i need a new beater and kick drum heads....

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thedude400

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I just got a Yamaha set not too long ago and it was equipped with the following:

16X23 in size
A clear aquarium head on the kick side
a yamaha head on the opposite end with a 14" hole in it
a felt beater

Ok here's the thing , I'm not really diggin the sound of it. Maybe a better way to put it is I think it could sound better. I'd like a little bit of a click. I will be recording alot of rock on it. An example of a kick drum sound I want would be the kick on Foo Fighters "everlong" or better yet listen to the kick on coheed and cambria's "the suffering". I mean a really quick, low, resonate, clicky, tight but thumpy bass drum. I have a couple questions on changing the sound to aim more towards what I want out of a kick drum.

1. The head opposite the kick side has a 14" hole right in the center of the head. What is going to be the difference in sound between that one and one with a 5-6" air escape hole?

2. Will that clicky sound only be achieved with a wooden beater? I mean I have a click sticker on there but its worthless with a felt beater right?

3. Next, the aquarian head on the kick side has no support in the area where the beater hits it at all. I mean I put a taped square to give it some substance area. I'm not even sure if this aquarium head is supposed to be on the kick side!! What kind of a beater side head should I be looking at that will help me achieve the sound I'm aiming for after I buy a wooden beater?

4. Is 16X23 a reasonable size to achieve the sound I'm looking for? Are the drum dimensions too small to achieve that "really quick, low, resonate, clicky, tight but thumpy" kick drum sound I mentioned earlier?
 
I'm going to assume the drum is actually a 22X16".

I would suggest picking up an Aquarian Superkick II for the batter side. The Aquarian Superkick Resonant head would be a good choice for the resonant side, too. I would also advise putting a Remo Falams Slam kick pad on the batter side where the beaters hit. That will prolong the life of your head. Plastic or wooden beaters wouldn't be a bad idea for some click. I'd keep the felt one around just in case, though.
 
thedude400 said:
I just got a Yamaha set not too long ago and it was equipped with the following:

16X23 in size
A clear aquarium head on the kick side
a yamaha head on the opposite end with a 14" hole in it
a felt beater

Ok here's the thing , I'm not really diggin the sound of it. Maybe a better way to put it is I think it could sound better. I'd like a little bit of a click. I will be recording alot of rock on it. An example of a kick drum sound I want would be the kick on Foo Fighters "everlong" or better yet listen to the kick on coheed and cambria's "the suffering". I mean a really quick, low, resonate, clicky, tight but thumpy bass drum. I have a couple questions on changing the sound to aim more towards what I want out of a kick drum.

1. The head opposite the kick side has a 14" hole right in the center of the head. What is going to be the difference in sound between that one and one with a 5-6" air escape hole?

2. Will that clicky sound only be achieved with a wooden beater? I mean I have a click sticker on there but its worthless with a felt beater right?

3. Next, the aquarian head on the kick side has no support in the area where the beater hits it at all. I mean I put a taped square to give it some substance area. I'm not even sure if this aquarium head is supposed to be on the kick side!! What kind of a beater side head should I be looking at that will help me achieve the sound I'm aiming for after I buy a wooden beater?

4. Is 16X23 a reasonable size to achieve the sound I'm looking for? Are the drum dimensions too small to achieve that "really quick, low, resonate, clicky, tight but thumpy" kick drum sound I mentioned earlier?
Click to expand...

"Tight", "Resonant", and "Thumpy" don't normally belong in the same sentence when you're talking about a kick drum.

You're going to need some kind of muffling in the drum to get a thump.
The drum is either a 22" or 24" drum. If you measured across the outside of the hoops and got 23", then it's obviously a 22" drum.

That size is fine for what you are after.

A drum with a smaller hole in the resonant head will have more "Boom" to it, and will have more sustain.

Tim
 
Evans EMAD and any hard beater should do the trick. You won't be disappointed....definitely use patches where the beaters hit as geet73 pointed out. It definitely will prolong the life of the head and help with definition.

