Burying the Beater VS Pulling Off the Head
The debate between which bass drum technique is better will never end. Its one of the drumming communities equivalents to discussing religion, or politics. Some drummers think burying the beater is the only way to live, some think you just can’t get a pleasant tone out of the kick drum without pulling off, and some simply don’t care. Let me make clear that I am a strong supporter of pulling off the head, and the sound I achieve with this technique. I believe that pulling off the head is a sure way to get a completely true sound out of the kick drum, and never fails. I also believe, however, that if you are going to bury the beater, there is a right and a wrong way to do it. I choose to pull of because I have trouble finding the right way to bury the beater, so I just don’t, and have never had any complaints.
The main issue with burying the beater, in my experience, is in recording. This is where the right and wrong way of doing it comes in to play. A lot of drummers who bury the beater, whether they know it or not, do not plant the beater firmly enough on the head when they kick. This results in residual “bleeding,” or tiny, unintentional flub notes following the initial stroke. Sometimes this is loud enough to be picked up in a mic, and has to be EQ’d out later. The correct way of burying the beater, is to be able to achieve a clean stroke with no residual notes to follow. The simple fact is that some of the most legendary, and most working drummers of all time have buried the beater. Steve Gadd, and Josh Freese both employ this technique in their playing, and are two of the most recorded drummers ever. Anything these guys practice can simply not, I believe, be considered wrong, just perhaps different than you might do it.
Below I have demonstrated both techniques on an electric kick drum pad. This will at least give you an idea of the difference between these techniques. Have fun experimenting with both!
Burying the Beater/ Pulling off the Head
