Hey all,

i was wondering if you're doing heel up, do you keep the beater of your pedal "in" the bass drumhead or keep it floating.

heel up i keep it about a half an inch to an inch from the head when im playing.

no matter how ive got my foot, the beater comes back off the head.  ive got my spring tight to help with that too.  i like full on whole note bass hits.  like 5 seconds of ring.  lots of "O"'s in my BOOM.

not really, you get used to it.  i've never analyzed my technique, but maybe i should, i kinda think maybe during a rest of more than several beats i let my foot slide to the rear of the pedal and the ball of my foot will rest on the heel of the footboard.  and i hardly ever bury the beater into the head and leave it there unless that is the sound i need at the time.   i like lot's of O's in my boom too.  

I think Mister Acrolite's comments are accurate.

Personally, I don't plant the beater into the drumhead, but let it recoil naturally. I've worked very hard to have a consistant kick drum sound, and prefer the sound that I get from the drum.

NOTE: I have developed both techniques, however, so if I need to plant the beater ... I can do that to.

I think it's wise to develop both techniques, and use them when appropriate. To me, it's no different than being able to use various techniques with the hands.

An example: Snare Backbeats

Some players let the stick recoil (rebound) while others dig in and leave the stick on the drumhead with each backbeat. Like on the kick drum, the sound is different ... and the feel is VERY different. As with the foot technique, I practice both and use both.

To me, it's all valid and has it's purpose. You have to decide which is best for you and what you are playing. Being able to play either technique (at the drop of a hat) is a real plus for me ... but it does take some extra work to develop both. Personally, I like versatility ... and don't like being locked into just ONE way of doing things.

My default is to always let the beater/stick come off the drumhead ... because it's the most natural sound you can get from a drum. Notice I said natural ... not the best or only. I am able to compensate for letting the beater come off the head by using a hard plastic or wood beater ... not felt.

There are countless drummers who leave the beater on the head. Keith mentioned Kenny Aronoff ... a few other "studio" guys, in particular here in Nashville, would be Paul Liem, Eddie Bayers ... and I believe the late Larrie Londin.

Do whatever it takes to get the sound you need!

k,

tried it last night, worked on my 16th double hits, and kept the beater in the head.  felt much easier, and the power was sure there.  but i'm getting this weird pitch bend and chatter from the beater head.  

i was thinking i should retune my kick for a more dead sound, so i wouldnt get the pitch bend.

and, a bud told me to get one of those "pads" help cut that chatter down, but, is this actually more my horrible technique?

I bury the beater when I am playing and do not want a lot of reso from the bass drum.  As Mr A said, its a lot harder (but it can be done) with no hole in your reso head and you get that stinky sound.  

Hi, did you find it easier playing this way with a loose or tight pedal tension? It'll be great if you could elaborate on you pedal tension setting. Thanks!!

It will change the sound exponentially with as the size of the sound hole increases.  I can't really tell you how it will change it though, cause the only experience i have with it is one head i cut about a five inch sound hole in and the sound didn't change all that much.   Nor did the feel..   but i'm not a beater burier, at least when i was using that head i wasn't.  i've started using it some lately.  (maybe since this topic was brought up)    but, you will get less chatter the bigger the sound hole cause you will get less resistance from the sound waves reflecting off the resonant head.  ie: the air mass that you move by striking the batter head will be displaced out the sound hole instead of reflecting off of it back to the batter head.  I hope this makes some sense and is of some help.  In any case I would recommend starting with a small sound hole and testing how it sounds and feels and then you can always increase the size of it if you think it's warranted.  Cause we all know that bass heads aren't cheap, and if you have an old one not being used, experiment with that one first.

Steve

Well I've been thougt to find the sweet spot on my pedals. I naturally always put my forefeet on that point (somewhere between the upper en middle point of the pedal). Using the sweet spot the beater comes off the batterhead automaticly.

I like the sound because you have much more bass response when youre beater comes off the batterhead. If you don't like a high bass response and want minimum sustain, bury the beaters in the batterhead. By the way, if you don't want to put a pillow in your bassdrum and don't want to make a hole in your resonanthead -> get a very high resonant head tension, this will reduce the sustain very much.

Only slow double bass rolls will feel more easy that way. When youre playing fast double bass rolls (let's say 16'th notes 175 bpm + ) you really need to use the sweet spot to get a better rebound. Using the sweep spot I automaticly never burry the beater in the batterhead.
Or less help Well, I have a closed resonant head, let's tune it the same as my batterhead, I'm interesting if it makes a difference for the rebound of the beater.