Kick drum heads.

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

User avatar
fremitus
pushin' record
Posts: 290
Joined: Sun May 30, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: vermont!
Contact:

Kick drum heads.

Post by fremitus » Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:52 pm

Sure it's a silly question on the recording forum. But I need a new kick head for our rock kit and was wanting to hear some opinions as to what the preferred batter side head for pure rock fury is.

riantide
takin' a dinner break
Posts: 170
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2005 6:23 pm
Location: portland
Contact:

Post by riantide » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:13 pm

Ok, so first the annoying questions: What kind of kit and what size is the drum?

Now, with that out of the way, here's what I would probably say regardless of your answers: Remo Powerstroke III

I love that head, but I always put them on my old ludwig vistalite kit, which are kinda unique-sounding kits. People have brought in Aquarian and Evans heads that were cool, but I love the Powerstroke.

It has great built-in dampening, too. I love putting one on either side with no hole. Tons of resonance, not too much ring.

My $0.02

User avatar
fremitus
pushin' record
Posts: 290
Joined: Sun May 30, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: vermont!
Contact:

Post by fremitus » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:32 pm

specifically:
Pearl Session Maple Kit 22" kick.

argonautlabs
gimme a little kick & snare
Posts: 75
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:16 am

Post by argonautlabs » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:21 pm

I also like the power stroke III. I prefer not to have the little pad over where the beater hits the head. It messes with the attack, but obviously then the heads don't last as long. I like the remo ebony ambassador heads for the front. The ebony are easier for me to dampen, thicker maybe? I hate anything with the foam ring inserts. Just makes the whole thing dead for me.

User avatar
oldguitars
steve albini likes it
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:17 am
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Post by oldguitars » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:56 pm

thud= Powerstroke and smooth white ambassador with 8" hole, small towel touching both heads (all my 22" work great like this)

boom thud= coated emperor and smooth white small towel touching both heads and no hole. (my 60's ludwig 20" is a cannon like this)

Big Boom= Fiberskyn BD both sides, towel or no towel, depending on drum. My 28" will make your ass rumble like this, with small towel...
Oh, excuse me! Do you mind if I date yer punkin?

User avatar
digitaldrummer
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3476
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:51 pm
Location: Austin, Texas
Contact:

Post by digitaldrummer » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:05 pm

Evans EMAD's and Aquarian Superkick are good sounding too. I also tried the new Remo Powersonic head - it's not too bad either. much like the EMAD.
Mike
www.studiodrumtracks.com -- Drum tracks starting at $50!
www.doubledogrecording.com

mattwhritenour
pushin' record
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 5:59 pm
Location: Oak Ridge
Contact:

Post by mattwhritenour » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:16 pm

+1 Remo Powerstroke III

I find the Aqurian Superkick to be for people that can't tune a bass drum so let's just dampen the F*** out of it. It has no life.

User avatar
DrummerMan
george martin
Posts: 1436
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:18 pm
Location: Los Angeles
Contact:

Post by DrummerMan » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:12 pm

I was always a plain coated ambassador or emperor type guy, usually with a felt strip running across somewhere, but I had to put all new heads on an old ludwig kit recently and I was in a family-run drum shop with a good vibe and I felt like widening my horizons a bit so I decided to ask the shop owner what I should use on the bass drum. He recommended the smooth white powerstroke 3. My first internal inclination (as a jazz snob by upbringing) was, "what? not coated?!?! and aren't powerstrokes for frizzy haired rockers who don't know how to tune or dampen a drum right?" I decided to take his recommendation anyway, though (being the open minded guy that I am), and I have to say it kicks ass. all over the place.
Geoff Mann
composer | drummer | Los Angeles, CA

MoreSpaceEcho
zen recordist
Posts: 6671
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 11:15 am

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:20 pm

mattwhritenour wrote:I find the Aqurian Superkick to be for people that can't tune a bass drum so let's just dampen the F*** out of it. It has no life.
but if you CAN tune a drum, the superkick2 batter with an evans eq-whatever on the front yields a pretty damn good 'rock' kick drum that doesn't really need any eq to sound 'finished'. and that's nice.

agreed about the fiberskyn big boom. if you tune it as low as it'll go and really dial in the note, it's a pretty great sound. can really fill up a room, so you can play really sparse beats. which is good if you're lazy like i am.

i like the powerstroke 3 as well, and that's probably as close to a standard as anything, i'd think.

off topic but on the subject of heads, have you guys tried the fiberskyn powerstroke on snare? kind of cool. pretty muffled and not much at all in the way of harmonics, but what's cool is that the fundamental still sustains...in a way that's much different from how a drum sustains (or doesn't) with any amount of moongel on it...

ckeene
suffering 'studio suck'
Posts: 418
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 2:15 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

Post by ckeene » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:25 pm

another +1 for Powerstroke heads from a another guy who's innately skeptical of new-fangled gear.

cgarges
zen recordist
Posts: 10890
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2003 1:26 am
Location: Charlotte, NC
Contact:

Post by cgarges » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:10 am

For a modern-ish rock sound with a small hole in the front head, I really like the Evans coated EQ3s, although the clear ones will do in a pinch. For more low-frequency information and less attack, I like the Aquarian Super Kick I. For ultimate 70s rock power, coated Ambassador. Fiberskyns are also extremely useful.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

permanent hearing damage
re-cappin' neve
Posts: 654
Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:55 pm
Location: philly
Contact:

Post by permanent hearing damage » Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:15 pm

+1 for EMAD

the plastic rings kinda break off quickly and you wanna tape the foam piece in there or it will fall out on you.

chorga1
pushin' record
Posts: 270
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:48 pm
Contact:

Post by chorga1 » Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:04 pm

Aquarian superkick batter + evans eq2 or eq3 on the front = crazy boom


I have an old 20" sonor set up like this that I use as an acoustic 808 sound. Surprisingly convincing!


the superkick is purty dead, but can be just the right thing if you have a nice open resonant head

User avatar
fremitus
pushin' record
Posts: 290
Joined: Sun May 30, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: vermont!
Contact:

Post by fremitus » Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:42 pm

thanks for all of the feedback. i have a good deal avail on the powerstroke 3 so we'll give that a shot. i'll report back on how it matches with this particular beast....

archwisp
audio school graduate
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:11 pm
Contact:

Post by archwisp » Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:36 pm

I have a set of Evans EQ3 with a 6" vent and an Evans EQ Pad resting ever so lightly against my reso. Sounds great to me.

Edit: Oops, just noticed that this post is a few days old; sorry :)

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 72 guests