Silent kick drum?

[fade_2_black]

I'm after an alternative to triggering kicks off a drum pad - something that will allow me to have drummers play regularly (and preferably with a regular feel!) while having no acoustic kick to deal with in other mics.

I've recently found myself wanting to edit hands a feet separately and this obviously isn't a fun thing to try and do a lot of the time. Additionally, I've been finding, unless I close mic individual cymbals, I find myself ending up with very thin sounding cymbals as I'm chopping a lot of out get rid of nasty kick spill.

I was thinking of looking at getting one of those mesh heads - http://www.steveweissmusic.com/product/pearl-mesh-drum-heads/mesh-drum-heads - and hoping these would still transfer enough energy to work with triggers? Does anyone have experience with this?

If not, any other suggestions? Thanks!!

 

[updog]

Yes, mesh heads will work with triggers - that's basically what they're used for in modern electric drumkits, as well as converting acoustic kits to fully triggered silent ones.

The feel won't be 100% the same... But if the drummers can properly monitor what they're playing, it should work.

 

[sawtooth]

How about this?

http://www.alesis.com/realheadkickpad

 

[colonel_claypoo]

I played on mesh heads back when I was trying to be a drummer but the feeling is nowhere near that of real skins so I presume many drummers will have a problem with it. others might be suprised because I found mesh heads give you more rebound which makes blast beats easiert:Spin:

 

[Trevoire520]

That alesis kick pad is still pretty loud. Not as loud as a kick drum but I'd expect a real kick with a mesh head to be quieter.

 

[Damage, Inc.]

Call this guy.

No editing needed, problem solved!

 

[fade_2_black]

Only problem with that Alesis trigger pad is that it gives quite a thud when kicked with force.

Also, I ideally want to be able to fit a head to the drummer's existing kit. That way, kick mounted toms, etc, are still as they normally would be.

I just went to my local music store to ask about them, they checked their stock levels and had some at their warehouse on sale for $20 each so I purchased 5! Haha!

 

[Benny H]

I'm a drummer and have used mesh head on kick. I got it to feel ok by having it quite loose and stuffing the drum full of pillows/blankets etc.
It's way too bouncy with tension on it, but it seems like it's gonna break when it's really loose. I also had a falam slam pad thingo on it.

With this method it's still got quite a splat and thud - compared to only the mesh head with no 'stuffng' in behind it, but it's obviously way quieter than a fully resonant normal kick setup.

 

[OneDaySky]

Does anybody here know of a single trigger system, im just looking for something to trigger the kick drum live, but it must be able to store my own samples in its library!

 

[olif8]

A laptop?

 

[Lon]

just stuff the kick completely full, remove the resonance head and let it rest on a bit of foam so the thud will not travel through the floor into the micstands, on my old bands last project i edited the feet and hands seperately on blastbeats to align them onto eachother (hammerblasts) and the little bit of "thack" that is on the overheads will get sucked up by the mix

 

[jotun725]

Love Damage, Inc's response. Literally burst out laughing at work.