Tips of a punch kick Tama StarClassic?

[sahiaman]

I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with the Tama StarClassic kick drum birch. I want to tune the kick punchy and can't do so. I'm getting only a thump with a honky sounding ring.

How do you tune the beater head, and how do you tune the resonant head. Should the beater side be fairly loose for the drummer?

[lord_bunny]

What skins? Using an EMAD on the batter and a power-stroke 3 on the resonant head usually works with just about any kick drum. Plenty of great lows and punch and less mids.

I tune it about as low as possible without getting to floppy... you know, so it feels right with your kick pedal.

MAYBE throw in a small towel to mute the rim of one of the skins.

Oh, and thanks to your sig I'm gonna have to start naming all my XLR's. Hilarious.

[andersmv]

Originally Posted by sahiaman

I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with the Tama StarClassic kick drum birch. I want to tune the kick punchy and can't do so. I'm getting only a thump with a honky sounding ring.

How do you tune the beater head, and how do you tune the resonant head. Should the beater side be fairly loose for the drummer?

Oh God, welcome to the horror that was my first year of teaching myself to record drums. The studio I was in had one of those kits and that kick was "problematic" to say the least. I have a few other more choice words for it but I digress...

First off, I tried every type of head I could get my hands on and the aquarian ended up working the best as the beater head (Buy Aquarian Super Kick II Drumhead | Individual Drum Heads | Musician's Friend). To tell you the truth, the resonate head never seemed to make much of a difference so just buy something cheap.

Next, tune the beater head to a medium tension. If you have a drum dial I think I was tuning it between 75 and 80. I then taped a nickel (not a dime, not a quarter, a nickel. lol...) to the inside of the beater head where the beater is hitting. After that, tune the resonate head so that it is barely tight, you want it to push as much air as possible with that kick.

After that, I would use a shure beta 52 inside the kick about 12 inches from the beater and to the right (or left, just so you are not directly in front of it) and angled. That's about as good as you are going to get buddy.

Good luck, that kick is a BIATCH.... I know your pain too well.

[sahiaman]

Man you guys are johnny on the spot with your advice. Thank you so much.

I will try all that out, but if worst comes to worst, I'm going to ask the band to use my kick instead or get another one on loaner for a friend.

So did the other loose change not sound as good as the nickel? lol.

[andersmv]

Originally Posted by sahiaman

I will try all that out, but if worst comes to worst, I'm going to ask the band to use my kick instead or get another one on loaner for a friend.

Use a different kick and save yourself the headache. I thought for the longest time that I sucked at recording drums because of that set. I remember after a year of struggling when a band brought in their custom Truth drum set with a good drummer.... My self confidence point skyrocketed after that session, lol!

Originally Posted by sahiaman

So did the other loose change not sound as good as the nickel? lol.

I think I even had some Canadian coins that I tried...

Good luck!

[Musiclab]

I have a birch Tama Star classic 22 inch kick, we get a great sound out of it. We use remo ambassadors, a dw pillow inside the drum, if you tune it right and mic it right it should sound great. FWIW I hate evans heads, they make drums sound like pizza boxes. With you remos you do the muffling, which I think is much better.
If you check out this thread, Show me your studio 2010 - no setup too small! look at #134 you'll hear the Tama kick for yourself

[alex170]

Originally Posted by andersmv

Oh God, welcome to the horror that was my first year of teaching myself to record drums. The studio I was in had one of those kits and that kick was "problematic" to say the least. I have a few other more choice words for it but I digress...

First off, I tried every type of head I could get my hands on and the aquarian ended up working the best as the beater head (Buy Aquarian Super Kick II Drumhead | Individual Drum Heads | Musician's Friend). To tell you the truth, the resonate head never seemed to make much of a difference so just buy something cheap.

Next, tune the beater head to a medium tension. If you have a drum dial I think I was tuning it between 75 and 80. I then taped a nickel (not a dime, not a quarter, a nickel. lol...) to the inside of the beater head where the beater is hitting. After that, tune the resonate head so that it is barely tight, you want it to push as much air as possible with that kick.

After that, I would use a shure beta 52 inside the kick about 12 inches from the beater and to the right (or left, just so you are not directly in front of it) and angled. That's about as good as you are going to get buddy.

Good luck, that kick is a BIATCH.... I know your pain too well.

I've been playing and recording drums for quite some time and I grew up playing TAMA drums (although Im now a DW guy ). Having said that Im gonna go ahead and disagree with your statement about the resonant head not making any difference.
As a drum lover I like to experiment and try all kinds of heads and tunning options and what i have discovered throught the years is that the resonant head makes all the difference in the world for both, tom toms and kick drums (or any drum for that matter).
As far as the Starclassic being "Problematic"... I think Birch drums have a particular high pitch sound and it takes a little more work to get a good sound to our ears and mostly because most of what we hear in comercial recordings are maple drums (whenever acustic drums are used).
Birch drums have a unique sound, higher pitch, dry sound and not as full as maple.
The TAMA Starclassic Birch has a beautiful sound and all depends and how you tune it.
Im a big fan of evan heads mainly because Evans have always worked for me.
For any kick drum I use Evans EMAD2 as the beater head and Evans EQ3 as resonant (This makes all the difference in the world) The resonant head gives you the low end and buddy of the kick. I also use the EQ Pads leaning towards the beater and a kick port in the front head.
Follow this simple steps and you will get an amazing sound out of any kick:
How to tune your kick drum: YouTube - Drum Tuning Bass Lesson#!
Resonant head = MORE LOW END: YouTube - Bob Gatzen On Getting More Bass Low End
Keep your kick drum in tune: Evans Drumheads : Media Library : Bob Gatzen Bass Drum Details

Keep on drumming!

