Percussion instrument

[Alpo]

Bass drum. It has a skin on both sides. If you were to remove the skin from one side, would it still make the booming noise? Or does it need a skin on both sides to create an echo chamber effect?

[Singin' Sue 71615]

1 minute ago, Alpo said:

Bass drum. It has a skin on both sides. If you were to remove the skin from one side, would it still make the booming noise? Or does it need a skin on both sides to create an echo chamber effect?

I'm betting both sides. Otherwise it would fall 'dead'...like a bongo

[DeaconKC]

Here's a knife, go find out...

[Alpo]

Actually they just did that on Get Smart. They cut the back skin off, and Max is hiding in the drum, and the bad guy is making his points by pounding on the front skin - "we need to do this now!" BOOM - and poor old Max is getting his eardrums ruptured from the boom boom, and I just wondered if it would really boom boom.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I played drums for over 35 years I still do but only at home. I have a hole cut out in the center of the outside head of my bass drum with a pillow inside. This is a common practice. You want the bass drum to project which is why you cut a large hole but the pillow deadens the sound so it gives you a nicer sound instead of a big boom. I’ve never done this with a marching bass drum but it would probably be louder without the front head. 

[Blackwater 53393]

1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I played drums for over 35 years I still do but only at home. I have a hole cut out in the center of the outside head of my bass drum with a pillow inside. This is a common practice. You want the bass drum to project which is why you cut a large hole but the pillow deadens the sound so it gives you a nicer sound instead of a big boom. I’ve never done this with a marching bass drum but it would probably be louder without the front head. 

 

Rye is correct!  With the front head removed, the bass drum will STILL boom.  The tone will change somewhat, but the boom is still there.

 

For really big halls or outside, one drummer I use, takes the pillow out of his bass drum and sometimes removes the entire head to deepen the thump.  We also mic the bass drum and run it through the PA, (sound system) to broaden the sound.

 

Nearly every drummer I’ve known has at least a small hole in the front drum head of his kick drum.  

 

Marching band drums are a different subject. One that I am not at all familiar with.

[Yellowhouse Sam # 25171]

I was expecting a post on the 51 Navy or such.

[Branchwater Jack SASS #88854]

One year, in our field show, we took every bass drum the school had used over the years and had just been put into a storage closet when they got new drums.

 

We pulled one head off, built some pvc stands to put them on, flipped the drums on end, and went about playing.

 

The song was the old jazz tune Sing, sing, sing...

 

They played just fine! Boomed just fine. Had to use a bit of foam to take the ring out of them.

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

I was waiting for Rye to answer. Figured some of our more experienced musicians would solve the question

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

 

i, too, have a replica '51 Navy ........   

[Singin' Sue 71615]

14 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

 

Rye is correct!  With the front head removed, the bass drum will STILL boom.  The tone will change somewhat, but the boom is still there.

 

For really big halls or outside, one drummer I use, takes the pillow out of his bass drum and sometimes removes the entire head to deepen the thump.  We also mic the bass drum and run it through the PA, (sound system) to broaden the sound.

 

Nearly every drummer I’ve known has at least a small hole in the front drum head of his kick drum.  

 

Marching band drums are a different subject. One that I am not at all familiar with.

Way to prove me wrong, Waters!!!

[Singin' Sue 71615]

10 hours ago, Branchwater Jack SASS #88854 said:

One year, in our field show, we took every bass drum the school had used over the years and had just been put into a storage closet when they got new drums.

 

We pulled one head off, built some pvc stands to put them on, flipped the drums on end, and went about playing.

 

The song was the old jazz tune Sing, sing, sing...

 

They played just fine! Boomed just fine. Had to use a bit of foam to take the ring out of them.

 

[DeaconKC]

 

[watab kid]

not being a drummer - i dont know , but a banjo only has skin on one side ...........

[Cactus Jack Calder]

Often Marching Band Bass Drummers use two mallets. If they didn’t have the other head skin that would defeat the purpose of the double mallets. I found a couple of good examples of their techniques on YouTube. However, I can’t figure out how to insert a video or the address for one into my post. 
By the way if you go searching for Marching Band videos I used to play one of those big silver or brass snakey things that wrap around your whole body courtesy of John Phillips Sousa. AKA Sousaphone!

 

CJ

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

There's an Irish instrument called a bodhran that only has one side.

JHC

 

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

22 hours ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

 

i, too, have a replica '51 Navy ........   

Can those be used to make music by a marching band?

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

12 minutes ago, Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 said:

Can those be used to make music by a marching band?

 

 

 ..... 1812 Overture .....