MetalMechanik said:
Hey everyone. I'm having some trouble recording my kick drum. I've tried many different ways to alter the sound of the kick in my recordings. Multiple mics, multiple mic positions, alternate tunings. Still, I have not found a Vinnie Paul type sound coming from my kick drum. I have achived creating a "Click" sound. But I have never gotten a full kick drum sound in my recordings. Any help would be appreciated.
Okay, I'll give this a try.
What size kick?
What kind of heads?
What type of mallet?
What type of muffling?
What kind of mic?
What kind of processing gear?
What kind of Mixer?
For a Vinnie Paul type of sound, here's my suggestion.
Pinstripe on the batter side. You can use a resonant if you want. (I would - but I'vce got mic's mounted inside my drums, so I can use a full front head)
Loosen the kick head as low as it will go - We're talking "metal on the drum jingling" low. The head should be loose and flapping.
Use a felt mallet if you're worried about head durability.
Mic the Mallet spot about 6" from the mallet.
Build a Kick Tunnel in front of the kick (do a search)
Put a Mic in the Tunnel - better yet would be a speaker, because this will pic up more low end. (do a search on using a speaker as a mic)
Put each of these on it's own track.
Once you have the drumpart recorded, then gate both of these, and after gating you can compress.
The speaker/tunnel combination will allow you to have a deep low end, while the mic'ed mallet spot will give you a click sound.
This is a similar technique to how I was getting that sound in the early 90's.
For speakers, I was using a 4" Radioshack cube speaker. I took the backplate off, and replaced it with one that I made with an XLR jack on it instead of the speaker "spring" hook up, so I could just plug the speakers in.
Tim