Here's something from book I've learned for playing quick single notes with the bass pedal(s). It's called the "downstroke" and it's taught in schools and shit.
This is a heel up technique which gives loads of power and endurance. I'm sure a lot of people are already doing this without knowing what it's called or thinking about it. I started to do this naturally with my right foot after practicing consecutive singles notes for a long time (working toward gaining speed and precision for playing double bass), and then I had to teach it to my left foot, which was a hard sell but eventually it took.
The technique is probably the one most metal players with lightening feet are using. This technique requires the springs be at least somewhat tight or very tight, loose won't cut it cuz the pedal won't be responsive enough and you won't be able to apply sufficient pressure.
Basically here's what it is: with heel slightly raised above the footboard and with the ball (part below the toes) of your foot on the sweet spot (half way down the footboard) you drop your leg a little and snap your ankle in a single motion. If you think about it, this is exactly the same motion as doing slow single notes with your hands, you arm drops and your wrist flicks the stick down. Doing this with your leg and foot give's a lot of power and endurance because you are using many muscles to push the pedal down. I think most people do this already so there's nothing new in this. It's when you playing faster notes that the technique is most meaningful. As you go faster the techinque should be modifed so that you are using more of the ankle snapping and less of the leg dropping. To see how this works, play fast single notes with your hand, you'll notice the the faster you go the the more you use your wrist, and if you go fast enough you'll be using only your wrist, you're arm won't move. Playing the bass pedal is exactly the same, works the same way.
The most important thing about the downstroke (what defines it as a downstroke) is the distance which the hammer pulls back from the bass drum head. If you are so inclined, grap a stick and play single notes with your right hand, start out quite slow and then gradually speed up till you reach your limit. You'll notice that as your speed increases, the distance which the stick comes back from the drum head decreases (as well, you use more wrist and less arm motion). This distance is very imporant, and finding the correct distance for the specific speed your are playing is what separates sloppy amateurs from flawlessly time professionals. It's all in the fluidness and uniformity of the motions.
Playing quick downstokes with the bass drum means keeping a close eye on this distance relative to the speed (which means that if you are playing double bass then both hammers have to pull back the same distance if you hope to have perfect timing) while "choking" the back swing so it doesn't come back any farther than it absolultely needs too. The less distance the hammers have to travel the less fast they have to go in order to increase the tempo. It's just like your hands exactly.
The reason the springs have to be pretty tight to do this is because they have enough resistance to pull back on their own even though you are keeping enough pressure on them to keep them from pulling back too far. With loose springs the pedal just won't come back, it will stick to the head and stay there.
For the downstroke the hammer should come maybe 2 inches from the head at slower speeds and about 1 inch at faster speeds. 1 inch isn't very much at all, but if you are applying enough pressure to the pedal and there's enough tension to work with then 1 inch of motion is all you need to create a descent thud.
The downstroke has 2 possible resting positions. While resting, the hammer can be against the head, or it can be far back from the head just like when your foot isn't touching the pedal. If you rest the hammer against the head then your heel up (this also helps with balancing). If you don't rest your hammer against the head then you have to drop your heel to the base of the foot board (otherwise you'll be working to keep your leg raised, which is wasting energy and throwing you off balance, which will throw you off time, not good). Instead of dropping my heel I've been opting for keeping the pressure on and resting the hammer against the head, it's kinda weird bu I find it's then easier to go back into to playing quick downstrokes, but it's a matter of preference of course. Anyway, either the hammer rests against the head or your heel is down, it's got to be one or the other or it's just not a downstroke and you are doing something which could be potentially throwing your balance off, and therefore your percision and timing will not be as good. Balance is key.
Like with most things in playing drums, like leaning to play palms down or doubles for example, at first it may be kinda weird and unnatural to do this downstroke thing, but after a short while it starts to feel really natural and good. Forcing yourself to do things "correctly" is always a good thing I think. If it doesn't work for you then at least you tried and you can go back to doing whatever you are comfortable with. But chances are it will work for you, that's why these techniques are called "techniques", and that's why they are taught in schools and shit.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful. If I knew this 6 months ago I could've saved myself a lot of stuggling to find my own technique because the downstroke was what I eventually ended up doing and I wasted time and fucked myself by engraining other inherently flawed techniques into myself which I'm now working to unlearn in favour of this technique. Also, I don't think I would've figured out that thing about how you either have to drop your heel while resting or rest the hammer against the head in order to keep good balance and I probably would've wasted fucking YEARS trying to be precise and in time by using what I now realize was an inherently flawed and stupid technique of trying to keep my heel up and leg raised so that the hammer wasn't resting against the head.
One other thing, if you plan to engrain this technique into yourself start out pretty slow and do it one leg at a time only, no hands, it's a far far quicker route than trying to do it while playing with both feet and hands going at the same time cuz then you have more to worry about and your mind isn't concentrating on the foot motion.
