Ho long is a bass drum hit?

[RAMI]

I'm trying to find the right attack time for my compressor on my bass drum. Using my ears, I thought that about 40-50ms allowed just the right amount of initial attack and then tamed the sound. But when I looked at a wave of my bass drum hit, it looked like the whole thing only lasted about 70ms. So now, even though my ears tell me one thing, I'm questioning whether I should be lowering my attack time...But that's just what my eyes tell me. And even though my ears suck, I still trust them more than my eyes.
So without asking about specific attack times, I'm wondering in what range most people set the attack time for a percussive instrument. I noticed a snare hit lasts way longer than a bass drum hit so I guess a longer attack time would be used there. Thanx in advance for any input.

[RAMI]

Damn, I screwed up the title of this thread...That's supposed to read "How"...I wasn't refering to anyone's mother or sister.

[Nakatira]

I came in for the title, If there`s `ho`s I`m game

I usually use over 100, Maybe I should try less

[Kronpox]

I usually set my attack at 20-25 ms.

[RAMI]

Nak, you might not be compressing anything with that long an attack time. Of course it depends on how dampened the drum is, etc...But it seems to me that 100ms might be long for a bass drum. I don't know what you use to record, but if you're able to look at a bass drum hit, you'll see how long it actually lasts. That might help to at least get a starting point.

[Nakatira]

Originally Posted by RAMI

Nak, you might not be compressing anything with that long an attack time. Of course it depends on how dampened the drum is, etc...But it seems to me that 100ms might be long for a bass drum. I don't know what you use to record, but if you're able to look at a bass drum hit, you'll see how long it actually lasts. That might help to at least get a starting point.

Your probbably right.
I just messed around with it, and did it a 100 something attack, also called the Nak-attack anyway I did this with the whole kit, as a group thing, I guess I misslayed my words a little.
I tried to let it sounds as natural as I could.

But I`m gonna try a lower time that sounds intresting.
I`m starting to understand some of the eq principals, so I guess a thorough read on compressors is due

[Massive Master]

Originally Posted by RAMI

Damn, I screwed up the title of this thread...That's supposed to read "How"...I wasn't refering to anyone's mother or sister.

I thought you were talking about Ho Long... Oriental guy from down the block. But he plays saxaphone...

[Kryptik]

I set the attack to anywhere between 0ms and 35ms.

Try bringing the threshhold down as low as it goes and set the attack to 0. Look for when the reduction light goes off as you lengthen the attack time. That should give you some idea of how the compressor you're using will react to the kick strike.

[Dogman]

I usually put about 50ms on my kick, as a start. I almost always leave the setting there, but will dink with it once in a while. Sometimes real short gives an interesting thud.

[soundchaser59]

I have always used 50ms on my kicks, and I have never had a problem with fake sounding attack or with untamed spikes. Faster than that and it starts to sound squashed, slower than that and it spikes....

[Chibi Nappa]

Well....I love squashing the hell out of my bass drum tracks. For electric rock I'm under 10 ms most of the time.

[Farview]

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? It really depends on the kick and the sound you are going for. (and the compressor, they all don't react the same even with the same settings.)

[giraffe]

may be fun to go cut one out, zoom in and pull some measuerments just for the hell of it.

o'course every kik's gonna be different.

[Tonio]

ya, and the tempo.

[ocnor]

Originally Posted by Farview

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Looks like quite a bit.

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by giraffe

may be fun to go cut one out, zoom in and pull some measuerments just for the hell of it.

o'course every kik's gonna be different.

I mentioned in my post that I did that, and the hit I was working with was 70ms. The snare hit I checked out was about 160ms.

[giraffe]

Originally Posted by RAMI

I mentioned in my post that I did that, and the hit I was working with was 70ms. The snare hit I checked out was about 160ms.

70ms, for the atttack? envelope? decay?
usually if your compressor attack is set to 70 ms, your letting a chunk of kik attack go past un-effected.

[noisewreck]

Originally Posted by giraffe

70ms, for the atttack? envelope? decay?

I think he was referring to this in his post:

"But when I looked at a wave of my bass drum hit, it looked like the whole thing only lasted about 70ms."

The actual hit from where the beater hits the head to where it dies down not the compressor settings

That's interesting RAMI, most of the drum hits I work with last longer then that. I usually go for around 40-60ms attack (but keep in mind that I'm talking about untreated sampled drums).

However, when working with stuff such as UAD-1176LN, there are no ms markings so I've noticed that I tend to first set the attack rather quick and set it up so that I get about 10-12dB reduction, then slow the attack down to where I get about 3dB reduction, then adjust release to taste. I don't go buy numbers, but my ears kinda like it

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by giraffe

70ms, for the atttack? envelope? decay?
usually if your compressor attack is set to 70 ms, your letting a chunk of kik attack go past un-effected.

Like Noisewreck said, I was reffering to the length of the whole sound. That's why I thought that with the attack at 50ms, I was letting too much of the sound through.

[giraffe]

love your sig rami.

[LeeRosario]

Well you know, it's not nessesarily how long the hit is, just how you hear it and exactly how the specific compressor you use behaves.


Generally the old trick I use is this: I calculate my song BPM and then divide it by 60000, to be additionally divided by either 5, 4, 3, 2 to give me my release times.


So if I have a BPM of say 120, then 60000 / 120 gives me 500ms. For a quicker release time, I can divide that by 4 or 2 for the standard time signature (4/4). This is sets everything in tempo for me neatly.


Afterwards, you can just tweak your attack times to what sounds good to your ear.

On kick, I usually just go enough to round it off but not competely smash it's quality. Same process with snares, perhaps a little more smashed depending on the music.

A longer attack time means a thicker shape to your kick, while a shorter attack time does the converse. Longer attack will help your thump while short attack will help your thud.

Jazz, probably not any. Rock, might be more over the top. Of course, the eyes are just suppose to confirm what the ears are hearing.

Use that relationship wisely.

[TexRoadkill]

A lot depends on why you are compressing the drum. If you are trying to beef up the sound then a longer attack makes sense because you are trying to bring up the level of the decay and body of the tom without losing the impact of the attack.

If on the other hand you are trying to even out some really sloppy dynamics and want to tame the attack then you need a faster attack setting.