A while back I found a couple of really useful sources of information for getting a good sound from a bass drum.
The first was an extract from Jeff Ocheltree’s DVD “Trust Your Ears”. He talks about using felt strips on both bass drum heads of John’s Ludwig Green Sparkle kit around 1:45 to “focus the sound”. Once you have seen one you start seeing them everywhere! A cool white vertical stripe on the bass drum head. Incidentally, you will see in the photos that follow a strip of tape (not felt) down one head. That’s not what we are talking about here. That was on the head when I got it.
The other one is some information by Available as a download for $4.75 from Dan Zalac of http://Grooovedrumming.com.
The problem:
After years of having no front head at all, having large holes in the front head, buying “holes” to put in the front head to fit a microphone in there, putting pillows in the bass drum, putting foam and sleeping bags in there (and finding that mice had sneaked inside the case and filled it up with peanuts from the bird table one winter), is there a better way?
The solution:
Dan and Jeff sold me on the idea of a single felt strip on each head. Basically, you buy a pair of felt strips and you put one vertically behind each bass drum head. I got mine from here: Felt strips made by Gibraltar from GAK.
Here’s what I did:
1) Slacken off the tuning lugs and remove the drum hoop and the drum head. Ignore the strip already on the head. That’s not it.
2) Stretch one of your Gibraltar felt strips across the drum.
3) Whilst holding the strip tight, replace the drum head.
4) Replace the hoop and tighten evenly.
5) Front/resonant head: You can trim off the excess if you want. I left mine in case I need to remove the head again.
6) Now repeat with the batter side.
7) Take off the drum hoop and the drum head.
8) Stretch the second strip over the drum as before (same side as the one on the front).
9) Replace the batter head and the hoop and tighten.
10) Rear/batter head: You can roll up the excess rather than trimming to stop it looking unsightly.
