by the song, those hours aren't billable, and they should be. We've started adding per hour penalties when the group's screwups cost us time and money. We still cut groups considerable slack. The guitar player coming in totally unable to play was a total waste of my time, and they would not be allowed back here under any circumstances.

Basicly what I'm asking is do you bill per project?

We bill by the song; $200 per song for the small studio, $300 per song for the large studio. We include all necessary mixing time and mastering, but the group buys the master tapes if they want them, and they pay for each finished CD. (I should point out that over the last few years, we've learned to work VERY quickly, which speeds up recording sessions considerably.)

Every time I bill for a project and not by the hour or day, I always feel like I'm getting screwed. I've tried to take on some projects in hope that they will sell and I'll get to see some real ! money for exchange of closing the studio and letting them work and work and work......I'm still waiting....

We tried to estimate about how much a band would spend on a per hour basis, then gave them some extra time so that the musicians wouldn't feel the pressure of running out of money and winding up with a product they hate, which does neither of us any good. They'd have something from our studio that sounds bad, and we'd get bad publicity. This way, it's a win/win situation and we get great word-of-mouth advertising.

 

[littledog]

Another trick is to put a second bass drum shell (minus one head) in front of the first to create a tunnel, and mic the end of that.

Just to be sure I understand that last point:

On the 2nd bass drum shell, do you put the head on the side closest to the "real" kick drum, or on the opposite (farther away) side?

Thanks for the great info, as always!

 

[littledog]

I understand the incentive to offer fixed price packaged deals, as I get a lot of pressure to do that from clients quite often.

I tend to work a little differently - I charge by the hour for every hour of tracking and mixing. (I don't do mastering.) But I also give an estimate of the total costs of the project, and assure the band that i work quickly and efficiently. If, as the project goes along, the estimate gets way out of whack, at my discretion I may start discounting my hourly rate in order to keep the client happy. If it is clearly my screw-up, they even get extra time for free. But if it is their screw-up, I don't feel compelled to give them a break.

Sometimes you just go by feel - I don't often get advance deposits, and sometimes last minute cancellations happen which leave me with nothing. Obviously, if it becomes chronic, i start collecting deposits. But in most financial dealings I just go with my instincts and usually the clients are satisfied. I think there has to be some sort of clock rolling or inevitably the band will stop respecting the value of your time. You can always give someone a break or discount later, but it's harder to add something on or charge them for something that wasn't in the original negotiation. There are just going to be too many times when a supposedly well-rehearsed band ("Oh, no problem - this band is tight! We'll be doing two takes per song MAX on all the rhythm tracks") ends up with 11 takes of one song and still isn't happy!

On the other hand, I'm as much a sucker for a good sob story as anyone. Maybe even more so! That's why someday I'll have a business manager!