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Thread: Saturn kick drum tuning

  1. #1

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    Default Saturn kick drum tuning

    I just got a new set of Mapex saturns. The toms were cake to tune as they seem to sound awesome no matter how I tune them. I'm struggling a little bit getting a sound I like out of the kick drum though.

    I have the stoke powerstroke 3 batter and reso heads. I used muffling in my pro-m kick, but I've seen a bunch of videos on youtube wherethe saturn kick sounded awesome and a bunch of people commented and asked about the setup. I was surprised because the response from several people was "stock heads, no muffling".

    So I'm curious how other saturn owners have theirs setup. Are you using muffling? Do you have both heads tuned low? Do you have a port hole?

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Saturn kick drum tuning

    Is there a particular sound that you're looking for?
    Mmm... Saturns.

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Saturn kick drum tuning

    I'm actually just looking for ideas on what sounds good. I don't mind trying out a couple different things. Right now I've got no muffling. I have the batter a little tighter than the reso. I tried tuning the batter to the lowest possible note and there was a pretty pronounced slap that I didn't like. I went a little tighter on the batter and it's very deep and boomy but there is almost a warbly quality to it. It feels like I'm getting a lot of bounce back from the batter.

    I think I may just have to spend a day messing around with different combinations of muffling and tuning and so what the options are. The tough one is obviously the descision to cut a port hole. It's going to be hard to do back and forth comparisons. I'm tempted to try it though because my understanding is that if it's a small one it won't change the sound much but may improve the feel of the batter head.

  4. #4

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    Default Re: Saturn kick drum tuning

    You're definitely going to get more of that beater blowback and warble with the non-ported head.
    Porting the reso definitely changes the feel (for the better IMHO). It also shortens the sustain and makes the doppler/pitch bend effect less pronounced. If you decide to cut a hole, start small. You can always make it bigger later if you decide to. I'd also recomend placing it off center at about 4:00.
    When I got my current kit, I was noticing the same two issues that you've mentioned with solid reso head. I went with a 4" hole to correct the feel issue. The drum wasn't nearly as boomy, but still plenty loud. It sounds like it belongs on a rock kit instead of a marching bass drum now. The hole is now 5", but essentially still 4" due to having a kickport installed. I'm not using any muffling and the heads are an Aquarian SKI (batter) and Force II (reso).
    Mmm... Saturns.

  5. #5

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    Default Re: Saturn kick drum tuning

    I have an evans emad with a ring and stock front. Got the evans loose and the front med tight . It has a big boom so I put a big towel in with about 3" touching both heads made it very controlled but not flat. I have a super kick 11 head also, may try it soon. Think it depends alot on the room and where in the room it is !
    E Drums !! !

    There are no loud instruments just loud players !

    Protect Your Hearing !!!!

  6. #6

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    Default Re: Saturn kick drum tuning

    Thanks guys. I spent a little bit messing around with it yesterday. I cut the port hole which definately improved the feel. I retuned both heads just above wrinkle. I had a small pillow that is actually made for muffling the bass. So I used that to try different combinations of muffling the batter, the reso or both. It's sound pretty good now but the pillow is just a bit too much muffling for my taste. I might look into checking out the Evans EQ pads for muffling.

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