What’s the quickest way to change your bass drum sound?
Change your bass drum beater!
Bass drum beaters can often be overlooked. However, whether you’re performing or recording, your choice of beater will have a big impact on your overall sound. Your bass drum is central to your kit, so make sure you’re using the best beater for the job.
It’s super important to understand how different beaters sound and feel when you play them. Because of this, we’ve put together the ultimate bass drum beater guide: to help you find the best bass drum beater for your style.
In the guide, you’ll see:
Exactly how different bass drum beater materials will sound. There’s an overview of all the different beater materials available.
How beater weight affects the impact and feel of your pedal.
How the shape and size of a beater will change the way it sounds and feels.
We’ve also reviewed the best bass drum beater in each category, to help you sort through the noise to find a great beater.
We’ve tested and reviewed a huge range of pedals to find the best bass drum pedal in the three most important categories:
The best bass drum pedal for beginners,
The best bass drum pedal for intermediate drummers, and
The absolute best bass drum pedal, regardless of price.
Each pedal is reviewed in detail, and we tell you exactly why it stands out from the competition.
PLUS, there a bonus bass drum pedal buying guide further down the page, covering the most important factors affecting how a pedal feels and plays: Get your head around bass drum pedal footboard styles, drive types, and cam shapes. All of these things will change the feel and movement of a pedal, so we’ve covered these things to help you find the best pedal for your feet.
Why is all of this important? Well, it’s vital to have a great pedal, because it’s one of the most important pieces of drum gear you’ll own. Along with your snare drum, your bass drum gets more use than just about anything else, so make sure you have a good pedal (and good technique!).
If your neighbours are constantly complaining about the noise, this new article is for you. Whether you’re drumming in an apartment, a dorm room, or a house, these tips have you covered. We’ve got a range of great products, modifications, and DIY drum volume reduction tricks to keep everyone happy while you play. If your neighbours are really sensitive, there’s bonus tips for making an electronic drum kit even quieter. For the absolute worst case scenario, we’ve even got a few final tips on how to practice when you really can’t use your drum kit at home.
According to DRUM! Magazine’s DRUMMIES! poll, it’s the Evans UV1. These heads were voted the best drumhead of 2017 by DRUM! Magazine readers.
DRUM! Magazine says: “Considering the abundance of drumhead models on the market, you have to give Evans credit for coming up with a new film. But the benefits of the UV-cured coating on the UV1 surpasses the novelty factor with punchy sounds, crisp articulation, and remarkable durability – a combination many drummers want under their sticks.”
What do we at Drumhead Authority have to say about the UV1, and is it deserving of the title of the best drumhead of 2017? Well, it’s an absolute top drumhead that really does stand out from the pack, especially when it comes to the coating’s durability. It’s not surprising that it was voted the best drumhead of 2017 based on this. If you’re tired of your drumhead’s coating chipping off, we definitely recommend trying the Evans UV1.
If you’re not familiar with it, the Evans UV1 is a single ply 10mil thick coated drumhead, with a slightly bright sound. It’s versatile, open, and lively, and the textured surface is great with brushes and drumsticks.
It seems Evans knows how popular this drumhead is, as they’ve recently announced the UV1 bass drum head range, coming soon in 2018. Evans will be releasing a standard UV1 bass head, an EQ4 version with inlay ring, and an EMAD bass version of the UV1. At the moment the UV1 range is available for snare drums and toms. The new UV1 bass heads are a welcome addition to the UV1 family, especially after being voted the best drumhead of 2017.
To see the other drum gear winners from this year’s poll, check out DRUM! Magazine’s DRUMMIES! awards here. The DRUMMIES! have been running for 24 years, with readers from around the world casting their votes for the best drum gear across a number of different categories. As well as the best drumhead, the DRUMMIES! awards cover cymbals, drum kits, accessories, drum sticks, percussion, and more.
Congratulations to Evans for taking out this year’s best drumhead award with the UV1 range.
Evans have just announced that their UV1 drumhead line will soon be available for bass drums. Currently these heads are available for snare drums and toms.
Evans plans to release the UV1 bass drum heads in the following varieties:
The Standard UV1 bass drum head: a 10mil thick single ply drumhead with the durable UV1 coating. This is the same configuration as the snare drum and tom versions of the UV1.
The UV EQ4 bass drum head: a 10mil thick single ply drumhead with the durable UV coating, plus an internal inlay ring. The inlay ring helps to control overtones and emphasize the warmer frequencies, to give a slightly more focused and deeper bass drum punch without choking the drum.
The UV EMAD bass drum head: a 10mil thick single ply drumhead with the durable UV coating, plus the Evans EMAD system. Adding an EMAD ring greatly reduces overtones, and focuses the sound to give a deep, quick, punchy bass drum sound. The EMAD rings can be removed to give a more open bass drum sound, making this a versatile bass drum option.
Each of these UV1 bass drum heads will be available in 16″ to 26″ sizes, in tom and bass hoop varieties.
The UV1 bass drum head range is a welcome addition to the UV line, and these heads are extremely popular for their extremely durable coating. The coating is UV-cured, and doesn’t chip away or wear off like regular drumhead coating.
Zildjian have launched a new podcast entitled The Company You Keep: The Epic Story of Zildjian and Music in America.
This 73 minute podcast spans five centuries to document the history of Zildjian, including some great facts and interesting stories along the way.
