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Tuning Your Drums – Part II: Bass Drum

Bass Drum

The well-tuned bass drum should sound like a cannon, therefore they don’t sound very musical. However, tuning to a definite pitch should still be attempted. I personally try to hit “B” on my bass, because it blends well with the widely used rock keys of “E”, “D”, “F#”, and “B”. First, you must consider the diameter of your bass drum before deciding how to tune it.

Smaller bass drums (from 18″ to 20″) have a tight, punchy sound that is hard to get an earth-shaking “BOOM” out of. Larger ones (from 24″ to 28″) have an huge, almost roaring sound, but are hard to focus and difficult to get a tight punch from. The best all-around size for most modern applications is about 22 inches in diameter, because they tend to have the best balance of punch and open tone.

Now, decide what you want in a bass sound. If you want nothin’ but thump, then drum size doesn’t really matter. Just tune the batter head, using the star pattern, with quarter-turns of the drum key, just until the wrinkles disappear. Then stuff it with a pillow or two, until the head is completely choked. Just be sure that the pillows lie several inches beneath the point where the beater contacts the bass drum head. Using this method, using the front drum head isn’t necessary, therefore some players like to leave the front head off.

However, if you don’t want to incorporate the front head in the tuning, it is still a good idea to reinstall it anyway and then just cut a big hole in the front (per the illustration). You want to do this because big drums tend to lose their round shape without the front hoop on, especially if exposed to extremes in humidity and temperature. An out-of-round drum cannot be repaired, and can only be replaced.

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Although a bass drum without the resonant head is much louder than one with both heads installed, they lack a nice tone, and they are “slower”; that is, with no front head to trap the air inside the drum, the bounce of the beater isn’t as lively (think of how much better a basketball bounces when its filled with the right amount of air). This can be frustrating for players who use double-bass pedals and like to execute rolls, paradiddles, and ruffs on their bass drums. For a faster bass drum, keeping the front head on and in tact is a MUST!

If you want a drum sound that resonates ’till Tuesday, then size does matter, because it is very hard to get a deep tone out of an 18 to 20 inch bass drum (but not impossible). For smaller drums, use no internal muffling, but after the head is tightened just past the wrinkle point, put small pieces of duct tape around the edge (figure 3) until the overtones disappear. Then, install the front head, preferably one with a 3 inch hole. This not only is a convenient place to put a microphone, but it lets the drum breathe without sacrificing its resonant properties.

One thing to help eliminate overtones is to install a long strip of felt about 2 to 3 inches wide under the front head. This will not rob the drum of any power, but will stop the head from making that annoying ring by stopping the unwanted overtones.

Try to get the two heads to match in tone. You can do this by listening for fluctuations in the drum sound when the batter head is struck. After the desired tone of the batter is established, tighten or loosen the resonant head until the fluctuations disappear, and the sound is low, smooth, and uniform.

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For larger drums, getting a pretty tone is the easy part, but keeping the drum’s sound tightly focused without losing that beautiful tone is tricky. Bigger drumheads have more vibrating surface, so that means that it will require more muffling to control overtones.

Duct tape does work on big drums, but you need so much of it (I would only recommend using duct tape on heads 22 inches or smaller). Personally, I like to mute drums 22 inches and bigger by taking a sheet of egg foam (like the kind you sleep on), cut it about three quarters as long as the circumference of the bass drum shell and exactly as wide as the inside of the shell.

Lay it down inside the drum, leaving the wood exposed ON TOP of the inside of the shell (so the air vent hole isn’t obstructed). Push it up tight against the inside of the batter head, and then install the resonant head. The foam will also control the overtones of the front head, eliminating the need for the felt strip.

Another cool trick to get a better attack for your bass sound is to duct tape a credit card on the batter head at the point the beater makes contact. With double bass pedals, I like to tape two quarters at the striking points, and it gives a good, sharp click when struck.

Pre-muffled bass drum batter and resonant heads are available from all the leading manufacturers. These heads require very little or no modification to get a good hard thump that is still very musical. Like I always say, when it comes to drums, EXPERIMENTATION is the key. First, learn the basics that were presented here, and then try new ideas and techniques to discover your own signature bass drum sound.

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