drumming secrets

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"Does foam help to create a deep sound?"

Dear Juan,

I play on a Sonor Phonic from 1975, special edition. It's got heavy duty shells 13, 14, 16 and a 24" bass drum. The snare drum is a Gretsch Cob from the 70ies. I always enjoyed playing on it, but lately I find it difficult to tune the 'bitch'.

1. Specially the 14" tom resonates with a sound that doesn't belong there. I have tuned up the resonant drum head; the sound gets a bit better, but to me it sounds too high pitched!

2. The snare sounds nice and beefy, short, funky and almost perfect, however if I need more sustain for playing blues, the sound becomes too dry and to my opinion body-less. Any suggestions for creating a deep and warm sound?

My bass drum sounds too damped and too short and has no tone at all. This type of kick sound doesn't really fit with a lot of music styles; how do I get depth and more sound?

Thanks!

Henk

Hello Henk! 

Nice setup you've got there....I wouldn't call it a 'bitch' if I were you, ha,ha,ha,...maybe that's why it doesn't want to sound anymore... 

Just kidding man! Maybe you simply need to put on some new drum heads... What kind of drum heads have you been using all the time? 

Now about your bass drum: GET OUT THAT FOAM RIGHT IMMEDIATELY!! That really kills all the sound of any drum shell. If you want to dampen your bass drum, use the pad that Evans has put out on the market for bass drum damping; in this way you are able to have a full sounding bass drum that can sound shorter without doing harm to the sound quality and tone of the shell! 

Snaredrum: please take your snare to one of my clinics and then we can have a quick look at it; I am sure I can teach you how to fix any of the snare strainer problems you might have at this point. Let's make this 'bitch' sound fab, ha,ha,ha,....I am sorry man, I just had to use your word again... Yo will get your old trusty sound back I'm sure of it! 

Good Luck and see you soon at one of my clinics, 

Juan