New Music Gear Monday: KickBlock Bass Drum Stabilizer

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Okay, how many times has this happened to you? You place the mics on the kick drum, then the sound starts changing as you’re listening to the drummer player. You wonder why until you walk into the control room and see that every time the drummer hits the kick it moves. You don’t want to pound nails into the floor so you go about the studio looking for something heavy to put in front of it. If the drums are already on a rug, the answer to your prayers is here with KickBlock.

KickBlock grabs the drum rug and puts a shock-absorbing wall in front of the kit so the kick won’t move no matter how hard you play. It’s 27 square inches of shock-absorbing foam with UltraGrip Velcro® on the bottom that grips the rug with 7,000 tiny hooks that won’t let go.

The design was conceived by drummer Will Butera and his inventor/entrepreneur father Jay. Like most drummers, Will had the problem of the kick drum constantly moving as he played, which is how KickBlock was born.

While a great idea, the product won’t work on all rugs. Its Velcro bottom will only grip closed-loop carpeting, so fancy oriental rugs or typical shag carpeting that you find in a home are out. That said, it will work on virtually all purpose-manufactured drum carpets sold by manufacturers like DW, Ludwig, and a host of others (see the complete recommendation list here).

KickBlock is available in black or red and sells for $29.99 on the KickBlock Products website or on Amazon. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether it’s a better solution that the less expensive theatrical sandbags, but it sure does look better.

Check out the short video below, which says everything you need to know about the product, or visit the company’s website.

[Thanks to Kurt Hofler for turning me on to this product.]

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