As I said, it's this sort of knowledge and practical approach to practicing which separates sloppy amateurs from true professionals, and some day in the near future I hope to be closer to the latter
cheerio,
Satori
This is a heel up technique which gives loads of power and endurance. I'm sure a lot of people are already doing this without knowing what it's called or thinking about it. I started to do this naturally with my right foot after practicing consecutive singles notes for a long time (working toward gaining speed and precision for playing double bass), and then I had to teach it to my left foot, which was a hard sell but eventually it took.
The technique is probably the one most metal players with lightening feet are using. This technique requires the springs be at least somewhat tight or very tight, loose won't cut it cuz the pedal won't be responsive enough and you won't be able to apply sufficient pressure.
Basically here's what it is: with heel slightly raised above the footboard and with the ball (part below the toes) of your foot on the sweet spot (half way down the footboard) you drop your leg a little and snap your ankle in a single motion. If you think about it, this is exactly the same motion as doing slow single notes with your hands, you arm drops and your wrist flicks the stick down. Doing this with your leg and foot give's a lot of power and endurance because you are using many muscles to push the pedal down. I think most people do this already so there's nothing new in this. It's when you playing faster notes that the technique is most meaningful. As you go faster the techinque should be modifed so that you are using more of the ankle snapping and less of the leg dropping. To see how this works, play fast single notes with your hand, you'll notice the the faster you go the the more you use your wrist, and if you go fast enough you'll be using only your wrist, you're arm won't move. Playing the bass pedal is exactly the same, works the same way.
The most important thing about the downstroke (what defines it as a downstroke) is the distance which the hammer pulls back from the bass drum head. If you are so inclined, grap a stick and play single notes with your right hand, start out quite slow and then gradually speed up till you reach your limit. You'll notice that as your speed increases, the distance which the stick comes back from the drum head decreases (as well, you use more wrist and less arm motion). This distance is very imporant, and finding the correct distance for the specific speed your are playing is what separates sloppy amateurs from flawlessly time professionals. It's all in the fluidness and uniformity of the motions.
Playing quick downstokes with the bass drum means keeping a close eye on this distance relative to the speed (which means that if you are playing double bass then both hammers have to pull back the same distance if you hope to have perfect timing) while "choking" the back swing so it doesn't come back any farther than it absolultely needs too. The less distance the hammers have to travel the less fast they have to go in order to increase the tempo. It's just like your hands exactly.
The reason the springs have to be pretty tight to do this is because they have enough resistance to pull back on their own even though you are keeping enough pressure on them to keep them from pulling back too far. With loose springs the pedal just won't come back, it will stick to the head and stay there.
For the downstroke the hammer should come maybe 2 inches from the head at slower speeds and about 1 inch at faster speeds. 1 inch isn't very much at all, but if you are applying enough pressure to the pedal and there's enough tension to work with then 1 inch of motion is all you need to create a descent thud.
The downstroke has 2 possible resting positions. While resting, the hammer can be against the head, or it can be far back from the head just like when your foot isn't touching the pedal. If you rest the hammer against the head then your heel up (this also helps with balancing). If you don't rest your hammer against the head then you have to drop your heel to the base of the foot board (otherwise you'll be working to keep your leg raised, which is wasting energy and throwing you off balance, which will throw you off time, not good). Instead of dropping my heel I've been opting for keeping the pressure on and resting the hammer against the head, it's kinda weird bu I find it's then easier to go back into to playing quick downstrokes, but it's a matter of preference of course. Anyway, either the hammer rests against the head or your heel is down, it's got to be one or the other or it's just not a downstroke and you are doing something which could be potentially throwing your balance off, and therefore your percision and timing will not be as good. Balance is key.
Like with most things in playing drums, like leaning to play palms down or doubles for example, at first it may be kinda weird and unnatural to do this downstroke thing, but after a short while it starts to feel really natural and good. Forcing yourself to do things "correctly" is always a good thing I think. If it doesn't work for you then at least you tried and you can go back to doing whatever you are comfortable with. But chances are it will work for you, that's why these techniques are called "techniques", and that's why they are taught in schools and shit.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful. If I knew this 6 months ago I could've saved myself a lot of stuggling to find my own technique because the downstroke was what I eventually ended up doing and I wasted time and fucked myself by engraining other inherently flawed techniques into myself which I'm now working to unlearn in favour of this technique. Also, I don't think I would've figured out that thing about how you either have to drop your heel while resting or rest the hammer against the head in order to keep good balance and I probably would've wasted fucking YEARS trying to be precise and in time by using what I now realize was an inherently flawed and stupid technique of trying to keep my heel up and leg raised so that the hammer wasn't resting against the head.
One other thing, if you plan to engrain this technique into yourself start out pretty slow and do it one leg at a time only, no hands, it's a far far quicker route than trying to do it while playing with both feet and hands going at the same time cuz then you have more to worry about and your mind isn't concentrating on the foot motion.
As I said, it's this sort of knowledge and practical approach to practicing which separates sloppy amateurs from true professionals, and some day in the near future I hope to be closer to the latter
cheerio, Satori
As for distance between the beater and head, I don't think it's very conscious--you adapt the distance you keep according to how fast you're playing. 
)
