I would rather take the head off the bass drum than ruin it by cutting a giant hole in it. I,cant see doing it, but that's my opinion.
My question to you players that do that is;
Does it matter what kind of head you use eg; Amb, Emp,etc, considering it will be more of a prop than anything else?
I would rather take the head off the bass drum than ruin it by cutting a giant hole in it. I,cant see doing it, but that's my opinion.My question to you players that do that is;Does it matter what kind of head you use eg; Amb, Emp,etc, considering it will be more of a prop than anything else?
Wayne!
Doesn't have to be a "giant hole" at all! I know what you're sayin' too! .. but .. I play a LOT of concert theater's and/or outside shows with full sound, lights, and pro sound personnel. I did NOT have a port in my front/reso head on any of my sets .. but .. these guys would like PANIC when they saw that. My drums are always in perfect shape and tuned!, but the issue became THEIR comfort in miking the drums. So ... I went with what a call a "micro port"! I did this simply to put them at ease, and have a "spot" to put the bass drum mike. The beauty of it is ... the drum sounds near EXACT as it does with no port!.. and .. 98% of the front head is still there!, plus ... you can't even SEE the port! It was the BEST solution for me .. and .. happy sound techs mean nice sounding drums in the house mix! Anyway ... here's a pic from the last Sinatra Show I played. Can you see the port?! :)
Tommyp
Tommy...Right on about not seeing that "hole", but I agree about happy sound guys, they can be one sided for sure. Its odd that they don't appreciate knowledge from a drummer that knows how to tune without holes though.
Do you see my point about ruining a head though, unless you use it that way all the time?..Was that an original Fibes head by the way?
please say its not;)
Tommy...Right on about not seeing that "hole", but I agree about happy sound guys, they can be one sided for sure. Its odd that they don't appreciate knowledge from a drummer that knows how to tune without holes though. Do you see my point about ruining a head though, unless you use it that way all the time?..Was that an original Fibes head by the way?please say its not;)
Wayne!
Rest assured, NONE of my “micro ported” front/reso heads are the OEM’s! Those come off and are stored safely, and can be returned to the drum when desired! I also cut my own ports, so they are done with precision. Funny thing is, I have ALL the OEM unaltered front heads from both my Fibes and Rogers sets! I will also add that they are all REMO coated or smooth Ambassador weight, with one felt strip. As to the sound techs? ... it really is BEST when they’re happy!😀
Tommyp
Wayne- when I was a young lad playing 'hard rock' I cut the reso heads (double bass) to where it basically just held the hoop on and had a pillow inside so the mic picked up that 60's THUD... just like no resos......then I actually LISTENED to John Bonham's playing.... now my vintage 22's and 26's have NO RESO hole and sound beautiful either slammed hard for rock or feathered for jazz..... I have a felt strip on the 22's and just a small foam strip laid in the bottom of the 26".......
HOWEVER- when I play in my 'cover band' with mics AND triggers I have a 4" hole in my 20" bass- it has a better low end punch and can be miked up without that 'rumble' that sound men don't care for and helps with double triggering....- I have 'heard' some say the rumble 'interferes' with the bass guitar sound in the P.A. I usually opt for Ambassador smooth white and use a chrome ring then paint our logo on the head.... hope this helps-
p.s.- (In my perfect world- I wouldn't cut the reso either- but did it with the band to get the best possible LIVE sound they needed) Go for the sound YOU want to hear... and hope you get a good sound man to realize that! It may take 2 mikes or even an internal mic with some damping... Good Luck!
You know look around you’ll find one with a hole in it already !
Many years ago, drum heads were not expensive to purchase, that's why most players always had newer heads on the kits. They could afford to cut holes in them for some insane reason, but these days a set of heads are a major deal.
I have pics of me 40 yrs ago playing with the bass drum head off, but there is not one pic of a head that was butchered.
I'm just amazed at the cost of drum gear today, and that's why I brought up this topic...No offence to the head surgeons!LoLoLoLo
Typically my reso heads these days I buy for the bands I am in, and I get the artwork made with the front hole in mind ( though typically I prefer nothing bigger than a 4" hole " I prefer to port my bass drum head for a few reasons. One, it does make tuning it slightly easier, especially on larger size drums. Two, there aren't many sound guys ( especially in quick band change situations ) or any there to properly mic and sound check the kit. To be honest though I've even ported reso tom heads, and loved the result. Concert tom meets standard tom. I've even saved other dead batter heads by turning them into reso heads with a center hole. But for the few heads that I'd never cut, I have an internal mic mounting system, the Kelly Shue. No extra holes, mounts using lug screws.
