BASS DRUM MUTING

[BloodMountain]

hi everyone

do you or the drummer in your band know how to mute a bass drum to make it sound really muted, like really plastic-y? if you don't know what sound i'm talking about, listen to some recent Dimmu Borgir or some Pantera   !

thanks everyone

[indysmith]

stuff all ur bedcovers in there. pillows, duvets, whatever.

[BloodMountain]

we stuffed my brother's (my bro is the drummer) pillows (all 3) in there, but it doesn't sound the same AT ALL.... it just made the sound a bit more muted, but not enough.... there must be another way...

[Richie Zero]

There's a good chance that there's a lot of compression added afterwards. That may be the key rather than anything you can do to change the pure acoustic sound.

[sambo]

there probably is another way but i think a fair amount of it must come from the micing up of the drum and/or the mixing of it in recordings.... and perhaps the drum itself.

i know that playing our drummers bass drum through a mixer+P.A and tweaking the settings gave it a much more muted sound...

[TwilightOdyssey]

Your drummer needs to use plastic beaters on his kick pedals. There is also a plastic disc you can add to the beater side of a kick drum to get that type of attack. Shell type has a lot to do with it. A blanket is suffient to dampen the kick but don't overdo it.

Also, tune the beater side and shell side of the kick drummer differently from each other; this will drastically alter the tone of the kick drum.

[zigmund]

Stuff the drummer in the duvet, then stuff the duvet in the bass drum.
Evens out the mix nicely.
 

[zigmund]

"Compression", we calls it.
 :lol:

[Davey]

LMAO

good one

[BloodMountain]

haha i wouldn't though, hes crazy... he would attack me!

thanks everyone, thats good advice, ill get him to try that lot.

TO, we were looking at those plastic kick pads in a shop, and we weren't sure what it did to the tone... thanks for telling  :D

[Deadstar]

As everyone else said.

+

EQ: The 150Hz - 500Hz tends to need a slight dip as well as narrower notches around 800Hz and 1.3kHz. For that Pantera sound theres usually some high end slap to accenuate the attack around 7kHz - 9kHz (I think)

Also try letting the pillow/duvet or whatever your using touch the rear skin (ie- the one thats not being "kicked")

Could also try using a noise gate (sparingly.) Please not drummers hate this when its on its own but it does clean up the mix a little in context.

Hope that helps. If in doubt make him get a better bass drum.

[38thBeatle]

Another good way to mute the kick drum is to hide the drummer's pedal-renders the kick drum totally mute.

[nfe]

Dimmu Borgir kick sounds are usually triggered like nobodies business and all Vinnue Pauls drums are gated beyond belief.

Bit of EQ as noted above will get good results. His technique also has a fair impact.

Just don't go down the horrid wooden beaters and 50p's route  :lol:  :lol:

[Deadstar]

oh yeah,  you don't mention how you mic the drum up
, this makes a lot of difference.  Even the height placement, mic type, two mics, etc...

[steve]

Tape a old credit card from the top onto the bass drum just where the pedal makes contact. So the drum actually hits the card,make sure the credit card in taped only from the top so it can move away from the drum slightly. This will give you the click you are after, its an old studio trick. If it does'nt work dont blame me im not a drummer!!