Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

Eramyth wrote:As a drummer for all most 30 years I continually see something that has always made me ask wtf under my breath. So I'm here not to bash but to ask. Why do drummers insist on putting Laundry in there bass drums??!! I mean its bad enough when you take the front head off, but then to cram the drum full of crap is the best way to make it sound horrible. It cuts the volume and the sustain. Is this just because drum teachers are not teaching drummers to tune a bass drum correctly?
If I've offended you I'm sorry but its a valid question.

This is a great opportunity for you to make a video and show us how its done. Then you can play on your drums and let us hear the sounds you are talking about.
When miking a drum kit for live concert performances sustain is not that great.

So my question to you is, you use nothing what so ever to muffle any part of your drum kit?

For me "to muffle or not to muffle" is all a matter of the style of music that I'm playing and who I am playing with.

Moon gel.

Also, I approve the use of the proper terminology. Bass drum. Have you ever kicked a drum?

Yeah, 'bass drum' is one of those big suckers kids carry in marching bands. 'Kick drum' is the one that kit players use. Laundry? Never seen it. Pillows - yes. To tame the volume, mostly, and to take some of the high end click out of it.

So, you're saying you have kicked a drum. thanks for taking part in our survey.

The first answer would be ignorance of your bass drum and its function. The second reason is copying bad habits. The third is that a vast number of drummers think it sounds better. problem with that is it only sounds better behind the kit( or so they think). That's why its the first drum to be lost in the mix when you add other instruments.

I've played with every different kind of drummer in this department. No muffling. Resonator head off with and without a pillow in there. I currently have a bass port in mine (with nothing inside). It all sounds good, or can. Depends on the style, the overall dynamic of the band.
But let's save the hate for those tinny triggered samples in the heavier (dorkier) styles of metal. Unbelievable that it's an actual thing.

it's really quite simple.

people usually do things w their equip so they can get the sound/tone that THEY like.

YOU don't like a muffled kick? huzzah.
well, that's YOUR choice. someone else is gonna have a different take on it. it ain't brain science.

look, i have some of my gtrs and basses set up w flat wound strings. and they don't ring out as brightly or sustain as long as round wound strings! can you guess why i do that? yep.....because that's the sound/tone that i'm going for on those instruments.

your mileage (and tastes)...they'll ALWAYS vary.

Planetguy wrote:it's really quite simple.

people usually do things w their equip so they can get the sound/tone that THEY like.

YOU don't like a muffled kick? huzzah.
well, that's YOUR choice. someone else is gonna have a different take on it. it ain't brain science.

look, i have some of my gtrs and basses set up w flat wound strings. and they don't ring out as brightly or sustain as long as round wound strings! can you guess why i do that? yep.....because that's the sound/tone that i'm going for on those instruments.

your mileage (and tastes)...they'll ALWAYS vary.

huzzah, huzzah!



I had never heard that term before I went into a live re-enactment of the Boston city meeting to discuss seceding from England in the Revolutionary War and some of the locals were yelling "huzzah" when they agreed with something.

That sounds weird to a Texan. We just say yaaaaahooooooooo




.

For small, noisy venues such as a bar, it can work surprisingly well. What I've seen (and even used once), is a pillow in a kick drum, batter head only, mic setting on the pillow a couple inches from where the beater hits the batter. When done with a little care, a nice thumpy thud with no sustain is accomplished. When the audience is there to drink and dance and "make a joyful noise", sustain is not helpful.

I've never seen it done with "laundry", though. Maybe that's only for the clothes minded. I have seen laundry in a bass drum, so I know it exists. Some years back I bought (on impulse) a used Pearl Export Series 7-piece set, with all stands, a Yamaha snare, piccolo snare, and a bag of mixed cymbals, all for $200. The shells were in good condition, so I figured it was a deal. Anyway, what I thought was a pi!low in the bass turned out to be some old bed sheets and a T-shirt. Judging by the amount of tape, and even weather-stripping, on the heads, it had belonged to some kid whose mother never knew where her sheets went. Gloves, some Lysol, and my new laundry was done and off to its new home in the local landfill. I have to admit that I never tested the " laundry" sound, tho.