[alex170]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

I have a birch Tama Star classic 22 inch kick, we get a great sound out of it. We use remo ambassadors, a dw pillow inside the drum, if you tune it right and mic it right it should sound great. FWIW I hate evans heads, they make drums sound like pizza boxes. With you remos you do the muffling, which I think is much better.
If you check out this thread, Show me your studio 2010 - no setup too small! look at #134 you'll hear the Tama kick for yourself

Not to mention how good the Tama Starclassic kick drum sounds in BFD 2 (The best sounding kick drum in that collection i think).

[Monte Cristo]

Tuning kick drums is a funny thing...I am a session drummer and I always get great feedback on my drum tunings, etc... ( I say that humbly) it depends on what style of music you are gonna do ( you don't tune a be-bop jazz session the same as a rock) A "general" all around kick sound with great low end and punch to cut through bass guitars would be either a Remo Powerstroke 3 set...clear on the batter and ebony on the resonant...batter tuned medium tension (just barely able to push it in easily) and the batter as loose as possible with no wrinkles...add the DW or Evans pillows to touch EACH head..this will get rid of the ringy "basketball" sound...that non-muffling produces...If you want to use Evans heads you can use their EQ4 and EQ3 ebony resonant..which is basically their version of a Powerstroke 3..I have recently been using the Smooth White Powerstroke 3...it's slightly drier/punchier in tone than the clear but not as much as the coated PS3...Evans also makes a satin feel black resonant head called the Onyx resonant..this will give it a dry sound too which I personally like alot! I hope this helps!

[Monte Cristo]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

I have a birch Tama Star classic 22 inch kick, we get a great sound out of it. We use remo ambassadors, a dw pillow inside the drum, if you tune it right and mic it right it should sound great. FWIW I hate evans heads, they make drums sound like pizza boxes. With you remos you do the muffling, which I think is much better.
If you check out this thread, Show me your studio 2010 - no setup too small! look at #134 you'll hear the Tama kick for yourself

Theres not much difference between a Evans and Remo head other than the coating...they are both made of DuPont Mylar..same ply thickneses, etc..Remo Emporer is 2-plies of 7-mil Mylar...Evans G2 is 2-plies of 7-mil Mylar...it doesn't matter which you use...depending on what type of drummer you are will depend on how quick the coating wears off...if you are a "digger" and dig the drum stick tip into the head you will peel the coating faster not to mention dig the head up...you can still hit it hard with out digging and pull the tone out of the head/shell...Evans however, is about to start using a seamless metal hoop, which is very awesome!

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by Monte Cristo

Theres not much difference between a Evans and Remo head other than the coating...they are both made of DuPont Mylar..same ply thickneses, etc..Remo Emporer is 2-plies of 7-mil Mylar...Evans G2 is 2-plies of 7-mil Mylar...it doesn't matter which you use...depending on what type of drummer you are will depend on how quick the coating wears off...if you are a "digger" and dig the drum stick tip into the head you will peel the coating faster not to mention dig the head up...you can still hit it hard with out digging and pull the tone out of the head/shell...Evans however, is about to start using a seamless metal hoop, which is very awesome!

It's all of the pre muffling that evans does with these emads use. In my experience it's much better to decide how much muffling is necessary rather than get the heads where they do it for you. And I've recorded drummers who had other evans heads on the kick, there was I tone I just don't care for

[Monte Cristo]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

It's all of the pre muffling that evans does with these emads use. In my experience it's much better to decide how much muffling is necessary rather than get the heads where they do it for you. And I've recorded drummers who had other evans heads on the kick, there was I tone I just don't care for

Oh well yeah...the EMADS do have the built in muffling...you probably wont like the new Powersonic or Powerstroke Pro's either then...they are EMAD "knockoffs"...I think a reg Powerstroke 3 is just the best..it goes BOOM not BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM...ha

[by-tor]

The TAMA Starclassic birch is a GREAT studio drum set. I use Remo Powersonic beater head and evans EQ3 resonant head. I have 1 adjustable pillow thing on velcro to adjust more or less agains the resonant head. Sound KILLER!

[JulianFernandez]

Detune the batter head and add some muffling inside = Bingo!
Rock BDs are the easiest drum to tune!

[tl32]

I have a tama star classic birch kit. I tune my bass drum just above wrinkle. You press down in the center and work your way around the drum until all the wrinkles are gone and then use a drum dial.

For some reason, I noticed that my star classic birch drums resonate best with low tuning. Just above wrinkle on almost all the toms plus a little more, if I go higher, they just stop resonating and go flat. I think it has to do with them being birch and having thin shells.

[TheLegacyMusic]

I've also have a tama starclassic performer efx birch set.
And i just can't tune it the way i want.

I have a powerstoke 3 batter and a powerstroke 3 resonant.

And a pillow inside against the batter head.

I don't have the money to buy new heads. And in 3 weeks I have to record in studio.

Can you please help me out with some tips, ideas?