At Narwhal we love making music and we’ve been doing it for a long time. We’ve had the honor of working with some really heavy musicians and we have learned a lot with and from them.
We like to share what we’ve learned in an effort to make the music and the musician the best they can be. Here are a few things to think about:
If you want people to listen, speak softly.
Alto sax maestro Frank Morgan’s flight was late due to snow and a full theater had been waiting an hour for him to start. After a standing ovation as he walked on stage, he put his horn together and began to blow through it and work the keys. The band wasn’t playing but you couldn’t hear him at all. He was warming up the horn. After what seemed like a long time you could start to hear him play but just barely make it out. He proceeded to play a gorgeous ballad by himself that never got louder than a whisper. When he finished the entire crowd was leaning forward in their seats in silence, too stunned to clap.
After the show I told him I’d never seen anything like that before.
He said in a very quiet voice “if you want people to listen, speak softly.”
A $5 KILLER BASS DRUM SOUND
We can all agree that getting a killer bass drum sound is important. In many genres the bass drum sound is a defining characteristic.
At Narwhal we take bass drums seriously and we fuss over every element including the size and material of the drum, the heads, the dampening, the microphones and placement, the sound of the room and location in the room, the signal path and the beater and whether or not the player buries the beater on the head.
All of these factors are important and the range of options for each one are worth exploring. But when it comes to dampening bass drum sustain there is one solution to rule them all:
THE $5 CVS FLEECE BLANKET
The $5 CVS fleece blanket is great because it can attenuate one or both heads and it weighs almost nothing. This means it doesn’t impede airflow or absorb tone like heavier and more dense choices like pillows (ick), foam mattress toppers (facepalm), bedspreads and sleeping bags (no & no) or clothing (dohh).
Someone did leave a green fleece jacket that works well because it is a wearable $5 CVS blanket.
Just having it in the drum doesn’t do much unless it is touching one of the heads which is great if you don’t want any dampening at all which is sometimes the case.
If you lay it in the bass drum with a few inches touching the batter head only it tightens up the punch and gives you more definition while maintaining the boom and air hitting the internal microphone.
If you have a few inches touching the resonant head only it shortens the boom without adding punch or definition.
If you have a few inches on both heads it attenuates a lot without sacrificing volume or tone and it doesn’t change the way the batter head feels when you are playing the way heavier and more dense solutions do.
You can also use more than one in a bass drum for more extreme dampening without killing the tone and volume which is very useful. If you don’t want tone and volume from your bass drum then you should check yourself.
Chick Corea’s Personal Policies as a Musician
Piano maestro Chick Corea wrote an excellent book on music and musicianship called “A Work in Progress…On Being a Musician.” It is an informally written collection of thoughts on his approach to music and life.
Here are a few ideas from the section called Personal Policies as a Musician:
I Spend as much time and effort as needed to get the musical product envisioned, no matter the barriers or inconvenience. I don’t stop until I’ve got it.
I never compromise with the music I’ve decided I want to make or the communication I want to deliver.
I never blame the audience or make them wrong for their response to my music and my performance. I grant them the right to be how they want to be and respond how they want to respond as an audience.
I evaluate all musical performance based first on the quality of its effect on the listener (myself and others) and secondarily, and much less importantly, on the techniques used.
When playing with other musicians, I attempt to always do things that complement and enhance their playing.
When working with other musicians, I always try to find and make good use of their musical and performance strengths.
