Actually just to take it a step further, for gate to work really on kick, or any drum for that matter, it really helps if the gate is designed for frequency conscious gating, where you can select which frequencies do or don't activate the gate.
Alan.
Being that I'm on the other side of the planet I'm always late to the party
First I would ask you the question of how did you get to a gate on the kick drum? Did an issue arise, or is it just curiosity? If it's the former, I would suggest looking earlier in your signal path, or even the room, for a solution to the problem that's requiring said gate. If it cant be solved there, use the gate, and in any case, solve it as early in the chain as possible.
Being that I'm on the other side of the planet I'm always late to the party but me? No. I don't often gate the kick in the studio but will often live.
I tend to steer clear of gates in general but when I do use one it's never an open and shut case (excuse the pun ). I like to use gates with an adjustable range (or floor) to simulate some bleed. I find this to be way more natural.
It's mostly curiosity. I'm in the middle of a project that was attempted last year at a drummer's place. The results we unsatisfactory. In these earlier attempts, the drummer had no port on the kick reso. He hits very efficiently, too, which meant the kick mic was out 12 inches from the head. This introduced a lot of bleed and with eq made us start thinking about gating.
This time around I have total control. I have basically the same drum kit at home (I use fewer toms, but it's the same brand, model, and wood), but I'm in my own room. I spent a TON of time tweaking the kit and tuning. I also got ahold of the best snare I could. I treated my room. It's pretty minimal in comparison to what others do, but it cut down on flutter echo and mid-high frequency comb filtering which I believe were the biggest problems. My mic setup is more than satisfactory for me, and I ported the kick so I could get the mic just inside and further isolate that signal.
The results have been much more pleasing. I'm just curious about what others are doing because I'm getting to that point (I believe) of diminishing returns. If a gated kick mic is going to clean out swaths of mud and open up my mix for a beautiful round bass guitar, then sure I'll take a stab at it. I have experimented some on my own and have concluded that it doesn't seem to do that with my setup.
Still, it almost never hurts to get another set of ears or a second opinion.
You're actually ahead of most of us. You should have answered this thread before it was even posted!
Ha! You'd think that would be the case but I'm usually asleep when you guys are awake making these posts.
Cheers
Weird question.. or wording... is there any reason to gate in the mix if you didn't gate during recording?
@Roozter. The main reason to worry about bleed comes when you are not looking for a 'natural' drum sound. Once you Eq the crap out of the individual drums, then compress the snot out of them, the bleed will sound terrible and be much louder than it should be.
It is also a problem when the drummer plays with the wrong dynamics, like beating the snot out of the snare, while gently tapping on the kick.
Ambience is bleed you want to hear
Bleed is ambience you don't want to hear.
I agree with the room, instrument, mic, performance comments.
I do disagree, somewhat about them being consumer driven. Now there is much less use for them, now that you can just erase everything you dont want to hear.
The 'all mics open' on the drums thing only works for natural drum sounds, which are not appropriate for all tyles of music.
Obviously, gates are essential in larger live sound situations.
Or do you let it bleed a little bit? If you use an expander rather than a gate, that applies here.
I don't notice much of a difference in the drum mix or the overall mix either way in my current project, but if it'll clear up significant mud down the road I'll consider it. FWIW, the mic was through a port in the reso head, so there isn't much bleed at all.
Also, do fish fart water?