Ok...what's your secret for outiside earth shaking concert bass drum impacts?

I noticed a few corps this summer mic'd thier concert bass drums! (Yikes...this just screams Red flags to me....but I've actually thought about it.)

I have heard many different variations of High top, low bottom for tight hits with resonante impacts.

I heard a new one today actually...

Using a VF gong mallet GB1 and cutting the handle shorter for better handling. (Which when I tried this...from a distance it actually sounded closer to what I was looking for)

Either way, just thought I could pick someone elses brain on this... Mine hurts right now.

I have a 36 and a 40' Concert Bass Drums...

In 03 and 04 at Cavs, we tuned both heads to a C#, with a fiberskyn on the front, and a smooth white on the back. (40"; drums though!) At Mystique, Erik almost always tuned to an Eb, but sometimes an E (36"; in this case). Same head selection as at Cavs. Hope that helps!

He used to tune the drums so well together, that you could put one 10' away from the other, hit one at piano, and the other would vibrate even LOUDER than the other one. Nuts.

Matt

PS- Erik is a concert bass drum tuning mf!

It's the time to start buying and I was wondering which weight Fiberskyn 3 heads were used for the tuning schemes talked about above. I checked the REMO website and they list heavy, very heavy and extra heavy with no description at all. Not even the differences thickness wise between them or anything.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Matt

Good afternoon!

Interestingly, or not, the Evans Strata heads that we
use sound noticeably better the farther you move away
from them.  When tuning, we always position someone
a good distance from the drum to offer feedback.  Lately,
we have been using the Strata 1400 with power center dot
on the striking side of the drum, and on the other
side we are using the 1400 without power dot.  These
days, as we say down south, we are ";right pleased.";
We have been using the Erik Johnson tuning approach
to the drum, by the way.  It's an inexact science, isn't it?
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Take care!
Neal 

Cool.  Thanks guys!!!

Tuning the bass drum slightly higher than you think you should seems to give it that extra punch... not so much up close but especially from a distance.

40"; bass drums.  I believe that tuning to a D gave just a little more punch that we were looking for.

[quote]In 03 and 04 at Cavs, we tuned both heads to a C#, with a fiberskyn on the front, and a smooth white on the back. (40"; drums though!) At Mystique, Erik almost always tuned to an Eb, but sometimes an E (36"; in this case). [/quote]

Thanks for the tip Matt. :) Haven't you aged out yet? LOL! Graduate....You're making me feel old.

Thanks man.  Why did you guys settle on a D instead of a C#?  Also - 40"; drums?

[quote author=Dave Ratliff link=topic=1399.msg6510#msg6510 date=1163525875]
Erik,

Did you guys use strata 1400 on the ";batter"; side and the 1000 on the ";resonant"; side?  Also, why did you guys settle on the pitch of D instead of C#?

Thanks again!


[/quote]
Yes, 1400 ";on top"; and the 100 ";on bottom";

[quote author=timpnazi link=topic=1399.msg6516#msg6516 date=1163618127]
PS- Erik is a concert bass drum tuning mf!
[/quote]

Never were more true words typed...

Erik,

Did you guys use strata 1400 on the ";batter"; side and the 1000 on the ";resonant"; side?  Also, why did you guys settle on the pitch of D instead of C#?

Thanks again!

At Bluecoats, we used the strata 1400 and 1000 on the concert bass drums.  When Erik Johnson came in to work with us, he tuned heads to a C#, although I think we ended up tuning them to a D.

[quote author=drumcat link=topic=1399.msg6301#msg6301 date=1161240450]
Actually, I've wondered the same.�� What is it about the bluecoats concert bass that hums my subs, but Madison sounds like... well...

Is it the type of head?
[/quote]

I know that when I saw the Bluecoats and Madison at the same show back in June, the BC concert basses sounded like they were hooked into subwoofers or something compared to everyone else at that show.  They had Evans Strata heads on the front side (maybe both sides?) which I think are similiar to the Renaissance heads from Remo.  I am pretty sure they use a tuning scheme similiar to the old Cavaliers scheme of Erik Johnson where both heads are tuned to the same pitch.  Maybe someone from Bluecoats can chime in if I am wrong but that is what I think it is.

I also agree that the drum will sound WAY higher than you would think when you are right on top of it but SWEET when a ways away from it.  I also think the size and make up of the stadium helps the resonance.  By this I mean if you are playing in a concrete stadium concert basses seem to be more resonant than when playing in a stadium that only has aluminum bleachers and no concrete.

Thanks jim!

I just wanted to see if there were more tuning options out there.

I noticed as you said that when on top of the drum it does not sound anything like I thought it would about 20-30ft in front of the ensemble. Right next to the drum it sounded like it was cranked way too high. Thanks again!