TRAPS Magazine Reviews the KikBrik!
(Excerpts from the Spring '08 issue)
THE KIKBRIK
Make A Great Bass Drum Even Better - by David Libman
Some bass drums don't produce enough lows, some are choked, some are too boomy or loud, and some speak with rattles or warbles. Every now and then, however, you'll come across a bass drum that's just right - more often, incidentally, if you get the privilege of reviewing Dreamkits. Pork Pie's 22" x 18" cherry bass drum falls into that latter "just right" category.
… I generally temper the sound of bass drums that exceed 18" in diameter with some degree of muffling. In this case, I initially muffled it with a standard pillow, which allowed it to retain a great deal of boom, a nice thud, and a warm punch and tone. Suffice it to say the low fundamentals of the cherry wood seemed to be working their magic with this drum. After I had the kit a week or so, however, I received a KikBrik, which I used as a muffling device in the bass drum at a concert backing up a singer at a local theater. Although the drum sounded very good without the KikBrik, it sounded even better with it. In fact, the soundman at the gig, who was a stranger to me, offered the unsolicited comment that the bass drum sounded like Bonham's. Need I say more?
… Once I installed the KikBrik, it became immediately clear to me that is much more than a just a glorified bass drum pillow. Yes, it muffles the bass drum like a pillow by shortening sustain... Beyond that, however, the KikBrik seems to allow the bass drum to maintain much more presence, boom, tone, and low-end frequencies than a standard pillow. In other words, it doesn't create a "cardboard-box" effect.
… The net effect, and I'll attest to this, is that the frequencies in the bass drum that you might not want are eliminated, while the ones that you really want to keep - the lows for boom and the highs for attack - remain. I also tried the KikBrik in my own Maple bass drums, and it had similar sound-enhancing effects.

Modern Drummer Reviews the KikBrik!
(Excerpts from the January 2008 issue)
KikBrik Bass Drum Acoustic Damper
A New Approach To Sonic Control - by Mark Parsons
Key Notes
- Effective at reducing unwanted overtones
- Design provides varied placement options
Does the world need yet another kick drum muffler? I mean, with all the rings, strips, pads, and pillows available, is there anything left to try? John Calder, of Generator LLC, thought so. Enter the KikBrik.
The KikBrik is a roughly rectangular "brick" of compressed recycled cotton fibers, wrapped in a poly mesh fabric that holds the whole thing together... the ends of the KikBrik are angular and irregular. This design allows you to vary the location and size of the contact area between the KikBrik and the drumhead, as well as the pressure at the contact point. You can have contact near the edge of the head for a subtle reduction of overtones, or you can flip the brick over and move the contact area nearer the center of the head for a more dramatic effect. You can have contact on both heads, on the batter head only, on the resonant head only, or on neither head.
The composition of the KikBrik also gives it beneficial acoustic properties within the drum. Its absorption is strongest between 400 Hz and 1 kHz, right where those ugly lower-midrange overtones tend to reside. Its highest sound absorption coefficient is right at 500 Hz, which is spot-on: If you're looking for the dreaded "suck" knob on a kick drum (a la the famous Far Side cartoon), just crank up 500 Hz on the EQ and you'll hear it in all its obnoxious glory. The KikBrik helps kill that.
In Use
We tested the KikBrik in two very different circumstances. I was running sound for a young band on an outdoor gig, and the drummer's kick was a budget 16x22 model with a mediocre tone. In this situation, the addition of the KikBrik (resting lightly against the bottom of the batter head) did quite a bit to tighten up the sound and get rid of the "bong-y" character, without sucking all the life out of the drum. Starting with this as the source, it was easy to get a good solid kick sound out front through the PA.
We also used the KikBrik in the studio, where we could experiment a little more and get a handle on its unique properties. In this case the kick was a quality maple drum, set up with an Evans EMAD-2 batter (with the smaller foam ring installed) and an Evans EQ-3 Resonant front head. I really liked the sound of this drum in the studio as it was, so I had doubts that it could be noticeably improved with additional damping. I was wrong. Resting the KikBrik against the batter head added punch while raising the fundamental pitch a bit, resulting in a very pleasing sound. Moving the KikBrik so it rested against the front head shortened the decay while cutting some overtones...
I also tried the KikBrik resting sideways in the middle of the drum-without touching either head - thus restricting its effect on the drum to its acoustic properties only. Here, too, there was a noticeable (and positive) result. The KikBrik effectively reduced the lower mids by a few dB, yielding a smooth, tight sound that would need little or no EQ to result in a contemporary kick sound. Well done.
Conclusion
So, is the KikBrik perfect? No. If you use an un-ported head you'll be doing a lot of removing and re-installing of the front head as you try different placement options. Even if you use a ported head, you'll still need to remove / replace / retune the head to install the KikBrik initially (unless you have a larger-than-usual port)... But these are minor convenience issues. When it comes to its dampening attributes - physical and acoustic - the KikBrik is both innovative and effective, giving you a wide variety of options with which to improve your kick sound.

A Happy Owner
Florida-based Sam Pascal writes: "Received the Brik on Saturday and it is everything I wanted. I use the Tama Starclassic fusion set and the Brik has removed the "boominess" but not the punch from the bass drum and now the set tunes and sounds better. Great product."

