The Structure of the Drum
[Experiment1]Putting something inside a bass drum

Some professional drummers put objects inside their bass drums to change the tone. Thus, we conducted an experiment to see how different items inserted into a bass drum changed its tone.

Experiment steps

1. Arrange items to put inside the bass drum
2. Insert these items one at a time into the bass drum through the hole
3. Step on the bass drum pedal and listen to the sound

Results of the experiment

First, we put in a lot of balloons. When the drum was struck, the balloons rubbed together making a rustling sound. Beating the drum hard caused some of the balloons to fly out of the hole. However, the sound was not softer than that of an empty drum.Then, we put in the two one-kilogram and two four-kilogram dumbbells.The heavier the drum, the tighter the tone became. Maybe the reverberation of the shell was being dampened. With cotton, the tone became muffled and smoother. Inside the bass drum the cotton became fluffier and expanded until it was touching both heads. Finally, we tried the cushion, and like the cotton, the sustain was reduced. The tone of the drum changes dramatically depending on the type of material put inside.

In fact, drummers often put a blanket inside the bass drum, and many drummers also put dumbbells inside to hold the blanket in place. A blanket will touch both heads, but if the area of contact is too large, it has a muting effect, and the tone sounds muddled, so it is necessary to control the area of contact.