Elevating Your Kick Drum Tone [Step by Step] | Season Five, Episode 46

Deeper, fuller, and with greater projection. Sure, you might be happy with your sound right now but if you’re looking for the quintessential modern kick tone, it’s worth exploring what lies beyond simply tuning just-above-wrinkle and throwing a pillow in there. We’ll take you through our process step-by-step.
PATREON:
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PRODUCTION PARTNERS:
GIK Acoustics (sonic treatment): sladl.ink/GIK
AKG Audio (microphones): sladl.ink/AKG
Evans Drumheads: sladl.ink/Evan...
ProMark Drumsticks: sladl.ink/ProM...
Signal chain:
Mics - Focusrite Clarett 8Pre USB & OctoPre - MacPro w/Pro Tools 2022.5
Recorded at 48kHz / 24bit
Overheads: (Matched Pair in Glyn Johns - Cardioid) AKG C314 sladl.ink/C314...
Snare, Toms: AKG C518M sladl.ink/C518M
Kick Drum: AKG D12VR sladl.ink/AKGD...
No EQ or compression in use with drum demos unless otherwise noted
Acoustic Treatment:
GIK 242 Acoustic Panels: sladl.ink/GIK242
GIK 4A Alpha Pro Series Diffusor/Absorber: sladl.ink/GIK4...
GIK Evolution PolyFusor Combination Sound Diffuser/Absorber: sladl.ink/GIKE...
GIK Tri-Trap Corner Bass Trap: sladl.ink/GIKT...
Drums:
Pearl Masters Maple Custom Extra
Cymbals:
22” Jesse Simpson clone of old Zildjian A, 15" Zildjian “Fat Hat” Prototype Hihats
Drumheads:
Snare: Evans UV1 / Snare Side 300
Toms: N/A
Kick Drum: Evans UV EMAD / EQ3 Coated White Reso
Hosted by: Cody Rahn
Production & Consulting: Ben O'Brien Smith @ Cadence Independent Media
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[@GoranRista]

The towel setup sounded fantastic! It really hit the spot. The last setup with a pillow was also wonderful.

[@pjones8404]

Great show. I have been playing into my 50th year now and I "discovered" the real beauty of a full and open bass drum over 35 years ago. Listening to a huge range of music helped me narrow down the kinds of bass drum sounds I loved. Louie Bellson, Joe Morello, Buddy Rich, Carmine Appice, Ian Paice, Cozy Powell, John Bonham and so many others all had this enormous range of dynamics and power in their bass drum sound. I love the more open and live sound. I have also always used a great quality felt strip (Slug makes a great one) instead of pillows or blankets. There is such a misconception that you get a "bigger" sound with a slack and muffled sound. Exactly the opposite. Where you ended up tone/pitch wise, is where I would always start as well. Force and pedal technique play a huge part in sound as well. I don't feel Cody that you hit particularly hard, and I think the drum would open up even more with a bit more energy. That is subjective of course. Listen to any live Buddy Rich recording and hear how clean and powerful his kick is. And the pitch is much higher than most would use. Cozy Powell has a 26" kick, big hole in the front and no muffling. He also played a CS batter with wood beaters. That sound was massive, articulate and glorious. However, it's a very specific kind of sound for a specific kind of playing. But it shows how a drum can really sing. Ian Paice, circa 1971/1972 also has a 26" kick but with a full resonant head and later with a hole in the center. HUGE sound! Carmine as well. I still use a coated Emperor with a slug felt as a batter, and a coated Ambassador as a resonant head. I carry both a ported and a non-ported version with me at all times. Never know when you might want the other option. I tune much higher than most for both sound and feel. It also projects much easier and that is important to me. I really think as a collective, allowing the notion that a lifeless and just above wrinkle approach has hurt the sound of drums for a long time now. It needs to change.

[@quintessenceSL]

I'd add the resonance gives the bass more throat, making appear lower than it really is.

[@sullysullster8217]

Love that sound especially Cozys sound. Im guessing behind the kit is an aquired taste but after eq'ing from the sound man it sounded great.

