How to Dampen a Bass Drum

Dampening the sound of your drum will permanently alter the acoustics of your drum.

Dampening the sound of your bass drum is a technique used to soften, or muffle, the audio tone emitted by your drum. Dampening is achieved by using a soft, sound absorbent material, such as foam or a pillow, to mute the sound of the drum pedal hitting the skin by inserting a dampening material between the tension rods. Drum manufacturers don't mute the sound of your bass drum in their factories, so to soften the tone of your bass drum, dampen it yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Medium density foam
• Utility knife
• Hot glue gun
• Drum key
• Clean cloth
• Bucket of water
• Fine grit sandpaper
• Tape measure
• Pencil

Instructions

1. Remove the drum heads, hoops and tension rods from your bass drum using your drum key.

2. Sand the reinforcement hoops located on your tension rods--but do not sand the edges.

3. Wipe the tension rods and the inside of the bass drum with a clean cloth that has been dipped into a small amount of water to remove dust and debris.

4. Measure the depth of the shell of your bass drum, which is the distance from the front of your drum to the rear of your drum. Add about 1/8 of an inch to this measurement. This is the length of foam you will cut for each tension rod. For instance, if your shell depth is 12 inches, use the measurement of the 12 1/8 inches when you measure to cut your foam pieces. If your foam is too short, your drum will not be dampened. If your foam is too long, your drum will over-dampen the drum.

5. Cut 2-inch wide pieces of foam for each tension rod in your bass drum using your utility knife.

6. Set your foam pieces in the drum shell, facing front to rear, and align them with your tension rods so the drum heads line up and make contact with the foam when you press on your pedal. While the foam is in temporary in the correct place, mark their placement with your pencil. Remove the foam pieces once you mark their location.

7. Pipe glue onto the pencil marks using your hot-glue gun. Exercise caution, as hot glue is extremely hot in temperature and can severely burn you if it makes contact with your skin. Work carefully.

8. Place your foam pieces onto the glue to adhere them to your drum. Work carefully, as placing the foam into your drum is a permanent application.

9. Replace the drum heads, hoops and tension rods to their specified tensions and torques. Consult your owner's manual for their specifications.

References

• Twisted Thistle: Bass Drum Set-Up & Tuning (PDF)
• Donny Dee: To Dampen or Not to Dampen