Carlock's bass drum sound

[DSOP]

Is it like an Orgasm?

A Drumgasm.

[Julián Fernández]

Always loved his sound here:

[deseipel]

its funny to me that some kits that sound like shit live actually track very well. Makes you wonder what the point of spending thousands of dollars on a kit is vs. buying something that's half ass and it sounding great mic'd up & gated. I'm sure that's just the cheapskate in me, rationalizing ...

By that logic why even use acoustic drums right?

You don't always have mic's, or gates (for instance carlock obvious does not use gates). Any small venue and the acoustics of the drums are what's making the sound.

Besides, there is that awesome physical pleasure that comes from hitting a great sounding, well tuned drum. Don't know if there is a term or name for that, but I'm sure people know what I mean.

I'm not saying go electric; god no. I do small gigs all the time and while I love the way my kit sounds, but it gets murdered by guitars all the time. I'm sure that Keith started NOT muffling his BD exactly for that reason; so he could hear & feel it! Even in other interviews, he says he can't pull that off (a 'spread eagle' bass drum sound) on the Sting or Steely Dan gig though. And with those gigs, he's mic'd and I'm sure he's gated, compressed, EQ'd, expanded, etc.

Anyway, I know what you're saying, but I think that what I've realized is that drummers lose the battle of the 'loudness war'. I'm getting off topic, but I'm tired of not being able to hear myself and tired of not getting to a drumgasm, lol.

[YamahaPlayer]

Anyway, I know what you're saying, but I think that what I've realized is that drummers lose the battle of the 'loudness war'. I'm getting off topic, but I'm tired of not being able to hear myself and tired of not getting to a drumgasm, lol.

Exactly... we need to start a drumgasm union! Man so many gigs I can only feel the kit, not hear it, you know, except in-ear and such... but the robbery of feeling of playing.

We always loose the loudness war for sure. Somebody needs to start packaging together drum mics, a mixer and amps........ HMMMM!!!!!

Carlock is rad though lay's it down in a unique way.

[sturla]

I have a fun little story about that.

Back in early 2000's. Maybe 2001/2002, he played with Wayne Krantz trio here in Norway at Smuget. He used the house Yamaha kit that was there at the time, but he had gotten them to put brand new coated Amb's on all of the drums.
This is a club where they have a nice big PA and he played amazingly (no one here had heard about him just yet, so it was a nice big surprise). His bass drum (22") sounded really powerful and big. Just really cool and full bodied sound and I remember I thought - VERY hip!
The funny thing was that I was due to go on the same stage right after they finished their set and perfom on the very same kit with my own band at the time. Right before the change-over I thought I would just leave the tuning as it was, since it sounded so good out front. How wrong was I? His bass drum I clearly remember was totally unplayable to me. It was 2 tightly tuned heads with NO damping in them, with each head going "Piiiiiiiiiiiiing". I mean, they were TIGHT!! And I thought I was used to a very open sound (basically coming from the Simon Phillips approach leaving the beater off the head etc and having a fairly open sound), but I just couldn't come to grips with it. I just couldn't play it. Same with the toms. I detuned the drums quite a bit very quickly and put a little bit of damping in the kick for more control. It was sooo tight

I remember the trio was out front listening to our set and I had a nice long chat with Keith afterwards to. He showed me some sticking stuff, and I also remember he got me hooked on Four and More with Miles which I haven't heard before.

Great times, great memories.

[Juan Expósito]

I put my headphones and listen to his sound here and... wow.
Open, clean, big, clear...awesome.
This is the sound (or very similar) that I get from him every time I listen to Keith in DVDs and live performances in youtube.

[YamahaPlayer]

That is some beautiful playing!! Love how into it he is, just 110% for every note.

Can totally hear how cranked the drums are, very reminiscent of Peart back in the day.

[MRhet]

I put my headphones and listen to his sound here and... wow.
Open, clean, big, clear...awesome.
This is the sound (or very similar) that I get from him every time I listen to Keith in DVDs and live performances in youtube.

That's just the way I play (in my head).

It's kind of an odd snare set-up -- does it work for anyone else?

[YamahaPlayer]

It's kind of an odd snare set-up -- does it work for anyone else?

Steve Smith and Buddy Rich come to mind, who angled their snares away from them, I'm sure there's some other cats out there too just can't think of any at the moment.

[alva1414]

@YamahaPlater

Baby Dodds would be one.