Another Happy Owner
Edgar Garza in Colorado wrote: "Hey guys, just want to let you know your product is awesome. I'm a working drummer of 20 years and I've tried many different methods to muffle the kick and the KikBrik is the best. I'm very happy with it. I get just the right amount of muffling and my kick has never sounded so good - I just wanted to say thank you. Much props to you guys!!!"

Our Latest Happy Owner
Scott Lowell, on his website Synthetic Tubs, says (excerpt): "YOUR KICK DRUM'S 'BESTEST BUDDY' - I tried all sorts of externally muffled kick drum heads. Because carbon fiber is the most resonant stuff around they didn't work. Even emads with the widest ring still resulted in a "basketball" resonance. That method of damping didn't work. I reverted to the old standby pillow, and jockeyed it until I got a decent, but not optimal sounding thump. I don't want the kick drum to "click" like a death metal kit, and I don't want endless boom. I want that gut-punching thump…
Pillows are unsightly, and balky. They tend to shift (usually about a day after you get it set up just so). I was reading my assortment of traps and Classic drummer when I ran across an ad for Kikbrik from Generator LLC. Looked like a good idea, so I thought I'd try it. ..
With the largest surface contacting my batter head, I got the optimum thump I could ask for without overdamping. It was just right. The product is designed to not only have a variety of surfaces to choose from, you can use it contacting one head, both or neither. It's a slick as whale snot, and it's about time! No more pillows, and this works a lot better for a lot more applications than either the foam "drummmuff" or any pre-damped drumhead. Remember: I will never, ever post a product opinion like this unless it works as advertised… Two sticks up!"

Excerpts from Tape Op Magazine Review
(Jul-Aug 2007) Bass drums are a strange thing. They are big and can be unruly, or worse yet, tiny-sounding if packed with a bunch of crap. They have a lot of interior space that is reflective and rounded. And they play a really important part of most music made involving a drum set. Enter the KikBrik, a truly "build a better mouse trap" invention.
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I got to use the KikBrik in a number of situations with a few different drums. It spent the most time in my 22'' Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute. The day it arrived, I put it inside and just played for a while, changing positions every few minutes. Some changes, like moving the contact point higher or lower, were more subtle, while the angled positions affecting one head were more obvious. What's nice is that it's simple to make changes - just reach in and move the KikBrik. The first recording session it saw was for a cover band (All You Can Eat) whose bass drum had a head with a muffling ring and a lot of pillows inside. It was dead and lifeless. We took out the pillows and put in the KikBrik, and the drum really opened up. I believe it ended up at an angle touching the resonant head just a bit. The band was a trio, so a little bloom in the bass drum was a good thing. I did a live in-room-rehearsal recording with one of my bands (The Redgraves) without a lot of prep. The KikBrik was in the 22" and touching both heads. The recording sounds great - plenty of thud with very sculpt-able attack. A really interesting instrumental bass and drums duo (Benelli) was in, and with them came a 16'' x 26" Gretsch Catalina bass drum. We put the KikBrik in and tuned the drum, and it's one of the coolest bass drum tones I've ever recorded. Due to its size, the drum could have easily taken over the mix, and the attack was at a much lower frequency than most of what we hear in the rock arena. The KikBrik kept the drum from getting away from me and made sure that the attack didn't get lost. The resultant sound took well to EQ and compression and was never a fight like the recordings of big drums tend to be.
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I've been able to use the KikBrik from both sides of the glass and both sides of the drum. It's a super-useful, easy to use, and well-made product. I think it's a bargain, and I know I'll be using mine for many years to come.
-Tony SanFilippo <record@oxidelounge.com>

EQ Magazine Cites KikBrik
In the October issue of EQ, recording engineer and drummer Garrett Haines, in an article called "8 Steps to a Perfect Kick Sound", notes "the KikBrik is an aftermarket muffler / damping device that helps bring the most out of inexpensive, or hard-to-tune heads. ...try an aftermarket device such as the KikBrik."

Hanzel of Boom Alley Drums Choses KikBrik™
Dave Hanzel, gigging drummer and custom builder of Boom Alley Drums (amazingly clear-toned drums, by the way), had this to say: "I've used the KikBrik in my 12" X 20" bass drum on over a dozen dates with various sound techs. Not one complaint about unwanted tones in my drum. I choose the KikBrik for dampening because I can adjust the drums tone for various room acoustics, retain the feel of the drumhead, and keep the sound techs' happy... and it's light! A state-of-the-art improvement for the bass drum!"

Schoolyard Productions First to use KikBrik
Mark Gaddis, owner of the video and music production company Schoolyard Productions, was the first customer for the newly-developed KikBrik™. "We have a really nice DW studio kit, and the Brik made the kick sound even better. It fixed problematic mid-frequencies and tightened up the punch."

Loud Neighbors Selects KikBrik
Minneapolis music composer Dik Hedlund chose the KikBrik for his Loud Neighbors studio, saying "it makes recording kick drums predictable. If a new drummer brings in a nasty-sounding kick, I can get a great sound quickly. And my Boom Alley set kicks even more with the Brik."