Ceiling Mounted Overheads and Bringing Back the Center Hole Thanks to Earl Bennett

I was going to do a video on this but I thought it might be better as a blog post.

I'm trying to drive more traffic to my website and coming up with more exclusive content is probably the best way to do it. So, here we are, and this post is dedicated to the one and only, Earl Bennett.

Recently, he gave me some advice that I took to heart with regards to improving my setup at home, as well as where to place my bass drum hole.

Let's start with the latter. As some of you might have seen in Episode 5 of Quality Control: A Product Review Series, where I reviewed the Bass DrumO's Cutting Tool, I had a huge SNAFU when using it. If you haven't seen that episode, check it out here:

Not much longer after that happened, the head basically ripped all the way up. I searched all over the internet but couldn't find the same head for sale. I did end up finding something similar on eBay and won an auction that included two bass drum heads for $20 total!

They just came this past Monday (06/14/21), and I was super stoked to replace the broken head, which was flapping and creating a bad sound when recording.

When deciding where to place the hole, Earl told me a couple of weeks ago that in order to get that really nice punch, put the hole in the center. He said that all throughout the 70s and 80s guys were cutting their holes in the center of the drumhead and that's what attributed to their big sound. Then, all of a sudden, bass drum heads started coming with precut holes off to one side, just out of nowhere.

So, Earl, we are bringing it back, retro-style! Here is my new head, center hole, and all:

After I got that all setup, naturally, I went and recorded a new cover. I'm sure you all know the song, but here is a snippet of that booming bass drum:

Not too bad, eh! Earl, what do you think? I believe we'll be seeing more center heads popping up around the drummer community now!

But I wasn't done with my renovations just yet.

There was this issue with my room being a bit smaller than the old room I started KMKanDrum in and everything was a lot more cramped. Having a ton of cymbal, mic, camera, and light stands weren't helping. So, Earl suggested I mount some of them on the ceiling. To be honest, I had thought of this a long time ago, and looked into the myriad of ways to accomplish just that. But I could never find the right products to help me achieve what I was looking for.

Then Earl sent me some pics of his setup and from there I was on a mission to do the same or something similar. I took to Amazon and found these:

I saw that the stand screws into the base but didn't see the size of the threads anywhere on the product listing (¾" thread). So I took a chance and got these:

Thinking I could mount them onto the ceiling and screw the stand into them.

Well, of course, that didn't work out. And of course, I was too eager to get things set up so I could record a new Lessons for the Groove Drummer episode for you guys because when they came and I realized it wasn't going to work, I quickly thought of a backup solution:

I just used the base (originally meant as a tabletop base) and wedged it in between the ceiling and a wood 2x4 section, and then fastened the 2x4 to the ceiling. It works. It might not be the best-looking thing ever, but it is doing the job.

So, then I went and tried to record the lesson, and of course, my lavalier mic wasn't working. Or rather, I don't have the right lav mic for the equipment I want to use. Meaning, I rushed to set up the overheads on the ceiling so that I could shoot this lesson, only for it to turn out that I couldn't shoot it anyway because the lav mic didn't work.

If I would have taken my time and made sure everything was in working order, I would have returned the flange mounts in exchange for ¾" flange mounts.

But, this is what I am left with. It works, so I'm gonna stick with it for the foreseeable future. Maybe somewhere down the line, when I am up to the task of caulking, sanding, and painting the ceiling, I'll do it the right way. But for now, all I'm gonna do is complain and kick myself.

But I do recommend these tabletop mic boom arm stands. They are legit. If you want them for yourself, please use my Amazon link and help my channel out while you're at it!

Thank you, Earl, for helping me as you always do. You are the best. If you haven't checked out Earl's drum channel, please GO HERE.

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