What bass guitar note corresponds to the bass drum?

[asberrys]

Hi.I don't really know where to put this MODS so I am putting it here in the most popular category.Please move as necessary.

What note on the E or B string is the Bass drum tuned to?
Can a frettless bass sound more like a bass drum to the extent it is diffuse and not focused like a fretted low note?

[chokeslam512]

Depends in the size of the bass drum and the tension of the head. Ask your drummer, he should know.

[jarrhead]

If he doesn't know, use an acoustic tuner and put it up.

[TC2112]

Drummers can tune drum heads just as you can tune strings and different size kicks make different bass drum tones. There is no specific note that all bass drums are tuned to. Not all Bass drums even have an discernible tone. Motown drummers are the first thing I think of when I think of musical sounding kick toms, but a lot of bands are simply looking for impact and not musical quality.

[KramerBassFan]

Originally Posted by TC2112

Drummers can tune drum heads just as you can tune strings and different size kicks make different bass drum tones. There is no specific note that all bass drums are tuned to. Not all Bass drums even have an discernible tone. Motown drummers are the first thing I think of when I think of musical sounding kick toms, but a lot of bands are simply looking for impact and not musical quality.

+1

Alot of drummers don't tune their drums.

Sounds "good" live, but not necessarily in the studio.

[asberrys]

Unbelievable response time.Thanks guys.
I was thinking along the lines of a 22 or 24(like bonhams).
Tuned pre-wrinkle as I think they say.

I am thinking a 24" would probably be found on a B string or below.F#?

[jarrhead]

I dont think it would be any lower than a 4 string bass.

[MarkTAW]

A string can be thought of as a two dimensional surface. It vibrates in two dimensions (it vibrates in 3 dimensions, but humor me).

A bass drum head is three dimensional. I vibrates in many, many directions at once. It can also, like bass strings, be deadened by foam. Drummers can tune their drums to notes, but usually don't. If there are 6 to 8 tuning machines around the head of the drum, that's 6 to 8 points where the drum needs to be tuned, not to mention the front & back heads.

All this adds up to something that, unless care is taken in tuning, leads to a a complexity too great to be summed up in a single note.

Take a look at kick drum sounds in a spectrum analyzer and you'll see what I mean.

[Implosion]

Originally Posted by asberrys

Unbelievable response time.Thanks guys.
I was thinking along the lines of a 22 or 24(like bonhams).
Tuned pre-wrinkle as I think they say.

I am thinking a 24" would probably be found on a B string or below.F#?

Besides the diameter of the kick drum also the depth is a contributing factor as well the number of plys on the shells. It's also good to remember that materials* have improved over the years and therefore you can nowadays get a 20" kick that can sound like a 24".

*One of our drummer's kits has got shells that are made from carbon fiber. The rims weigh more than the shells

[asberrys]

Carbon fiber has created a very durable warm drum compared to fiberglass from what I have heard but I don't think it has changed the phsyics of 3 dimensional standing waves and helmholtz resonators with all due respect.
I don't think it is physically possible for a 20" bass drum to sound like a 24".

[Implosion]

Originally Posted by asberrys

Carbon fiber has created a very durable warm drum compared to fiberglass from what I have heard but I don't think it has changed the phsyics of 3 dimensional standing waves and helmholtz resonators with all due respect.
I don't think it is physically possible for a 20" bass drum to sound like a 24".

Well you are right that the "tuning frequency" of the drum is dependant on the diameter. But are you suggesting that the diameter is the only thing contributing to the sound? Besides how the drums are tuned, the heads (batter/resonant), thickness of the shell, the material and the amount of plys in the shell, the hole in the resonant head (or like in the 70/80s without a r.head), etc. All of those things have developed in terms of materials and manufacturing (except the hole cutting, I guess it's still probably done drawing a circle with a roll of duct tape as a template ). So if were to correct my previous post it would be that you can do a lot more with 20"' kick than before. The differencies between different size kicks have narrowed (IMO).

[hipo]

Ok well i play rock but i have never met a drummer who knows what note his skins are tuned lol

[asberrys]

IMPLOSION I agree with you there 100%.

[M0ses]

Originally Posted by jarrhead

I dont think it would be any lower than a 4 string bass.

Wrong. They're lower, alright. I can't say exactly how much, but they are definitely on the bottom of the spectrum.

[bass player 48]

Originally Posted by Implosion

(except the hole cutting, I guess it's still probably done drawing a circle with a roll of duct tape as a template )

No, no, no... you hold a coffee can with a pair of vice-grips, heat it up red hot with a brazing torch, and use that to punch the mic hole in the kick drum... it kind of coterizes the edges of the hole. Works great.

[sonic assassin]

i know hip hop is tuned mostly around 80 hz. an 808 is there. slide from E-12 to E-open. bass drop.

otherwise.. most drummers wont pick notes. ive found the resonant frequencies of toms before to try to get maximum resonance, but never a kick.

kicks are tuned to the key of boom. and some are triggered to the key of click. thats all i can tell you

[bongomania]

As a drummer who also plays bass, I can tell you that good drummers do spend a lot of time tuning their drums just right. They almost always do it by ear rather than using a tuner though, and one big reason for that is that any one drum is a system of resonating surfaces. There's the shell--and some companies, like DW, actually mark the resonant frequency of the shell on the inside. Then there's the batter head and the resonator head. They have to be tuned to resonate with each other, and with the shell, such that the cumulative wave coming from the drum is strong and stable (not detuning or warbling or muddied). Each individual drum will have about two to four cumulative tunings that will sound best, where all resonating components reinforce each others' strength. Unfortunately a lot of drummers don't know how to tune their drums.

Originally Posted by M0ses

Wrong. They're lower, alright. I can't say exactly how much, but they are definitely on the bottom of the spectrum.

You don't know, but he's wrong.

Back to the OP--it sounds like you just want to get a kick drum sound from your bass. That means the note is totally irrelevant. You want a sharp attack, a short decay, and a non-sinusoidal wave. You might be able to approach this using a pick, foam mutes under the strings, and maybe even a distortion pedal for further wave shaping.

[somedumbguy]

Drums are a non pitched instrument.

[Billnc]

[quote=bongomania;8301365]As a drummer who also plays bass, I can tell you that good drummers do spend a lot of time tuning their drums just right. They almost always do it by ear rather than using a tuner though, and one big reason for that is that any one drum is a system of resonating surfaces. There's the shell--and some companies, like DW, actually mark the resonant frequency of the shell on the inside. Then there's the batter head and the resonator head. They have to be tuned to resonate with each other, and with the shell, such that the cumulative wave coming from the drum is strong and stable (not detuning or warbling or muddied). Each individual drum will have about two to four cumulative tunings that will sound best, where all resonating components reinforce each others' strength. Unfortunately a lot of drummers don't know how to tune their drums.


[quote]



I drum teched (read I did what he told me to do) Kenny Washington for a gig. Coated heads on all sides of the drums, he had a small kit and did it relatively quickly, but tuned ALL the drum heads, top and bottom by hitting the whole kit. Each drum and drum head affects the sound of the whole kit

[EricF]

An acoustic kick drum sound is very complex. It's not just the low end, or resonant frequencies as others have mentioned, but also the high-frequency snap of the beater hitting the head. To me, that snap is as important a part of a kick drum sound as the low-end punch.