starclassic birch bass

i just got a starclassic performer set that i like alot but im not overjoyed at the kick.ita a 22x18 that has a nice boom to it but the attack is to hard sounding.its like a plastic blap sound.i need a softer attack.ive tried a bunch of differant heads,batter and resonance,and nothing really helps.im using a coated powerstroke 3 on the batter that seems to soften the attack a bit.is this just the way birch sounds?ive also tuned it in 100 differant combinations.any ideas would be great!thanks Jason

Aquarian Superkick III coated. Try tuning the batter head up just a little higher in pitch, make sure you are using a front head, such as a ebony like maybe a EQ3 or EQ2.

Birch has a natural attack that is brighter.

Also, a more of a square shaped felt beater can smooth out the attack some.

i see both eq heads have either a hole or "studio vents"in them.should i use a hole in my resonance head?will it cut some of the attack?thanks agin jason

can anyone comment if the hole will kill some of the initial attack and smooth it out at all?i dont like that blap sound on the beater attack.

Try messing around with the tuning, and as P Sound said, try a softer beater.

i have the same bass drums and this what i did to get a really good sound. try an evans emad for the batter and put a aqarium flam patch on... then put a aqarium regulator for the resonant head. Also put a small pillow in there that barely touches the batter head. tune both heads to the same pitch. i tuned them pretty tight. tighter then any of my toms

did u use the regulator with a hole or none?

um the one with the hole in it... i used that set up at a show and had a live recording done and it sounds awesome. i had some coated emperors and some clear ambasadors on my toms.. man the toms sounded so good. the snare could have sound better but oh well... i finally found the combo of heads i like. If you try it. tell me what you think

As far as I know a hole in your reso head will give more attack and less resonance.

First - shamless self promotion says your questions means if you have not, you may want to consider reading the FREE Drum Tuning Bible. When you couple the knowledge below with a coated head (batter) and a bit softer beater, the end result will be a softer overall sound. Another option is to try a lambs wool beater.

Second - the EQ2 is a vented head, not a head with a "mic" hole in it and as such, it behaves much like a head without a hole for sound properties, but gives you the feel of a head with a small hole in it.

The EQ3 does have a mic port, and the effect on the tone does increase the attack just a shade. Everyone seems to want a mic port, so this is why I recommended it. However, the EQ1 does not have a mic port either, it has very small air relief holes around the perimeter. The combination of a solid front, internal overtone control ring, and dry vents produces a deeper rumble that is microphone friendly and will smooth out the tone considerably. From the publication:

Kick Drum, Holes in Your Head or Not?

1. Any hole larger than 7" is like having no head at all on the drum.

2. A 7" hole creates the feel of a one-headed kick drum, feeds more beater attack direct to an audience and provides some of the tone of the resonant head. Further, it's easy to position a mic and change internal muffling devices, if used.

3. A 4-1/2" or 5" hole, or even 2 such holes, offset, allows some relief for rebound control of the kick beater, contains more of the drums resonance so that the resonant head is more pronounced in the tuning of the drum. A 4-1/2" hole is difficult to get large mic's positioned within (but can be done) and/or internal muffling altered.

4. No hole, very resonant, creates more bounce or rebound from the kick beater. It can become difficult to get the "slap" of the beater and resonance of the drum both when miced with one microphone. The muffling remains inside. The resonant head is very predominant in the overall sound.

Kick Drum, Pads and/or Pillows

1. One pad or pillow, or anything that cover a calculated 15-20% coverage against Batter head only: Beater attack accentuated, tone and sustain linger.

2. One pad or pillow, 15-20% coverage against resonant head only: Beater attack will be lessened, tone and sustain develop as a short burst of energy followed by some bright overtones.

2. One pad or pillow, 15-20% coverage against Batter head and Resonant: Beater attack accentuated, overall volume diminished a bit, tone and sustain become focused, overtones diminished.

2. One pad or pillow, 25-30% coverage against Batter head and 15-20% coverage of Resonant: Beater attack becomes much sharper and accentuated, overall volume does not diminished much more than the above, tone and sustain become even more focused, overtones all but gone. When used with a single ply muffled batter head, easy to get very sharp sound. Good choice for mic use.

