Professional Drummer
Bass Drum Sound Tips
Last updated on October 3, 2009 at 9:36 pmGetting a good bass drum sound is possible on any drum kit. Even a basic beginners kit can be made to sound fairly good if you take on board the following tips:
- Check that the batter side of the drum has a good quality double ply drum skin – if not, consider buying one.
- If there is no hole on the back skin for microphones, you should ask in a good drum shop if they can put one in because this can make a big difference to the sound of your bass drum at gigs and in the recording studio.
- Place a pillow, blanket, or something similar through the hole in the back of the drum and position it so that it touches the front and back drum skins. This is good for dampening the sound in order to make the drum sound deep and ‘punchy’.
- Tune the front drum skin quite loose for a nice tone but tight enough so the attack isn’t floppy.
- Tune the back skin very loose for a low pitch and ‘fat’ sound. Tune it tight enough so you don’t get a horrible flappy sound and also so that when you pick it up it stays attached securely.
- Experiment with different bass drum beaters such as felt, rubber or wood.
Tags: bass drum sound
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