I just recently reconfigured my drums (including a few new toys, but that's for another post). One of my favorite things about my new configuration is the addition of a second floor tom. Some put a really big "gong drum" where I have my biggest drum (lower right of the picture), but I don't have the extra money to buy another drum so I've just tuned my 16 inch floor tom way down to serve the same purpose.
This really low end sound on my 16 inch tom is great for creating a low rumble or serving as a "boom!" when necessary. While the bass drum is typically thought of as the "boom," the extra dampening typical of a bass drum doesn't provide for the resonance I like for a "boom". The bass drum, to me, gives more rhythm and "thud" than rumble and "boom". To hear an example of the "boom!", check out our song, "Stranger" on our reverb nation page at 0:53. What I particularly like about the use of the floor tom at 53 seconds (and later in the song) is how the "boom!" of the drum sets up the big hit the band does in the next beat.
I'll talk more about what I do with the other two toms in my next post.
JK
