On my clubdate 20" bass drum I use a coated Remo Powerstroke 3 for the batter head. The reso head is a smooth Aquarian Regulator head with a 4" hole. Nothing on the inside. Sounds awesome miked or unmiked.

Gary,

The gig looks like it was a good one. Congratulations.

A deeper, controlled tom sound is pretty prevelant in most styles of country music from traditional to contemporary. Since you have EC2's on the batter heads then I would suggest tuning to the lowest possible pitch the drums will produce. You can tune the resonant head to the same pitch as the batter for maximum sustain, but I would suggest raising the resonant head somewhere between a minor third to a perfect fourth above the batter pitch. This will increase the punch of the tom and decrease the sustain a bit. Possibly add a touch of Moongel, but the EC2 rings will mute the drum fairly well.

As to the bass drum, what is the specific concern? Do you have any padding inside the drum? Everyone wants to jump in and stand up like a purist for the "wide open bass drum sound." The reality is that the vast majority of popular music recorded since the 70's was recorded with muffled bass drums, many with no front head. It is really difficult to reproduce that sound with an open bass drum. It does not take much muffling, but it will take a touch. If you are mic'ing the drum (and you are) then you need that impact. We all like the John Bonham kick drum sound, but that is not the sound that is typical to the style of music you are playing currently.

To keep my bass drums from creeping I use pointed spurs (no rubber tips) pushed into the rug. Then I have velcro under the bottom of my pedal. I also make sure at least 2 legs of my stool are on the rug and use the weight of my body to keep the rug from moving. All together it works very well.

get those DW clamp on spurs Buddy it will be the best 34 bucks u will spend !

I would suggest going with the single ply SKI on the batter side instead of the SKII double ply. It makes a huge difference - will give your kick drum more balls. You can keep the EQ3 or 4 on the reso side as they seem to team up well with the SKI. Once these heads are used, you will need no muffling at all for inside your kick. I run loose to medium tension on my batter and tighter tension on the reso. Have someone else play your kick while you listen to it out front, and especially through the PA - and mic placement will make a big difference. Ideally, one inside for attack and one in front of the reso (NOT in front of the hole) and this will give the soundman the best tools to make it sound great. If you have only one mic, placing it outside/ front of the reso would work just fine so long as you already have it sounding good from 5 feet in front of the kick on the stage.

I hope this helps....once you try an SKI, you will never use anything else. I used to use all kinds of batter heads, with the remo muffl AND some muffling inside. Once I was introduced to the SKI, I went with nothing inside the BD as nothing is necessary. This will allow the shell to do its job too - give it some body without booming too big producing a sound that is muddy and not controllable. These heads with built-in muffling are very popular these days - for a reason. They make most any BD sound great.

John

Hi Gary,

That kit looks great and you look very happy playing it!

I think a big part of tuning is understanding what sound you want to achieve. So, what's that sound you are looking for? I play 22" and 20" Slingerland bass drums and I tune both with high tension on the resonant side (coated ambassador head) and moderate to high tension on the batter side (coated emperor on the 22", coated ambassador on the 20"). I'm basically trying to tune the reso to a slighlty higher pitch than the batter. Both heads are muffled with felt strips. The bass drums sound perfect for me - they have plenty of punch, some sustain, and feel great. But, again, whats your perfect sound?

I have found that the Jeff Ocheltree philosophy to tuning works well for me - basically attune yourself to the "feel" at each lug (are the tensions equal among lugs), sound at each lug (aim for a consistent tone), and overall sound of the head(s). Its not an overly involved approach and doesnt require any special tuning device (other than your ears and a key :)), which I like. Anyway, take a look on you tube for clips of Jeff tuning drums, maybe it will help you to achieve that sound you are aiming for!

Good luck!

James

Easier than that. Get a Drum Dial, make sure that the head is seated and level, and using a star pattern, bring each tom lug to 75. That will get you 98% of the way there. Get your snare heads top to 85 and the bottom somewhere between 80-85 depending on the sound. Use your ear and it will sound like you did. A few people can tune easily by ear, but just get a Drumdial.

Nice setup! Looks like it was a cool gig too.

You see what I mean, I'll try the SK 1, but now I wasted $45 on the EQ3, since it was seated on the bass, I cant return it or sell as new anymore, but thats the story of my drum like, I can't get it right the first time, my own fault though. Hey Scott you get my PM on the mic?