Does the bass head need a hole?

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capnkid

capnkid

Optimus Prime
Should I cut a hole in it? If so what is the best way?

I have to tune them also as they are "boomy"?
 
capnkid said:
Should I cut a hole in it? If so what is the best way?

I have to tune them also as they are "boomy"?
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You don't *have* to cut a hole in it. Benefits of a hole include less beater bounceback for the drummer, and more of a "punchier" sound.

Drawbacks of a hole include less "boom" and volume. If you're undecided and just want less "boom", put a rolled up towel that's just lightly touching the front head in the kick and see if that works for you.

If you do decide you want a hole, you can use a pre-cut adhesive hole guide, or one of those metal hole protectors that cuts the head as you clip it on. Or you can use the "heated can" method where you hold a metal can over the stove to get it nice and hot, and then gently press it through the front head.

Or, you can just buy a pre-vented head :-)
 
Thanx.

For me it is way to boomy, there is a small towel in there right now, I may try the heated can method.
 
i recommend it. get a holez. too boomy? EMAD heads are great. i have batter and reso, and no muffling inside, and its just right.
 
Well if it is too boomy, sound like you have already made your decision,BUT if you use a fairly thick front head and tune it loose and tune the batter side loose, the boom will go away also, but loose batter head get worn quickly and the front head has to be thick or it will sound like paper flapping, before you committ to cutting/melting a hole I would try different things, for studio work the hole is a good idea or when you are micing your stuff at a show, but then somtimes if I play out and we don't mic my drums I prefer no vented front head
my .02
 
capnkid said:
Should I cut a hole in it? If so what is the best way?

I have to tune them also as they are "boomy"?
Click to expand...

No, you're bassdrum's resonant head doesn't need a hole in it. Do you cut a hole in your snaredrum's snares-side head? Well why not?

If you want more thump? Put a pillow in it and tune it up a bit. Thump tends to be higher in pitch than most people tune their kicks these days. (people are tuning below the thump range, basically - That "chest-pounding" Thump is in the 100hz to 300 hz. range)
Go listen to something from the first or second Motley Crue records, and then listen to what drums sound like these days... people tune their drums a LOT lower than they used to....but then have a hard time replicating the sound from back then....which is the basic "Thump".

The Modern Kick drum sound has evolved to more of a click or smack of the mallet strike with a low end resonance or presence than an actual "thump".

If you are after an old ZZTOP kind of kick drum sound - that was completely a single-headed drum, tuned really tight with a lot of muffling and probably a couple of sandbags in there as well for extra mass.)

I am totally against cutting a hole in the resonant head.
Buy your own Kick drum mic, and a MayEA mount, and mount the mic inside your drum. Then you can just plug it in when recording or playing live, and it will sound killer....or invest in a trigger and a sound module (for most players an Alesis unit is fine, since most guys aren't playing anything at blazing speeds....but if you're playing speed metal or faster, I would try to persuade you to not throw your money away on the Alesis, and go straight to a ddrum or Roland brain - it doesn't have to be the top of the line - they all have good usable sounds, but the key is the trigger to Midi interfaces are about 100 times better than what is in the Alesis units.)


Tim
 
Does that "heated can" method really work? Anybody actually tried it? Seems like it could get really messy. Melted plastic can have a spider web effect when its melted and and then cooled seconds later.
just a thought....
 
Works fine. If you get the can hot, and place and remove it quickly, no strings. If you do get strings, they are very brittle, and can be scraped away easily.
 
I'm kinda with Tim on this............you DON'T NEED a hole in the reso head, the shell should already have a vent fitted somewhere. Learn to "tune" the heads to give a decent sound, add pillows or blankets.........experiment!!!

Traditionally, kick drums didn't have a hole and "history" has it that holes only appeared when people decided to mic up internally rather than just putting a mic in front of the drum. These days, too many people do it without really knowing WTF they're doing it for............"It looks way kewl" :rolleyes:

And remember this...........whenever you listen to the kick sound on a CD, chances are that because of the recording environment and method, and the subsequent processing of the signal, what you are hearing may not sound too much like the "raw" or natural sound of the drum.

:cool:
 
ausrock said:
And remember this...........whenever you listen to the kick sound on a CD, chances are that because of the recording environment and method, and the subsequent processing of the signal, what you are hearing may not sound too much like the "raw" or natural sound of the drum.

:cool:
Click to expand...


It may not even be a kick drum you are hearing on a CD.

I created the most awesome kick drum sample - you know what it really is? I bounced a basketball on a concrete floor in my garage, and then I mixed that with a sample of me bouncing the ball on carpet.
The carpet added the "thumpy" sound that I EQ'd for the low end, while the concrete sample added the perfect amount of "smack" for a mallet hitting the head. I've had people hear it and they go "Man that is awesome!" and they have a fit when I tell them what it is. You just have to cut the sound off right after the smack, other wise you hear the air ringing inside the basket ball! LOL (Also, I used less air in the ball on the concrete - so it kind of flattened out a little when it hit the concrete for a good SMACK! And I kind of over inflated the ball to use on the carpet (my drum rug) in the garage. That gave me a good early 80's , tuned kind of high sound - which worked really well for the body of the kick underneath the attack of the other sample.
Anybody here with a sampler should try the ball on the concrete trick - it rocks!

I've thought about taking my DAT to the gun range and trying to get some gunshot samples to use for a snare. I always wanted to sample two trains locking up to use as a snare sample as well....just a huge blast of a snare sound.

But you are dead on - what a drum sounds like really has very little to do with what it's going to sound like after all the processing it goes through.




Tim
 
Tim Brown said:
It may not even be a kick drum you are hearing on a CD.

I created the most awesome kick drum sample - you know what it really is? I bounced a basketball on a concrete floor in my garage, and then I mixed that with a sample of me bouncing the ball on carpet.


Brilliant!
Ive noticed that when I get out of the shower all wet and slap my inner thighs I get an awesome snare sound and the bathroom environmnent adds a beautiful natural reverb. when cleaning my teeth Ive noticed that I get the perfect brushes on snare sound. The options are endless it appears, you may have opened up a whole new world for us here Tim, thanks.

( I guess one could try wet buttocks as opposed to wet thighs if one was looking for more of a 'crack' out of your snare)
Click to expand...
 
i once stuck a condenser in my garage and smacked the garage door as hard as i could. Makes a great sound, not exactly kick drum like, but would work in an electro or hip hop mix and might be interesting in rock :)
 
Ohhhh dear...

I like bass drums with holes in the head, but saying that - I havn't done it to mine yet and it sounds phat. I havn't actually recorded my own kit though, only other people's - not sure what the difference is to mic'd sound.
 
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