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My goal is to get my bass drum to not sound like ass, and if possible, do so without stuffing a pillow inside. Recommendations?

Maybe this can help? http://www.saecollege.de/reference_mate ... Tuning.htm
It's a great site for everything recording-related.

Wow, an extremely comprehensive post as ever, øøøøøøø  Thanks a million!

Yeah, I like big open drums too, but at the moment I've got my bass and snare drums muted (out of ignorance). Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to cut a hole in my resonant bass drum head a while ago when my friend told me that it was 'better' 

I love the physics of this kinda stuff 

I usually try to tune the bottom head a bit higher than the top one.  For kick drum I use the same principle, get the front head to where you like it after stretching it as Brad mentioned, and then tune the resonant head a bit higher.  Sometimes a bit of muffling will help an unruly drum, for my 26" kicks I like to tear off a bunch of smallish strips of newspaper and fill the bottom with it, a couple inches deep.  This just puts a bit of weight against the bottom of the drum heads and will still let your drum ring out for the most part.

I have a pillow stuffed in there at the moment, but I'll try the newspaper!

You put the felt like this, right?



Is there any other makeshift thing to use instead of a purpose-made felt strip?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Bonham used the felt strips method, he used 2 closed heads too.  Jeff Ocheltree (Bonham's tech later in Zep's career) has a really cool DVD called "Trust Your Ears"  and goes through the whole kit and explains how he tuned the drums.  He also teched for Billy Cobham among others and offers some insight into his sound as well.  Great DVD.

What my father did on his Ludwig Red Vistalites was cut red felt in doughnuts that sit between the drum head itself, and the shell.  This allows you to have a completely 'dead' sound, good for recording in non-soundproofed rooms, but there is absolutly no overtones with this set up, and properly tuned drums (see above).

Why is the pillow so dreaded?

it effectively makes your drum smaller. stuff a pillow in a 22" kick and you have a dead 18", pretty much.

thanks for the insights, as always this is a great no-bs reference. I've got my drums just about where i want em despite my room being pretty ugly-sounding. Now i'm working on the cymbals - a terribly pricy issue. In hk only the rock kits are at all reasonably priced, and based on the ones my kit came with, i'm not enticed to buy another of those. My room's really bright, too. Even a hybrid crash is gonna pierce our ears in there. I got a sweet hand-hammered Zild. ride, really low-pitched and jazzy, but it cost over $300 usd. I basically went for it on that one since even the Zil K's were only $20 less. Not sure what angle to take when demoing a crash. the new ride's gorgeous sounding, but it's gonna take skill to keep it at a fusion-y pitch. So... any ideas? Imagine there were no used market and you can only buy Z's and Sabians. How to pick the perfect crash that won't break the bank? Actually, screw it - i prob know the answer to that one. How can i treat my cymbals to make them adapt to my needs? So i don't have to play this hit-or-miss game... I'm working on my technique of course...

hey now! sabian actually makes just as many great sounding cymbals as zildjian!

i actually have a ridiculously great pair of sabian hi hats i got for $99 and a killer 20" light crash ride (manhattan ride).

in the interest of debate i highly recommend not buying cymbals blind off the internet. cymbals are even more individual than the average guitar i'd argue. i played a dozen k rides of the same exact model before i picked out mine. some were awful! just awful! use your ears, or if you don't trust 'em bring a drummer buddy who's taste you appreciate.

that being said in my years of playing the most consistent series of cymbals i've heard have been the zildjian a custom crashes (15", 17" and 19" in particular) as well as the sabian aax studio series hi hats and crashes (non brilliant finish).

awesome input as usual. To clarify, the selection of Z and S brands is pretty awesome. But it's not cheap! And i haven't seen much else going - one other shop has some old stock of Paiste - but i already tested all of them. BUT i'll certainly look into Dream cymbals - probably they have a small distributor here running out of a Chinesier music shop - there are hundreds, but the vast majority are basically worthless save for lessons in traditional instruments (which are awesome!). Otherwise i'll have to get them shipped from the mainland - riskier but still cheap. But my main issue is with the risk in buying cymbals to use in this barely-tamed room with little frame of reference in the shop... I may be too perfectionist about it at this stage. I'll just buy a crash soon and learn to adapt my playing style.

to answer my own question: to solve the problem of painfully sizzly cymbals, cover every room surface with thick carpet. ^^; i wound up with a Sabian HHX explosion crash, 16" iirc. It looks like the cheap shit it is, and i didn't expect to like it, but it's perfect!