[@Joeadkins59]

Perfect timing, getting a new head on Thursday and going to be in the studio next weekend. Last time I recorded my bass was "finger tight" and sounded huge in the studio control room. Once we took the track out of the controlled space it still sounded okay, but it didn't punch through the mix like I would have liked it to. I'm hoping pitching it up will help with this.

[@erictorres4889]

Honestly I love the wide open bass drum sound it’s just the sound I prefer just like I love wide open toms and snare

[@BadChizzle]

I’m getting to be more that way, too. Also.. most times there’s more that can be done with the drum in areas. Doesn’t always apply… but a lot of the time a wide open drum talks to me more. Take care!

[@mancuniancandidatem]

It frustrates the hell out of me but I find 99% of live sound engineers can not deal with a nice open bass drum sound. They don't know how to mic it or eq it. I just had an infuriating situation last week where the sound engineer believed my bass drum was causing a big low frequency feedback. He asked me to put a towel in. We did. Still feedback. We put in a bit of soft bathroom carpet. The drum was completely dead on stage but still getting massive feedback. I told him that it's not the drum, it's something else. We added a leather jacket to the soft bathroom carpet and pillow. The drum now sounded like a sack of potatoes. Still massive feedback. He wrapped a towel around the microphone😮. I asked him if he wanted to switch out the mic with my own d112. We did. Still massive feedback. Are you sure the feedback isn't the vocal mic I asked? That turned out to be the cause. We wasted a good 20 minutes of sound check before he finally realised he needed to roll off the low frequencies on the vocal mic that were interacting with the bass drum. I find this to be unfortunately the norm. Somebody goes to college for two years to learn sound engineering and then go out and work without any experience. Sorry. Rant over.

[@sarojaband4664]

Great video 👍. Head selection and tuning , beater type and playing technique are what makes the biggest differences. 🔥

[@RokDAWG1]

No towel or pillow sounds so much better to me. I love the depth & how powerful it sounds. Good video!

[@SebCo77]

I like to equate higher tension to tension on a string bass: you need tension to get vibration. Acoustically, two complete heads without a hole, tuned up, act like a subwoofer. For close mic'ing though, loose heads, port and internal muffling are just foolproof.

[@Sundaydrumday]

I am digging that kick mic!! Good video as always!

[@drummercarson896]

Great video. I enjoyed these options

[@ChrisReedJr]

20" player for years, recently got a 24" because I couldn't pass on the price of the drum. Spent a TON of time chasing my tail and hating the sound because it was so unwieldy. When I JAW'd it, it was too sub-y and 1 dimensional. About 3 months ago I arrived where you did at the end of this video, but haven't been confident that I was 'in the right place'. It's great to see this presented in a clear and linear way that gives some organization to what one might find along the way to their better sound. Bravo!

[@djentlover]

The initial sound was so perfect haha

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

For some contexts, absolutely!

[@pavlojavro1675]

Great episode! For me raised batter and only a hoodie inside attached with lugs screws from inside barely touching any head(I can adjust that live if venue requires - mostly don't or a bit on a reso). EMAD gives a great option of nearly wide open tuning with punch, projection and low end especially around half a turn above JAW I think.

[@ivanbajovic3476]

Perfect combination for my 22x18 kick is Emad clear batter head (with narrower ring) tuned fingertight+one not full turn (as on clock from 00h to 10h), resonant head fingertight+one full turn. Just one rolled towel on the batter, sometimes + one on the resonant head (depending on the room).

[@Claes_Isacson]

Great tips as always! Tack ska ni ha :) I tune my 14”x26” pretty high but typically tune my smaller bass drums lower. Have a good one guys! 🥁

[@kushking420]

Love it, i was just looking at bass drum heads and video's for bass drums

[@creekcritter2112]

I really love my wide open kick drum setup. Tama Starclassic Performer (birch) 22x18 w/UV1 EMAD batter (large muffling ring) and Evans Calftone (no port) both pitched up a bit, as they did in this video. Tone and punch for days! It's a bit boomy, but I love it, and I'm just a hobbyist playing at home, so I don't have to worry about annoying some sound guy. Lol

[@oblivionwalker8613]

I have a Starclassic B/B with a Super Kick 1 and an unported calftone reso. Medium tension on batter, finger tight reso = BOOM!!!!