2. One pad or pillow, 25-30% coverage against Batter and Resonant: A very focused sound, which becomes ideal for close micing of a kick drum. Beater attack becomes as sharp as it gets, overall volume does not diminished much more than the above, tone and sustain become short bursts of energy that when listened to without a mic, seem lifeless. A distinct "punch" sound.

Kick Drum, Sound of Characteristic Pairing of Drumheads

Note all tone and muffling characteristics from the following heads can be altered by the use of pillows/pads described in the section "Pads and/or Pillows" or the use of a hole in the drum head described under the section "Holes in Your Head or Not". Coatings and material type are as described in the section "Tom, Drumheads - Batter side". There are some similarities here to that which is used for a tom. But there are also some real differences such as the Evan's EQ and Aquarian Regulator series.

1. Single ply unmuffled Batter and Resonant: Open tone, bouncy feeling, highly resonant, ringy,

2. Single ply muffled Batter, Single ply unmuffled Resonant: Attack of the beater pops out, open tone, highly resonant, overtones diminished a bit on the initial attack but linger on the sustain

3. Single ply muffled Batter and Resonant: Attack of the beater is heard more, a dense but not quite a focused sound, overtones controlled but still there. Typical combination is the REMO PowerStroke 3 batter and resonant, or for a bit more low end try Evans EQ4 Batter paired with REMO PowerStroke 3, Evans EQ2 or Aquarian Regulator Resonant.

4. Single ply muffled Batter and 2-ply muffled Resonant: Attack of the beater pops out, wide focused sound, overtones controlled. Typical combination is the REMO PowerStroke 3 batter with Pinstripe, Evans EQ3 or Aquarian SuperKick II Resonant.

5. 2-ply muffled Batter and 2-ply muffled Resonant: Very focused and punchy attack, narrow focused sound, overtones very controlled (may need no pillows/pads). Typical combination on both the batter and resonant would be REMO Pinstripe, or Evans EQ3 or Aquarian SuperKick II.

Kick Drum, Tuning Procedure and Tricks

1. The same tuning procedure works on the kick drum as well. Simply follow the procedure listed above under "Tuning and Seating the Heads, All Drums" and take into account the following points as well.

2. A Typical tuning method is to have the batter head control the attack portion of the sound and the resonant head to control the "sustain" portion of the sound.

3. For more punch, tune the resonant side up in pitch 1-2 notes from the batter. Tune entire drum up in pitch.

4. For a "plastic" sound, use single ply batter heads tuned just to a point of the lowest note and detune

Working in a drum shop, I've heard about every combination of heads and tuning and so far, three have really caught my ear. The first was on a Pacific LX kit, maple 16x22. It was just a simple Aquarian superkick 2 pack tuned medium tight. The muffling pillow that comes with the drum was lightly touching both heas and the sound was punchy but not too clicky. The second was on a demo we did for the Evans EMAD heads which have an externally mounted muffle ring on the batter head. We took a Pacific EZ bass drum and put the emad on the front with the stock alomst-paper head on the front. The stock resonant head souned lame so we stuck an evans resonance gate pillow on it from the inside which took care of it. Basically we took the lowest quaty bass drum in the store and made it sound BETTER than the thousand dollar DW collectors sitting a few feet away... The last is my favorite so far. We bought a sweet Noble n Cooley kit that had an Evans EQ3 batter and Resonant head, an Evans Resonance gate on the batter, and an Aquarian double kick patch. The heads were tuned tighter than I;ve ever seen but the drum souns super punchy with lots of low end. All of these were tested using the standard dw two way beater.

Additionally, We just opened a new performer kit and we just lightly tweaked the heads and it sounds awesome out of the box, no muffling or beater patches anywhere. I think the main factor is tuning. Every company has a badass new head out there and they all work but not without a whole lot of trial and error on your part. I wanted to learn how to tune drums a while back so I bought some new heads, sat down with my drums, tuned em, detuned em, tuned em again, detuned em again and so on till I got it right. Good luck patnah

Nick