Does a Port Change the Sound of a Kick Drum? | Sound Comparison | Drum Dog

[@Bigbaldybear]

EMAD2, no dampening inside, no port. Had loads of compliments on my bass drum sound 😁👍

[@liokost]

Same here!

[@Gavdrums]

any issues from engineers mining it up? Tried unported a few times and was met with a lot of moaning from engineers

[@KimTuckerFr]

i tried it at a venue, no muffling in the bass drum, nor on the toms and snare. Just a good tuning. Engineers asked me 10 times to muffle my sound during soundcheck, they were crazy about all the resonance of my kit.

[@barrybebenek8691]

@Bigbaldybear Was the EMAD on the batter or both front and back?

[@Bigbaldybear]

@@Gavdrums Tbh it hasn't happened much. If they have said anything I just pay em a compliment along the lines of 'Im sure a pro like yourself will sort it' and like I said I've had loads of compliments.

[@bolt4694]

So, about two years ago I bought a new mapex armory set, the head came un-ported and I was curios so I cut a porthole, and immediately lost half the low end and punch. now I'm shopping for a new one. lesson learned.

[@drumfanatik316]

Easy solution. Use a Kelly Shu internal mic mount. Can be used effectively live or in the studio. I’ve had so many engineers give a sigh of relief when I show up at a gig with an imported head and tell them it has an internal mic. Then they ask what kind of mic? Audix D6. Smiles for miles after that!

[@davebags4576]

I mainly like a ported head because it allows air to escape and you don't get push back on your pedal beater.

[@andrewferrara11]

Ported bass drumheads need port hole protectors to protect the hole from tearing. That’s why the Remo Powerstroke 3 Ebony comes with a pre cut porthole so you can put a mic in there and get better tone a lot faster

[@absolutearcher]

I have this issue I love my un ported kick sound but it has pushback that makes the beater bounce twice on one hit; it sounds pretty awful on recordings 😕

[@101silencio]

So what happened with all of the different possitions of the mic inside of the drum?!

[@MiloIgnacius]

Thank you for the tips it’s going to help a lot with getting a drum set

[@drumdog]

Happy to help!

[@DragonCrestPC]

I have a dialtune snare too! Amazing snare!

[@drumdog]

Stay tuned for a full feature video on this beauty 😉

[@jessdrummer_]

Great video

[@drumdog]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@OliKember]

To me the ported sound is a no brainer for the type of loud metal I like to play. Love the solid attack and quick decay. Also wanted to know what the difference would be. Thanks for this!

[@drumdog]

The shorter ported sound is a must for metal 🤘

[@Imabassplayer2]

I knew there would be a big difference because Iv'e done the same thing with my kit. With a ported head it allows the air to escape much faster and in more or it. With a non ported head the air is trapped in the drum which makes the drum louder. The same as removing the reso head from the toms. There are isolated drum rigs to mic the bass drum inside with a non ported head. They attach to the lug mounting screws on the inside and bungie cord attach to the mic holder. It floats in the middle of the drum so mic placement is a little tricky. But you could add a boom arm and that will help with mic placement. Iv'e seen videos on people doing a DIY version and seen products designed for the job. The only issue is the mic cable. If the drum has holes for the tom mount then no problem. But if it's a virgin bass drum then it's a problem. An option is to drill a hole in the shell and install a D style XLR connector to the shell. The make a XLR cable by soldering on side to the D style connector and the the other to a XLR mic connector. There is a video showing how to do this, but would you drill a hole in your expensive bass drum? Probably not, but thats up too you. If you have a bass drum your willing to drill a hole in then it might be worth a go to get the boom of a non ported head with the attack of a inside mic. Just try and position the hole in a discrete area. Or might be easier to have a ported and non ported head. Who knows eh, who knows 🙂

[@drumdog]

Those internal kick mic systems do look pretty snazzy, maybe a future video idea 🤔

[@OlmezDrums]

A solution for the ported heads💡 I used several rows and 2 layers of paper tape (masking tape) to cover the port hole for a song I was recording, it worked wonderfully. Would totally recommend to try out. Much cheaper than buying a new one, and much easier to put on and off, without even touching the tension rods ✌🏼

[@vandavis000]

I like the unported sound on yours. More defined tone.

[@eddieavakian]

I recently purchased a 1950s Gretsch round badge kit and struggled w this question. Ultimately I did port it but purchased a 2nd head in case I want to go back to that unported sound. It’s beautiful sound but the port gives me wider recording options.