[@ivanbajovic3476]

@@oblivionwalker8613 Empty or muffled inside?

[@jeremyschneider9531]

Sweet vid, this is how I do it too! I don't like attackie, slappy kick drums! I do this both with my 22 AND my 18. Also, I like how you guys have started demonstrating the individual pitches of the two heads, that's very helpful. Thanks!

[@boyna13]

Thank you very much for this helpful video! Not only for tuning purpose, but also the play style of bearing or not bearing the beater and how to fix it by tuning.

[@irishmuse000]

Your hair grew back super quick. I want a video lesson on how to do that!

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

That’s a Patreon extra 😅

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

According to our production calendar, it just means we were filming out of order for publishing. 😁

[@BadChizzle]

@@SoundsLikeADrum good idea!

[@salvadorbravo4187]

You are great bro, thanks for sharing your talents.

[@db_on_drums]

Sounds massive🤘🏽💪🏾 Like your videos, keep going🫶🏽

[@BadChizzle]

✨❤️✨

[@clayfoster8234]

My kick sound I’ve recently arrived at is an Aquarian superkick2 batter a turn or so past wrinkles out, remo power stroke 3 reso (ported) 3 or 4 turns above wrinkles out so there’s no papery sound, and a bath towel folded into 3rds so there’s about an inch or 2 touching each head to get rid of the basketball sound. Not to brag but my kick thumps and I’ll put it up against any of the greatest kick drum sounds out there.

[@stoongi8909]

Nice one, Cody !

[@jerrygamez5723]

Thanks for the video

[@vedantturbhekar3198]

Wonderful comparison, what I do is the same, though I use a Gmad on the Batter with lil bit of thick Bedsheet folded into a square touching the Batter head and extend it just 1/4 to the top. What I do with Reso just completely changes the Bass Drum sound, Have a Ported Reso of Stock Premier and added a Felt Strip to the another side of porthole. Now here the Magic Begins, I tune Batter Fairly Medium to Medium Tight and what I did with the Reso is Tuned to almost same pitch as of batter but then turned down the reso so that I can get a Reference point. The thing I noticed was A Huge Bass Drum Sound Rounded Sound with Subwoofer like feel, the bass just fills up the whole room with a proper attack because of muffling and Gmad muffling ring. It sounds really tasty.

[@jerryburdick8051]

I enjoyed this - thank you. FWIW, my favorite was raised reso, no pillow.

[@snickpickle]

I take pride in my ability to tune instruments -- but I am primarily a string bass and horn player by trade. I am not a real drummer -- I only dabble in it a bit (read: I took "Snare Drum Techniques" class in university). That said, I find great difficulty in trying to tune a "nonpitched" instrument -- which is my first problem -- it IS a tuned instrument! So over the last decade or so, I am finally admitting that I know *nothing* about tuning drums, other than by tension. This video is going to help me intensely! Thank you for doing this video.

[@lightfootmusick]

I like to have a resonant bass drum wood. So I don't want to dampen the sound I paid extra for. I like the experimentation involved in the video to get the heads right , achieving the sound wanted. Playing the drum instead of hitting it. The old Metal days I would have a low end kit with a pillow in it, heads JAW'd but now you just trigger the kit with mesh heads for easier blast beats/metal sound. But I have realized over time that you have a studio upgraded kit and a live use kit. Party On !!

[@ricardomonteiro6436]

I would love to see this kind of "hacks and tips" on shallower drum shells, like a Tama Club Jam kit or something similar! ...very shallow floor tom and bass drum shells :)

[@Tdrums8]

Great vid .Whats tricky is getting a nice at tacky clicky bass drum and have it have more volume because you have to muffle to get more attack .Thats a hard one ..Stay well

[@DrummerRIP]

10 out of 10!

