Bass Drum Muffling

[ArthurD]

Hi guys, let me know your bass drum muffling tips!
I use a small feather pillow inside my 22" Tama Starclassic, barely touching the beater skin.
To fix it I lightly taped a bit of velcro inside the Bass Drum.

 

[SoundsLikeFog]

I myself find tuning giving infinitely better results.

 

[Mago]

Rolling a towel and taping it to the lower half of the resohead on the inside sometimes works quite good.

 

[heshian46]

I myself find tuning giving infinitely better results.

No matter how good you are at tuning kick drums, for metal you'll almost always need some dampening to get the punchy/clicky sound were familiar with. Otherwise you get the boom for days.

Most guys over-do it though, usually a small towel rolled up nicely or a small pillow, placed just touching the beater, is the all you need.

 

[juarez]

I get the best results by dampening the resonant head with a small pillow, rather than the beater head.

 

[botus99]

Depends on the genre/tempo.

If it's fast and thrashy, pillow touching the beater head
If it's slower and vibey, pillow touching the resonant head

There is no best position, just the best position for the given song/verse/phrase/etc

 

[bryan_kilco]

Our drummer went out and bought a like $60 little Remo or Evans (forget which) pillow thing that sticks on with velcro and basically does nothing. I LOL'd.

 

[ArthurD]

I myself find tuning giving infinitely better results.

Even tuning the right way, sometimes it still too boomy/boxy for speed/thrash metal...

But when I'm recording hard rock I use a fabric strip on the skin just like Bonham used to do

 

[C_F_H_13]

2 different methods here:

One is just a pillow touching both heads. I REALLY HATE the wierd resonances/sustained notes you get with kicks that are dead, so this is preferable for me. If I need a long kick sound I'd rather add a static sample.

If I'm doing something more on the indie rock side though, I get a basic beach/bath towel. I fold it in half lengthwise, and then widthwise. Lay it in the bottom, generally speaking there should now be 3-4 inches on each side of extra towel. I then fold that over and push it against each head. Seems to control it a little without losing much.

a third thing which I've seen done, but don't do myself is some guys I know just lay a pillow against the outside head. When you hit the kick drum the pillow jumps off the head barely and then settles again.

 

[Via Noctis]

Our drummer went out and bought a like $60 little Remo or Evans (forget which) pillow thing that sticks on with velcro and basically does nothing. I LOL'd.

I bought the same thing but I place a 2 lb weight on it. It works now.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I bought the same thing but I place a 2 lb weight on it. It works now.

Just seems to me that it's not enough by itself. Most drummers I know have a heavy-ish blanket in there. Why pay $60 for a small pillow when you can go buy a real pillow for way less?

 

[egan.]

Just seems to me that it's not enough by itself. Most drummers I know have a heavy-ish blanket in there. Why pay $60 for a small pillow when you can go buy a real pillow for way less?

I'm not saying it makes it worth it, but if you're touring the pillow is in the same place every night. It's one less thing for the drummer to spend twenty minutes dicking with while everyone else is ready. Also, they are really soft and I once used one to sleep for a whole tour without ever bothering to ask why there was velcro on it. Obviously this negated the first advantage.

 

[RedDog]

I myself find tuning giving infinitely better results.

This.

Emad 2, eq3 reso head. Don't want resonance? Forget the eq3.

I have a towel inside mine that doesn't do anything but give my cat a place to sleep.

 

[FrankTheSmith]

I use triggers so I pack that bitch with a hug blanket.

 

[Machinated]

I kind of move it around until it sounds right for what I'm working on. Usually that's just slightly touching both heads but sometimes just the front or back.

Never been that struck on emads personally, powerstroke III has suited me better.