[@drumdog]

Great idea having 2 heads 💡

[@eddieavakian]

@@drumdog they say “two heads are better than one” Lol.

[@blakedmc1989HD]

i used to prefer tha ported sound until i got my Pearl Session Custom SMX (no longer being made) and it didn't come with a ported resonant head and i put a Emad back in 2006 which it's still in it with no muffling inside, mane i had so much people complaining about tha bass drum sound because it thumps so heavily especially when i used to take it with me on a few evening church services years back as a guest drummer and when even my former church was wondering, then afterwards, they was like how can i play it at home? me, i prefer my bass drum to thump very roughly and hard lol then when i play with tha bass drums with ported heads with tha same Emad head, it didn't thump as hard as my home drumset! and from then on, i kept my personal bass drum unported and i don't like muffling inside my bass drum at all lol

[@Tdrums8]

A question i have is i played at a festival with an un ported kick and they put the Mic in front of the drum and i have to say it sounded amazing and powerful i loved it ..Do you have to put the mic inside when you play live ? Or can you mic it up and get a great sound .Now this is not in a studio i mean at a gig Ty

[@iRideuWatch]

You already know you liked the sound. The only advantage to putting the mic inside is to eliminate the mix bleed from the cymbals, etc. But that wouldn't be an issue in a live.gig setting.

[@alydude2011]

Question, was that Yamaha stock reso head a ps3 style ( built in ring on edge) or just a wide open Un muffled head. ( I realize there was a felt strip just wondering if it was a pre muffled head to begin with. Thanks. Ps. I vote un ported. 👈🏼

[@michaelbruhl4425]

...great video guys, many greetings from Germany !!!

[@drumdog]

Thanks Michael! Greetings from the UK 😊

[@Jay-Go]

Hello, gents. I'm 2 years late to this party, but I just now saw the video. Good stuff. But I do have a thought: it doesn't sound to me that the front head was tuned to the same pitch/tension. From the position of the tuning rods on the drum, it's obvious you took the head off to cut the port. While the unported head has loads more sustain BECAUSE there's no port hole, the ported head still has enough note length to hear the pitch. It's definitely lower than the unported audio sample. I wonder how they'd compare to each other with the same tension. I'd still expect a difference, but how much more/less noticeable would the sound be. Anyhoo, greetings from Texas USA.

[@Drunken_Hamster]

Try a smaller port and/or put it in the center. Also, put the external mic in front of different areas on the resonant head. Not to mention how you can play around with the beater type/material.

[@lloydfrazier3682]

I just got myself a beginners drum set to attempt to teach myself how to play. Thar being said, I don't like how the bass drum lingers... is it supposed to??? Or should I port mine??

[@judebiswas6665]

if it lingers you need to dampen the inside with pillows or other soft stuff

[@realmister7]

Obvious difference. But I was wondering whether there is a middle ground by having a central port rather than an eccentric one. I would guess that the head would retain more tone since the tuning would likely be more even with a central port. Obviously the main thing is that air is escaping but I'm sure the size of hole and position must have an effect.

[@vandavis000]

I bought my new pdp concept maple and the reso head sounded like a basket ball bounce so i ported it with remo dynamo in middle. Sounds less ringy. To my ears has more punch with center port.

[@garysmith3173]

I have 2 bass heads. Ported for recording,unported for gigs.

[@jemmace2586]

Yes Had this problem in the past while recording and gigging at certain venues, namely when an engineer couldn't get the sound he wanted, (good job it wasn't Jeff porcaro) he'd, as is well documented, have told the engineeri to sod off. For Good reason to i think, if we the artist, are Very happy with the sound we're getting, which encapsulates the sound we want, in the near field... Why the f___ should we change it. Pick up an instrument if you want that much to influence the sound you want to hear, i say. Porting a kick drum can be great yes, it doesn't always work though for a plethora of reasons, we know room's sound different and then different again after a sound check when they fill with people. Sound engineer's vary in ability, the good ones won't ask you to change your sound they'd just know how to adjust things they control to suit what is needed. Sorry seems like a rant but it's not.

[@drumdog]

This is the exact drummer vs. engineer war we referenced 😆

[@liamfitzdrums]

Bonham use to frequently argue with sound engineers over the drum sound for live gigs.