[@roykasika870]

Great stuff! It would be nice to hear comparisons between the close mic and a room mic so that we can hear how the drum interacts with the room.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Thanks! This room really isn’t conducive to that sort of recording and demonstration though.

[@sullysullster8217]

For a second I thought this was going to be about my brilliant idea of lifting and isolating the bass drum off the floor and getting a much bigger and better tone out the drum. Especially if you go with a solid front head. Maybe in future. The front legs are lifted by using a drum rug with a piece of exercise foam sandwiched by a one inch strip of wood where the legs fit into notches that keep the drum from creeping or moving. Youre welcome, drum companies that will eventually steal this idea and sell it.

[@djentlover]

11:38 Jaw 11:57 Raised

[@DreamyBongos]

Can't wait for the "Elevating your Cabasa tone" video

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

This is a Patreon exclusive.

[@jonathanreddish8590]

I'm...... pretty high when i tune........ everything is always just, so great........

[@brendanerazo]

I don't use a pillow in my kickdrum, just a half circumference piece of eggshell foam on the inside bottom of the shell. Combined with an EMAD, you get punch and tone, with not much basketball. My 26in kick can sound like an 808 if you bounce the beater!

[@ronturnertheseattledrummer]

Cody! As always, succinctly explained, including the "why", and musically and fluidly played! Question: What is the crash/ride cymbal you are using in this video? It sounds warm and beautiful. I want one. -Ron

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Glad you enjoyed it! The cymbal is a custom mod that our good friend Jesse Simpson did to clone an old Zildjian A. Cheers! -Ben

[@BCSchmerker]

+soundslikeadrum Thanks for the summary.* On my TAMAⓇ/HoshinoⓇ IMB22E, I use an EVANSⓇ/D'AddarioⓇ BD22EMADHW 10+10-mil batter and Tama-branded REMOⓇ ES-1022-00 10-mil Ebony Ambassador resonant (both tuned to G1); I had to put the bottom batter lugs on a plank to relieve the side load on the counterhoop and get _any_ sustain out o' the batter.

[@rongeremy6970]

Nice vid,,,, the bass drum I have its a smallish type, the batter and reso are pretty close so the sound is quite compact, I'm not sure of the size but definitely not a limp bizkit type 😅. I have mine tuned to a low C, with no pillow, both skins spot on, very nice.., may even put a pillow in just to dampen the batter as you said, I find it's very punchy , I am due to change my betters to the felt type so that will remove a bit of that slight click out of It,, would love to hear it 🎤 up, some say, don't think the Neighbours would like that

[@icemandrummeth7420]

I don’t hear much tone at all just punch. Where is the note of the drum? When I hit my toms i have tone, I have a note, shouldn’t the bass have tone or note albeit lower?

[@GoranRista]

If you are listening to it on your phone, of course, you are not going to hear the kick tone. When they tuned the drum higher and especially when they placed a towel, there was plenty of tone!

[@artcorvolet]

Have you done a vid with Carlock type tuning?

[@jamesgoetz6100]

I love a wide-open kick - but it all comes down to the application. A live hall, playing 16ths over 200bpm, synching up with matching guitar picking, a dead (quick and tight) head - which is very uninspiring when solo'd - yields a cleaner band sound.

[@jamesgoetz6100]

And if you're using a double pedal, it sucks when subsequent beater strikes are hitting a mushy head that is still vibrating. It's like jumping on a trampoline with other people. Varying feel and rebound.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Yep! As with all things drum sounds, context is key. What we ended up with here was hardly “wide open” but definitely provides more low end. That said, more low end might not be what you need. These are all tools for getting sounds that support and contribute to the music being played.

[@Michael127gerard]

Would you consider this tuning mic friendly ? or is it more for an acoustic scenario ?

[@samstergti9812]

I use cushions/upholstery foam, 18 x 18 x 2 inch on a 22x18 drum. Tension on both heads, never goes out of tune, doesn't ever need a mic at gigs ! Never ever use a pillow!

