recording a bass drum

transmission

New member
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!
 
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.....
 
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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
TexRoadkill said:
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
 
Bulls Hit said:
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

It does depend on distance but one of the reasons that there is an obvious phase reversal is that when you strike the kick drum the head moves towards the kick mic and away from the OH's. The same applies to micing any drum from the back side (or even guitar amps). Some guys like to keep the normal phase on the kick and invert the OH's and other top side mics.

If you're overheads are 10' up in the air maybe it's not such a big issue but with most home setups you are usually to close to get enough space.

I'm not sure if the reason I stated (relation to the drum skin) is actually the real reason for inverting the phase but it is the one most quoted and for whatever reason inverting the kick mic does help.
 
okay

thanks!

can someone please send me a link of a preamp that they think i should get that would be good for bass drum that has the switch for -20db so i can see what your talking about? i have a condensor mic taht has the switch and im assuming thats what your talking about.. ive just never seen it on any ohter mics.

also whats with the inverting thing? ive heard about it from a few people. is that an option on my mixing board i can turn on? or what would i have to buy?

thanks again. any information/links to some equipment would be appreciated.
 
check your cables, do you have phantom power for condeser mics o, ? I once had a bad snake wich blew my kick/tom/bass/guitar/everytinhg sound cause of bad cables. Try to turn of you phantom (if it's on) and check again. I could describe my previous kick sound as powerfull slapping my forehead with a flat hand.
-grtz
 
yeah the phantom power is on. and it sorta sounds like im tapping on the micraphone when we recrord the bass drum. i dunno.

thanks.
 
you should try to disconnect any other cable on the mic inputs, and then hear the kick alone ... and if it still sucks, you might wanna check your mic on bass guitar for example

-greetz
 
the alesis 3630 is in my opinion and many others around here one of the worst compressors made. but if your kick drum sounds bad,adding a compressor will not make it good. it may even make it worse. your d112 does not require phantom power so you can switch that off. the d112 is a dynamic mic.
you mentioned that it sounds like it is overloading. try backing off of the gain knob on your mackie and setting the fader at unity gain. play with those until your gain staging is correct.
hope that helps.
 
Oops my bad, perhaps that's my problem. I'm using a screwed up compressor. I don't use it much. What do you suggest are good compressors?

How do you like Shure beta 52 and a 58 mic?
 
Back
Top