The podcast gives a tour of the Zildjian factory, the processes involved in making and testing cymbals, overviews of some top drummers, and great insights from Zildjian employees and family. There’s also a big focus on how music has changed across time in North America, and how cymbals – and drums in general – have evolved over time alongside this.
It’s a really entertaining and insightful story, and worth listening to with some good headphones to really hear the different cymbal tones throughout the podcast.
You can stream the entire Zildjian podcast for free below, and it’s also available to stream or download on Soundcloud, Spotify, and iTunes.
Beatles drummer Richard Starkey, better know as Ringo Starr, has been knighted in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.
Starr received the recognition for his contribution to the world of music, and for his services to charity. He is among more than 1,100 others recognized in this year’s Honours List. Starr also now joins fellow Beatles bandmate Sir Paul McCartney, who was knighted in 1997.
A knighthood is the highest honor that can be given by the royal family, and the process involves first being nominated by the public, followed by reviews by two different committees. Nominations are then sent to the Prime Minister, and finally the royal family for approval. Males are given the title of Sir, and females given the title of Dame.
While Sir Richard Starkey’s musical achievements are well known, he has also contributed to a number of charities and causes including human rights, abused children, AIDS awareness, and poverty.
We’ve just released a huge new article on drum dampening. It covers the when, how, where, and why to use dampening, including drumheads with built-in dampening, add-on and DIY drum dampening options, and plenty of tips and tricks.
If you’ve ever wanted to know how you can use different dampening methods to get a great drum sound, this article is for you. Check out the ultimate drum dampening guide now, and master your drum sound.
Between the ages of 18-22?
Have great drum or percussion skills?
Apply for Yamaha’s Young Performing Artists Competition:
This program recognizes top young achievers in contemporary, jazz, and classical music. The prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to Indiana, USA in June 2018, to take part in Yamaha’s Young Performing Artist Celebration at the Music For All Summer Symposium. You’ll have the opportunity to perform in front of thousands of people, attend workshops and clinics designed to launch a professional career, and get some great media exposure. This is an amazing opportunity that can put you on the path to a serious life in music.
To apply, you need to:
Be a full-time student in the USA
Have reached a “high-level” of musical achievement for your age
Get a music teacher/conductor/professional performer/music dealer or community music leader to nominate you (ask your music teacher!)
Submit a video recording of a great solo performance
Unfortunately this opportunity is only open to people in the USA. If you think you have what it takes, check out the details and apply here. The competition closes January 8th 2018, so you have a good amount of time to get your application together. As well as a drums category, there is also an opening for mallet or concert percussionists. If you apply, good luck!
To celebrate this funky day, we’re focusing on Clyde Stubblefield: the original Funky Drummer.
One of the most sampled drum beats in history was recorded on this day, November 20, back in 1969 at King Studios in Cincinnati USA. The song was James Brown’s Funky Drummer, and the beat was laid down by the legendary Clyde Stubblefield, a self-taught drummer who worked with Brown from 1965 to 1971.
Stubblefield is a pioneer of modern funk drumming, and has had a huge influence on the funk scene. So much so, that Prince counted Stubblefield as a drumming idol, and Chad Smith once said that he is the funkiest human being walking this planet. Questlove is quoted as saying Stubblefield is “The Funky Funkiest Drummer Of All Time”.
Stubblefield has influenced some amazing drummers, including Dennis Chambers, Steve Gadd, Steve Jordan, and David Garibaldi to name just a few. EZDrummer’s Funkmasters expansion has Stubblefield himself playing the samples, along with long-time collaborator John “Jabo” Starks. Stubblefield was joined by Starks on stage with James Brown across the second half of the 1960s, as a two-drummer groove team. Stubblefield had an amazing sense of accuracy, timing and, importantly for James Brown, he knew how to lock into a tight funk beat and keep it running flawlessly.
Sitting in the studio, Clyde recalls playing a pattern on his kit. The bass and guitar joined, and this groove ended up being the foundation of Funky Drummer.
Even though his beat has been sampled across countless hit tracks, by some of the biggest names in music, Clyde received almost no royalties for his work. He wasn’t listed as a songwriter, instead paid a session musician’s fee at the time of the recording:
“People use my drum patterns on a lot of these songs. They never gave me credit, never paid me. It didn’t bug me or disturb me, but I think it’s disrespectful not to pay people for what they use.”
Notably, Clyde is featured on the Funky Drummer Edition of Copyright Criminals, a documentary exploring grey areas of how music is copyrighted and used by others. While he never sought royalties from those who sampled his original Funky Drummer groove, Stubblefield did release a series of ready-to-sample beats with this edition of Copyright Criminals. With a simple licencing form, music makers can use use his samples in exchange for a 15% royalty of commercial sales.
Clyde Stubblefield passed away on February 18, 2017, to an outpouring of respect from the music world. His work on Funky Drummer has been sampled in at least 1,400 songs since the 1980s. Here is a list of just some of the huge names that have sampled his Funky Drummer beat:
Exactly how different bass drum beater materials will sound. There’s an overview of all the different beater materials available.
Exactly how different bass drum beater materials will sound. There’s an overview of all the different beater materials available.
The Standard UV1 bass drum head: a 10mil thick single ply drumhead with the durable UV1 coating. This is the same configuration as the snare drum and tom versions of the UV1.
more than 1,100 others recognized in this year’s Honours List. Starr also now joins fellow Beatles bandmate Sir Paul McCartney, who was knighted in 1997.
