Hello guys... it's been a while.

A quick question, although I apologise if it's been done to death already. I searched but couldn't find an answer to this specific question.

I played a gig last year (my first) and I was on the whole pleased with my drum sound, apart from the bass drum, which, I was told, and having listened to a recording, you just couldn't hear. Thing is, some sound equipment wasn't working so everything was unmiked, and I'm guessing the slightly muffled bass drum just couldn't compete with the loud guitars (we play sort of heavy rock.) I was wondering if at least part of the problem of it not projecting was due to it being unported.

Well I'm doing a gig in similar conditions in a few weeks, although it's a 50:50 chance of being miked or not (professional, I know ) In the eventuality that I'm not miked up, do you think porting my bass drum will help it project more? I know if we  are miked up though it'll come in handy with the soundguy.

The second part of this is, what's the easiest/quickest way to do it? I know you can get reinforcing rings but how would you make the hole in the first place neatly?

Sorry for the tedium of a predictable question or two, but any advice would be much appreciated. 

I personally don't like the sound of a ported bass drum and as such would not port unless required to for some recording purpose.  As far as being any louder, I think that the biggest difference would come from removing the "slight" muffling.  It's still going to be hard for an unmiced bass drum to compete with an amped electric guitar.

As far as doing it, I would say either buy a pre-ported head or get one of the reinforcing rings, apply it to the head, and then cut a hole inside the ring.  Just poke a hole through and then use the ring as a guide to cutting it out with scissors.

There's this to cut the hole http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Bass-Drum-Os-Hole-Cutter?sku=443322&src=3WWRWXO1&ZYXSEM=0
and these to finish the hole http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Bass-Drum-Os-Bass-Drum-Port?sku=445410

Personally cutting a hole in a drum head makes me cringe & from a sonic standpoint I've never noticed that it had any real effect on increasing loudness.  My kick is not ported and my daughters is and mine sounds louder.  But to each his/her own.

If you are playing unmiked, porting the bass drum is the last thing you want to do; it will make your situation worse.

When I started teching for my son I finally realized what I hadn't known in decades of playing: muffled drums do not carry through the band when unmiked. This goes for all drums, but the bass drum especially. His bass drum made a satisfying "thud" from the driver's seat, but it couldn't be heard at all unmiked. Because most of his gigs are unmiked I've learned my lesson.

You need a bass drum that goes "boooooom," not "thud." A port lessens the sustain of the bass drum (it doesn't "let more sound out" as some believe, just more attack), and sustain is what you want.

I recommend lightly muffled single-ply heads such as the Remo PS3, or a PS3 as a batter and an Ambassador as reso. I tune the reso up from finger-tight very gradually (no more than an 1/8 turn at a time) until the flappy/papery sound disappears and you start to get a real tone. Stop there. Note that this is beyond "just above wrinkle," which is where many suggest you tune bass drum heads. Not far beyond, just far enough to give a real tone.

Tune the batter slightly higher. If you want, keep increasing the batter tension very gradually; you'll hear more and more attack while the body of the tone gets less and less. You can pretty much dial in how much attack vs body you get this way.

And needless to say, take the pillows/laundry out. I currently use PS3s front and rear, no port and nothing in the drum. And you can finally hear the bass drum! We always take a ported reso along (4" port off-center at about 4 o'clock) and a couple of rolled-up towels for muffling in case we end up being miked.

For unmiked playing keep the muffling off your snare as well. "Studio-ready" muffled snares sound soft and lifeless from the audience. Let it ring. Same for the toms, and you might want to tune them a bit higher than normal, too.

If you play both miked and unmiked gigs, this is a good argument for using muffling you can remove as necessary rather than using heavily muffled heads--you can always add muffling when you need it but you can't remove it from premuffled heads.

You can buy the same hole cutter at a hobby shop for less money and there is even an adjustable one that you can set to any size rather than the preset ones.

no tape for me... there are sooo many head choices on the market today... I try to pick a model that sounds good w/o mods... I keep a big variety of heads in stock and change them almost as much as I change my underware 

Well, folks can do what they like, but the original poster was concerned about volume in the unmiked situation, and I would caution him that any such muffling will make the drum harder to hear through the band as well as making it less lively-sounding from the audience.

Many drummers don't know how their drums sound from 30 feet away, nor realize just how much ring disappears at that distance. I would recommend the original poster try listening to the drum from a distance both with and without muffling and preferably with the band playing. It's often quite the surprise.

Is your bass drum touching the floor?  Make sure the legs are holding your drum at least an inch off the ground.  The only place the drum should touch the floor is where the foot pedal is connected.  If your drum is sitting on the floor, that will suck a LOT of volume and presence out of it.  You won't hear it so much behind the kit, but it makes a big difference out front.

Do you play heel-up or heel-down?  For the type of playing your describing, you might want to play heel-up, lifting your entire leg in an exaggerated motion and putting all that weight into every strike of the bass drum.  If you do that, you may need to nail a short piece of 2"x4" to the stage in front of your bass drum to stop it drifting.

Does the band adjust their volume to the sound of the drum kit?  If so, they'll likely adjust to the loudest drum in your kit.  If you muffle the snare, they may turn down a bit, and your bass and toms will come out more.

If everyone's competing to be the loudest, though, you probably need a steel snare with no damping at all.

For a situation like you're describing, I use a single head on the bass drum with very little damping.  I use 2" wide strip of flannel cloth running over the head about 1/3 of the way across, running straight up and down, and tucked under the bass drum hoop at both ends - that's what holds it in place.  Nothing else.

(On the reso side, I use a head that has only about 1" of material left around the outside, forming a ring that protects the bearing edge from damage.)

A double headed drum, it seems to me, is a bit louder and has more sustain.  It's my favourite sound.  But if you want the bass drum to have more "presence" in the mix, the shorter, sharper sound of a single headed drum may work better.  Using a hard, heavy beater (wood or plastic) can help as well.

Porting the second head would have a bit of the same effect as using one head, but not much.  It alters the feel and responsiveness of the drum head more than the sound.

The big thing to remember is that the drums sound very different behind the kit.  What sounds good to you may not sound so great out front or through a P.A.

I'm no great drummer, but I have lots of experience playing with TOO LOUD bands in crappy little dives.