Not necessarily. But it does give you more options. You can put a mic inside the hole to capture your kick from the inside. Or, place a mic outside the hole in the kick drum skin for a natural, punchy recording. You can try close miking right on the hole, or moving the mic back a little and putting it off-axis so it doesn’t get the direct impact of the air leaving the hole. Or you can mic the head, away from the hole. You can even mic on the batter head side of the drum, to really get the attack of the beater striking the head.
Experiment with placement using the hole or not using the hole, and find the method that works best for the sound you want to achieve. And if your bass drum doesn’t already have a hole, check out our hole-cutting tools and accessories listed below.