[@EcksLacks]

Any thoughts on using those beater patches for the batter head? I cant recall the actual name at the moment

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

That’s something you really need to decide based on your playing and experience with drumhead wear. They can be quite helpful if you’re hitting harder.

[@Darkurge666]

I struggle with getting a punchy bass drum that still leaves room for punchy and low tuned toms in the mix. It seems whenever I get a bass drum sound I really like, the toms compete for some of the same frequencies. 🤔

[@djentlover]

Fingertight kick heads for me is the ideal sound, since it lands the fundamental kick frequency to around 50-60hz. For 16" floor Tom I tune the batter to the lowest A I can get, and the reso to B above that. That lands the floor Tom frequency to around 75Hz, so nicely above the kick. The rack toms are at 90Hz (F/G#) and 120hz (A#/C#), so there's separation between all toms. What you're experiencing could also be crosstalk between the kick and toms. I hate it, but haven't found a solution to it yet. In recording it doesn't show itself fortunately. Your problem could be also room acoustics. Usually rooms have very messy low end, unless thousands of dollars of treatment has been used.

[@RichardDupre]

Curious how you would tune a 26x14 Vista Lite bass drum? Silver dot batter with no port hole. No muffling. I get plenty of rebound, almost too much

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

We get questions like this all the time and, please don’t take offense- this is the wrong question. The drum isn’t the context for the tuning or the sound, it’s part of the choice to create a sound for a context.

[@RichardDupre]

@@SoundsLikeADrum I tune my drums the way I want them to sound. It’s my sound. It’s nice to hear the tone of the drum so I tune on the higher side

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

That’s great! So are you asking how we would tune to get your sound?

[@d-weave8708]

Have you guys ever used the Evans pad inside the bass drum?

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

The EQ Pad? Yep! Cody uses a pair of them all the time inside his 24" GMS bass drum.

[@d-weave8708]

@@SoundsLikeADrum Awesome! I have a 24" kick and that's what I'm going to try as well.

[@Michael127gerard]

Do these same principles apply to 20" kicks as well ?

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Certainly!

[@BadChizzle]

Guys… is it perfectly fine for a 22” kick to have 8 lugs for each head… or should it have ten each head, to be the Cooliest? I have kicks with each setup, but both 22”. If it’s no big deal, how can I fully take advantage of the difference in lug count… if at all? Thanks… 🧐

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

It is 100% fine for a 22" kick to have 8 lugs AND you get the added bonus of being able to tune lower (if you want) because of the distribution of tension across 8 lugs instead of 10.

[@BadChizzle]

@@SoundsLikeADrum Thank you so much for the kind response! ⬅️ I would often see others with 10 on a 22”, like Ringo’s main kit… and think, maybe even though I had a nice maple kick there… it might be lacking in Coolness (meaning abilities of course), in some way. Nobody wants that!🤔 Again… new Drummer, so… such questions may ensue… and I may ask things seemingly obvious to many experienced people. I did know a 20” kick is commonly 8 lugs per head. Also my 18” has that count, so because of the 20” thing, I knew that was ok. Wish I could hang with you guys and talk shop. I’ve got many ideas that could at least be (video idea) light bulbs, if nothing else. But some are revolutionary, due to starting as guitarist and overall electronics, self taught tech. My drum brain is wired unlike the usual, to say the least. If you’re ok with hanging with guys twice your age, that is? Ha! Now that’s an actual Dad joke! 🤓😂🤣✨ Just a fun idea for some day. Thanks for reading all this, if you took the time! Your fan in nowheresville California, Chuk

[@Eurodrummer666]

Another busted myth! Thank you for this new video.

[@nickdenardo6479]

wait..... wasn't there short hair last week? to what kind of temporal trickery are we being subjected here?!?!

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

In addition to knowing a thing or two about tuning, we happen to be quite adept at time travel.

[@dustyclamper56]

Sounds better without the pillow

[@mlhbrx96]

I would think you've been in the 4th dimension a heck of a lot, as in physics, the 4th dimension is time 🕑

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Excellent takeaway. 👏🏻😂

[@mlhbrx96]

@@SoundsLikeADrum 🤘🥁