The No.1 website for musicians
DW Clear Acrylic 22"x16" bass drum
"Right now I have a 16" on tour, I have used a 14". If you look at vintage kits they’re all 14" deep and they sound huge and killer. In the ’80s and ’90s we started getting into these cannon depths thinking they’d sound bigger or ring longer when I think the theories have been proven not so true.
"I’ve been in studios where the deeper the bass drum the less punch and low-end I had. I have a lot of friends that are drum builders and they experiment with all sorts of materials and sizes and I think that the trend is going back to 14" or 16" deep for the kick because it’s the optimum depth where you can get a lot of low-end but the air still moves quickly and it’s punchy.
"If it gets too deep maybe the air just circulates and gets lost before it hits the front head. I like 14" a lot for the studio or small live gigs and for something bigger like an arena I go for a 16"."
