kick me in the head...

[S8-N]

What is the difference in sound if I record the kick drum with the outer head removed, rather than leaving it on...
I am trying to experiment with different mic placements on the kick and positioning the mic is a bitch with the outer head on...
Speaking of positioning... can someone describe the best mic position for getting a good combo of tight click and thump on the kick... ala Pantera...
Also... has anyone tried using 2 mics on the kick... one for thump and one for click???

I want answers...
S8-N

[Emeric]

S8-N

I've always taken the front head off for the reason that it is much easier to position a mic. The tuning of the head is off course very important as well. On the 22" kick I have, I tend to tune as low as possible. Tight enough just to remove the ripples from the head, and then maybe a 1/2 turn tighter to add a bit of tone.

Lately, I've been positioning the mic (D112) about 8" from the where the beater hits, with the mic pointing slightly off center, away from the snare. This gets a bit of the click from the beater, and enough low end.

Never tried using 2 mics. Last weekend I picked up a product from EVANS (which reminds me, the EVANS EQ4 is an excellent kick head) called an EQ Pad. Works much better for muffling the head than using a brick wrapped up in blankets or a pillow etc.. The amount of dampening can be adjusted by moving the EQ Pad forwards or backwards on Velcro strips.

Drums are a bitch to record. I've been messing around for the past 2 months. I think I'm making progress, the sound has improved a little since that mp3 I posted. A few things I have learned, and these may sound obvious, and are dependent on the style of music, and may not work for everyone:

- Evans hydraulic heads suck for recording.
- Evans G2's work well for toms. (subjective)
- The closer you put a mic to a drum, the worse it sounds.
- Snares sound better when tuned higher than average. (subjective one)
- If you can get the best overhead sound possible first, it's just a matter of filling in the rest of the spectrum with the close mics.
- Tune the drums and check the tuning each session.

Emeric



[This message has been edited by Emeric (edited 11-23-1999).]

[HAWLK]

I do it sometimes and it works fine for me; it's just a different sound.

HAWLK