[@hinesification]

I actually liked the unported. I mic the batter head if I need to in some cases. A bit more spill, but…

[@sbskking]

Definitely unported.

[@drumdog]

Definitely has more 'chub' unported!

[@pupdowg420]

Best solution is to hang mic inside drum and not port or muffle the drum. Done it for years on my 22 by 22 Ayotte kick.

[@alexandruterototh9747]

funny cat story. happened to me once as well and the cat also left me a nice stinky surprise in the bass drum

[@drumdog]

😱 no one deserves that 😂

[@davidreidy5750]

Muffled batter/felt strip reso coated Ambassadors for me.Did the Evans emad kick and ported reso it sounded ok but deadened the tone and full roundness(boom).🗽🛸

[@Sauron191]

I have 2 ports in mine and it sounds like a bomb going off!! Probably good that I ported then!! Lol

[@alexmagor]

What about beater double bounce? With no port you can't really play the beater into the head otherwise you will get a double bounce. You need to let the beater bounce off and I like playing into the drum.

[@azmadazhell]

If you are in the studio and the engineer can’t handle an unported head get a better engineer. Live is a different story, but in the studio porting is just laziness. Get that nice full sound, not a slap and then add effects to make it sound like a bass drum!

[@dhosquet]

Honestly, you had to make a video to show if putting a port in your drum head would make a difference in the sound? AT LEAST also do a comparison with the mic in the port hole ... or else, what's the point of porting in the first place?

[@Tomsolomon111]

This is why the engineer tells you to put a pillow in your drum. Just a quick question, if you want to have more attack on your unported drum have you tried micing the batter side? To me porting a drum is laziness on the side of the engineer, it totally kills the dynamic of the drum....

[@allancueto22]

Damn the struggle is real!!! I LOVE the full unported sound and the range of sounds i can get (i play both styles...buring the biter and not buring it) BUT for mic,transportation,etc i feel that i may "have" to port the head 😫...i don't know what to do...😅😔😫

[@drumdog]

We feel your struggle! Get a 2nd reso head, best of both worlds with a simple head change 👌

[@dingerjunkie]

Kelly Shu and some time to experiment with mic placement.

[@pensivecircle6326]

i actually like it more without the hole.

[@ShawnxEdge]

You don’t need a ported head with a Yamaha absolute because they use so many air vents around the bass drum.,

[@dingerjunkie]

Why not just get the attack kick-side at the beater? Why not just go with a Kelly Shu and mount internally? A guitarist wouldn't be told to compromise an acoustic guitar or amplifier rig because a sound guy couldn't figure out how to get the tone. Time for engineers to step up for those musicians who actually expect reproduction of "their tone" on recordings.

[@roomdog40]

For me, I'd never port one, but I don't record. When I rarely gig, the sound guy just has to work with it. I think a working musician might have to give in though.

[@scoobdubious]

I drilled a 5" port through an 18" shell. Best of both worlds. Brave or stupid?

[@drumdog]

Through... the shell? 😳

[@liamfitzdrums]

So you created a large vent in the bass drum shell itself?

[@scottbrower9052]

​@@liamfitzdrumsYikes.

[@cvee2614]

Yamaha Absolute Birch unported for sure.

[@StevenCarinci]

No port. The shell plys work harder. The whole point of a wood shell. More resonance. Bonham bass sound.

[@alydude2011]

HANDS DOWN, UNPORTED !

[@jcdrums2798]

the feeling with the pedal is better with the hole....big difference!

[@drumdog]

Definitely more rebound unported! It's a very different feel.

[@JamesK-i9e]

Doesn't change the sound because you have the mic aimed at the head in both examples. This was not a good test - try again!

[@drumdog]

That was kind of the point - we know it'll sound dramatically different with the mic sat in the port, but how much does it change the overall sound of the drum? The mic was purposely left in the same 'neutral reso head' position to maintain a fair test ✌️

[@KingCrimson82]

dont want to be a smartass but for doublebass drumming you need a porthole, the faster the notes the less you need sustain or it will be washy. If you grew up with the drum sound of the ninetees you might like a short deep attack and a high pitched snare. Yet again for rock and jazz a closed system offers more different tone shapes and it becomes a note rather than just a bang.

[@J......F-q1c]

Unported most defo,

[@ronniek7748]

Ported by a mile. Easier to mic and fuller. Unless in jazz or a Zep cover band stay away.