Help Your Bass Drum Kick

[Tuning your bass drums by Waywood Music]

Tuning Bass ('Kick') Drums for Drummers

How you tune your bass drum(s) depends on preference and musical setting.

Evans heads make 'matched pairs' of heads for a variety of different applications e.g., studio use.

Other manufacturers such as Remo and Aquarian also make a variety of high quality heads for Bass Drums.

If they are tensioned until they are about to wrinkle, a big 'warm' thud, with a bit of 'click', and few unwanted overtones is achieved. Aim for even tension around the head at each tuning lug.

To make the drum sound TIGHTER, tension the FRONT head SLIGHTLY HIGHER than the batter head.
To INCREASE the 'BOTTOM END' de-tune the FRONT head slightly.
To INCREASE the 'BOOM', tension the BATTER head slightly HIGHER
To INCREASE the 'CLICK', tension the BATTER head slightly SLACKER.

For non-miked gigs it is worth tuning in a bit more 'boom' (and hence drum resonance) to increase the impact of the drum within the music.

When miking-up, a bit less resonance and a bit more click works well.

Avoid filling the bass drum with grandma's duvet. This reduces the resonance AND makes the drum a lot QUIETER (unless that is your aim).

It's better to learn to play quietly and have a better sounding drum. Then, IF damping is necessary keep it SUBTLE.

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Page Last Revised: 06 Dec 2007 17:18:06 -0000 .

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