As far as the hole in the front head is concerned, you should stick with what you have now. As Tim pointed out, if you get a head with a smaller hole, it will increase resonance....but if you feel the kick is lacking resonance, then add a head with the smaller hole or no hole at all. Alot of tricks can be applied via fx plugins during mixdown to compensate for no hole or too much hole in the resonant head (read on). I personally use a kick with no front hole in the head whatsover ( I mic from the batter side of the kick with a large diaphragm condesor) and it get's me that nice, fat clicky rock sounding kick after creative application of some select plugins during mixdown.

To achieve the "clicky sound" will be partly what you do to the bass drum track after the fact in mix-down. Quickest and easiest way to get that fat sound with beater definition after you have everything properly tuned and recorded is to add a harmonic exciter plugin. The harmonic exciter seems to add a different level of clarity and focus than EQing and is quicker to get the sound I'm trying to achieve.

I also use a sub-harmonic (or bass maximizer) exciter which allows me the freedom to adjust the perfect amount of resonance I'm looking for.

After I get all that dialed in, differing levels of "soft-knee" compression usually puts the icing on the cake.

Your bass drum size sounds to be just right for what you're after.

Good luck!
 
I just picked up a superkick II and a resonant with a smaller hole. I want to play with some more resonance for awhile. I found out that the glue was coming off and the resonant side head was almost in 2 pieces anyway. I picked up a wooden beater to go along with it and I'm liking the sound. I just need REMO falams slam pad and I will be set. I dont know if I am super pumped about the wooden beater yet. I will wait until I get the pad to decide.

Thanks for the replies everyone. The help was greatly appreciated.
 
thedude400 said:
I just picked up a superkick II and a resonant with a smaller hole. I want to play with some more resonance for awhile. I found out that the glue was coming off and the resonant side head was almost in 2 pieces anyway. I picked up a wooden beater to go along with it and I'm liking the sound. I just need REMO falams slam pad and I will be set. I dont know if I am super pumped about the wooden beater yet. I will wait until I get the pad to decide.

Thanks for the replies everyone. The help was greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Early on, I went from felt beater (sucked) to a wood beater at the advice of another drummer. His logic was "don't you hit the rest of your drums with wood, why not the bass drum?" What an idiot.
When I upgraded to a Pearl DB pedal it had reversable felt and plastic beaters. Being a fast punk drummer I knew I didn't want felt so I used the plastic, and it sounded immensely better than my old wooden beater. So in my opinion, plastic is superior to wood for the clicky sound.
Anyway, get your click/punch from a plastic beater, and let the resonance of your drum dictate the size of the hole you have. You can always cut your own hole and add one of those rings, and if its not enough then cut another hole and use another ring. I've seen guys with 3 separate 6" holes in the resonant head. It must work for their particular drum. And for low-end "thump" tuning low helps. You'll feel the beater kinda 'dig' in rather than bounce. Only dampen the batter head what it really needs. The sound you're going for is like trying to get the best of several different worlds so it means having several variables just right. Theres no one way, or one thing to do to achieve it.
 
If your felt beater has a plastic side to it...just turn the beater around and hit the head with the plastic side.

Usually a lot of experiement with tuning + muffling + mic / mixing = that clicky boomy sound everyone strives for now-a-days.
 
what i've heard, to acheive a clicky type sound is to put a $0.25 between the falam patch and the head, or i think just taping it onto the falam patch. Experiment. And before you get all rawled up in recording and stuff, i suggest you research more into drums, drum characteristics etc. You couldn't even express the dimensions of the drum correctly...Do your research. Period.
I'm saying this with expeirience...I'm recently getting into recording and so before I buy my mics and such, I borrowed books from my library on sound wave characteristics as well as acoustics of instruments. When you do research, it definately goes a long way. Slowly, these books are helping me understand and are helping me understand the characteristics of my basement and are also helping me in realizing what I must do to acheive a great sound.
 
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