Kick beater bouncing really fast off batter

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errr314

New member
Hi! Ok this is driving me nuts and hopefully someone has experienced the same issue. Lately when I am play the bass drum the kick beater kinda double/triple taps the head upon impact. Its a really fast almost vibration kind of feel/sound. It sounds like crap recorded too. I have tried different heads tensions/muffling/etc but nothing is working. Its weird too because I can actually see the beater head moving extremely fast after it comes in contact with the head. Anyone experienced this? Thanks.... :)
 
Tighten the pedal spring tension a little more and work on your technique...
Also try to move down your foot a little on the pedalboard... Not all the way up.

Try this and see what happens... Oh, and don´t tune the bass drum too high!
 
Yup. You need to release the pedal with your ankle on the stroke, so that you're not trapping the beater against the head. I play heel up, the way I taught myself was, at slow tempos, to drop my leg down, and at the moment of impact, let my ankle go limp, so that my heel landed on the pedal's heelplate. After a week or two, I was letting the drum head ring regardless of tempo, and now I have to consciously try to bury the beater when applicable.
 
It's technique. You have to really work on the release of the beater after impact. The only time burying the beater works is with a loose head and felt beaters.
 
Hahaa! Ok thanks for the informative and witty responses. I think I fixed the problem. I had an SKII on the front fairly tight with no front head. I switched to and Emperor batter and put a front head on. I think it was the tuning but I have to admit I tend to bury the beater as well. I have been trying to work on better technique and that is proving to help. I have a few bad playing habits that need to be remedied. :)
 
Glad you worked it out... BUT,

Burrying the beater is not a bad habit per se... Guys like Colaiuta, Weckl, Gadd and many others change the history while burrying the beater.

The issue is about control: You should be able to play both ways (burrying and not burrying) both heel up and heel down. That´s the goal, IMHO.

I dare to say that most of the history of rock, pop and funk was made by burrying the beater; so don´t over stress about it. Keep the stressing for timing, feeling and groove! :D

Cheers and keep drumming!
 
JuliánFernández said:
Glad you worked it out... BUT,

Burrying the beater is not a bad habit per se... Guys like Colaiuta, Weckl, Gadd and many others change the history while burrying the beater.

The issue is about control: You should be able to play both ways (burrying and not burrying) both heel up and heel down. That´s the goal, IMHO.

I dare to say that most of the history of rock, pop and funk was made by burrying the beater; so don´t over stress about it. Keep the stressing for timing, feeling and groove! :D

Cheers and keep drumming!
Click to expand...

I would agree, again with the exception that it really only works with a felt beater on a loose, plain head. If you use hard beaters on hard impact pads you are always going to get that buzzing sound no matter what you do.
 
PhilGood, I´d never used impact pads... I don´t find a use to them, so I can´t argue with you... BTW, burrying gives you a totally different sound than pulling the beater out... Once you mastered both (not my case yet! :) ) you can expand your music expression by using both strokes in the same piece.

Oh, and if you are planning to play some quiet jazz, being able to play heel down and off the head is a must! ;)
 
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