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Thread: Death of a Drum Head

  1. #1

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    Default Death of a Drum Head

    Yesterday, I killed my 22" drum head by drilling a hole in it with what was a miserably failed attempt to add a mic port. I am looking for another drum head with a side port no bigger than 5-6" max. Anyone know of a good head to use? By the way, I do stuff, a lot. Should I stop stuffing and port out my kick drum? Leave it stuffed and add a port? or just plain slap a solid head on there and call it a day?
    Just crank that volume to the point of pain...Why waste good music on a brain?! -Spinal Tap

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Death of a Drum Head

    I recently decided to not use a port hole. Instead, used felt strips on both batter and reso heads with nothing in the BD. Man, it sounds great...the shell is resonating and I have that great booming Bonham sound. So, I recommend that you try it...if its not for you, then go for the port hole and the pillow...

  3. #3

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    I had a port hole in my old bd head and changed it to a no port hole and I love it. I only have a small pillow that barely touches the batter and reso head and it is 2 inches thick. When I had the ported hole I had blankets pillows and was not happy with the sound.

  4. #4

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    Default Re: Death of a Drum Head

    Try the Aquarian regulator with small hole. Sounds like what you're looking for.
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  5. #5

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    Ported and solid resos will give your kick a very different feel. I prefer the way a ported head feels. I know you're talking about how it sounds here. It's just something else to consider.
    Mmm... Saturns.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by russ View Post
    try the aquarian regulator with small hole. Sounds like what you're looking for.
    +1
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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Russ View Post
    Try the Aquarian regulator with small hole. Sounds like what you're looking for.
    That's what I'm using with a small 3" pillow that just slightly touches each head. I love the sound of my bass drum and so does everyone else.
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  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by nio View Post
    I recently decided to not use a port hole. Instead, used felt strips on both batter and reso heads with nothing in the BD. Man, it sounds great...the shell is resonating and I have that great booming Bonham sound. So, I recommend that you try it...if its not for you, then go for the port hole and the pillow...
    +1 on felt strips.

    Try felt on both heads, and add a port as well. I get a lot of compliments using that setup on my 24in Gretsch BD. My thought is... you don't put a pillow in your floor tom, do you? Let that baby resonate! Just control it a little...

    I think the Aq Regulator Reso has the same effect, but I'm not sure how much dampening it provides vs felt (which you can control by where you lay the felt).

    I now have felt on my Brady BD batter side.
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  9. #9

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    Default Re: Death of a Drum Head

    Thank you all for your feedback. Please, keep it coming, as I am inexperienced in choosing the right heads and how to make them feel and sound the way I want them to. I have looked at an Aquarian Regulator head, and it sounds like what I'm interested in at this time. If all else fails, it's back to the original Pearl head I go.
    Just crank that volume to the point of pain...Why waste good music on a brain?! -Spinal Tap

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by russ View Post
    try the aquarian regulator with small hole. Sounds like what you're looking for.
    +3
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    Then you can use napkins to wipe your hands instead of taping them to your heads.

  11. #11

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    What are you using on the batter side? I'm not a huge fan of bass drum stuffing, and would rather see minimal muffling techniques used. It makes no sense in my mind to stuff a drum that's supposed to sound big with a bunch of junk to make it not sound big.

    Porting for a mic is a must IMO, and like others I actually prefer the feel of a ported kick drum.

  12. #12

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    Smile Re: Death of a Drum Head

    Quote Originally Posted by TOE KNEE View Post
    That's what I'm using with a small 3" pillow that just slightly touches each head. I love the sound of my bass drum and so does everyone else.
    Nice to hear someone is using the small pillow as it works good.

  13. #13

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    +4 aquarian

    having a big booming resonate kick is all good until you want to play fast and clean

    personally i like to mimic the sound of a fist hitting a slab of raw meat

  14. #14

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    this is not about the post but...
    i love your avatar drum for food is that the family guy chester cheetah, is talking about neil peart.
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  15. #15

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    Just about any reso head+Kickport+NO pillow=
    DW - PEARL - PDP - ZILDJIAN - EVANS - VIC FIRTH


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    If we had centerfolds for drums,that kit would be in one of them!

  16. #16

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    Default Re: Death of a Drum Head

    Well, everyone else has voiced their methods of muffling or not muffling the bass drum...I just bought a new Yamaha Oak Custom kit and to say the kit is Loud is an understatement!
    Aquarian Focus-X heads went on the Toms and Viol'a...they sound marvelous~. On my Kick I put an Evans EMAD...I also picked up some One Inch Thick high density foam from a auto upholstery shop...just enough to almost wrap the bottom half of the shell. The Reso head is my old Remo Ebony YAMAHA logo head with the offset port hole ( taken from my Practice kit at home). Say what you will about not using any type muffling to deaden the resonance of the shell...this kick drum was LOUD and I wanted my kick to have a deep THUD with just a short amount of sustain and thats exactly what I have. Its deep, it blends in perfectly with the bass guitar and its got this really nice short sustain that just sounds so darned good. Not every kick drum will respond to this method ...but for those who are experimenting with different ways of muting their kick drum...this is one more method to try.
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  17. #17

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    I'm EMAD fan myself. I'm using the foam ring on the batter to dampen both ECX bass drums for more aggressive rock music but for blues and oldies, I use a pillow stuffed into my 14x22 ludwig bass drum and a no port reso and PS3 for the batter. Nice thud.

  18. #18

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    Default Re: Death of a Drum Head

    forum search

    "kick port"

    39 topics found

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Russ View Post
    Try the Aquarian regulator with small hole. Sounds like what you're looking for.
    I was really close to picking one of those up, but found something on ebay at the last minute. I found an Evans Onyx Resonant Head with about a 4" hole. So far so good. My main justification for a port hole really was so that I could shove a mic in there when going live. Although I can't really tell a difference from my old head right now because I've got half of a couch stuffed into my kick drum, I'm sure if I pull all that cotton out, I'll be sure to get a noise complaint from the neighbors.
    Just crank that volume to the point of pain...Why waste good music on a brain?! -Spinal Tap

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by usererror View Post
    this is not about the post but...
    i love your avatar drum for food is that the family guy chester cheetah, is talking about neil peart.
    Far out, finally someone got the avatar. It is indeed Chester Cheetah himself snorting a line of Cheetos while listening to Rush - Tom Sawyer. THERE IS NO ******* DRUMMER BETTER THAN NEIL PEART!!!
    Just crank that volume to the point of pain...Why waste good music on a brain?! -Spinal Tap

  21. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by russ View Post
    try the aquarian regulator with small hole. Sounds like what you're looking for.
    +1

  22. #22

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    Thumbs up Re: Death of a Drum Head

    Quote Originally Posted by willdrum4food View Post
    Far out, finally someone got the avatar. It is indeed Chester Cheetah himself snorting a line of Cheetos while listening to Rush - Tom Sawyer. THERE IS NO ******* DRUMMER BETTER THAN NEIL PEART!!!
    I agree with you I love Neil Peart and he is the best out there IMO.

  23. #23

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    Aquarian superkick II for the batter and an Aquarian regulator for the reso. Put a small pillow in the kick and you will get a good booming punchy sound!
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  24. #24

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    One Evans EQ pillow with Emad batter with 1/2" foam ring and 4 inch ported reso.


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