recording a bass drum

[transmission]

hey, i am trying to record bass drum and i have an AKGd112 and a MACKIE 1942-vlz pro mixing board.

when i try to get a good sound for some reason it sounds hirrible... does anyone have any techniques on recording bass drum? if you could give me some ideas that'd be awsome! thanks!

[Gidge]

first, get the kick sounding good to your ears in the room...use tuning, new heads, damping, etc to accomplish this......

whether youll mic the inside or the outside will really depend on the kick sound you are after.....

[transmission]

thanks. it sounds good. but when i go to mic it.. it doesnt really sound good

[shackrock]

with that pre and that mic alone, you can make it sound awesome, no doubt.

The key is placement...and if it sounds like it's clipping (but it's not), try putting a -20db mic pad in the chain...i had that problem.

[TexRoadkill]

What mic positions have you tried and how does it sound bad? too boomy? not enough attack? not enough low end?

[Bulls Hit]

Try aiming the mic at the edge of the shell

[transmission]

sorry i dont know what "-20db mic pad in the chain" means.. if you could explain a little more that would be great.

its a tama set, and i took the outside head off to put a mic in it. i put it in the center of it about 5 inches from the front head facing at the head. i actually think that i have the problem where it sounds like its clipping but its not at all... its actually very quiet.

and i will try aiming it away from the front head.

if you can tell me waht you mean with the -20db mic pad in the chain that would be great.

if you have aol or aim we can talk about it on there if youd rather that...

my sn is "xmikeeleyx"

thanks again!

[Neil Ogilvie]

I find that to get the exact Kick drum sound I want I EQ a lot. Usually a big boost at about 4000 and cut at about 500, then boost again at about 100. But, thats for my drum sound. Other than that, its all about placement.

A pad, or as was mentioned a '20 db pad' is just a little capsule that plugs into the mic lead that cuts the signal by 20 db. Pretty straightforward.

[TexRoadkill]

Many preamps also have a Pad switch. One thing is to make sure you switch the Phase on the kick mic. Many preamps also have a switch for that or you can make a special cable to do it. The kick mic will be out of phase in relation to the overheads and until you fix that it will be hard to get a decent sound.

[Bulls Hit]

Originally posted by TexRoadkill
The kick mic will be out of phase in relation to the overheads and until you fix that it will be hard to get a decent sound.

This is something I've always struggled to understand. Are you saying the kick mic is always out of phase with the overheads?

I thought it depended on the distance between the mics, and as you adjust the distance, the mics move into and out of phase with each other