kick drum problem

F

fazil

New member
Last week i tried recording my drumkit in my new room, set up the overheads (ecm8000), snare (sm587) and kick (d-112), all trough a mackie cfx16 and then to my pc (terratec ews88). The overheads sounded pretty cool, snare aswell, but the kick drum sounded awfull.
It had no boom, no bass. It only had the high frequency click which i normally get around 3-5khz. I messed around with the mic placement, outside, inside, close to beater, close to resonant head, but still it sounded like clapping my front teeth. I retuned the kick (read the whole drumweb's tuning bible kick section), and still I had very little bass.
I find that the kick sounds great when i don't record it (live in the room) or even trough the OH's

Well last saterday I had a gig. Set up the same drumkit with the same setup, let the drummer soundcheck and it sounded wonderfull, very little boost 'round 3khz and i had lots of bass coming from it.
I really wonder why i didn't get the same results in my room. The gig's room actually sounds much worse than my room does, so the only difference was the drummer.
Could it be the kick drum beating technique that matters sooo much ????
I'd be really suprised cuz i really had better results playing a kick myself.
My live MD or camcorder recording actually sounds a lot better (in terms of tonallity, not quality) then my home recording.
Could anybody give me any advice ??

tnx in advance

-fazil
 
Try moving the drumset to a different part of the room. You might have the bassdrum sitting in an area where standing waves cancel the bass.

Of course, I'm no expert on the subject (consult John Sayers and Ethan Winer for more info.) But, it's something to try. Also, maybe the monitors are in a bad place. If the kick sounds good in the room, but you don't hear it on playback, move your monitors, or yourself to see if the bass is cancelling where you are monitoring.
 
I've been thinking bout that, but if the basses in my recording room are being cancelled, my overheads wouldn't pick up a good sound would they ? And I tried monitoring trough a headphone with the same results :/
tnx for the reply though :D
 
theletterq: I tried both :/
tnx for the response guys maybe i'lll try to get my drummer back in the studio so I can experiment some more.
Could it possibly be the A/D conversion ??
 
If it sounds great in the room, I'm thinking possibly a phase issue between the kick mic and overheads...perhaps?

Swapped cables?

You've checked all those little "ohhhhhhh yeah, that's right" stuff?
 
I've got 4 seperate tracks. It still sucks when I solo the kick.

"ohhhhhhh yeah, that's right" <---- ???

:D
 
I had the same problem with my kick sound. I ended up removing the resonant head & that fixed the problem.
 
first off do the basic's, try another pre on your mackie and another cable.
If you have retuned the kick (both skins) its all about your mic postion and the natural sound of the room. Try building a little "kick tunnel".

I had problems with getting a "good" recorded kick tone for a while. My hole process was this- sennhesier e 604 mic, new evens emad batter skin, retune, trying differant "fillers" in drum, fiddle with kick pedal (beater postion, spring adjustment) retune again.While the hole time trying differant mic postions. I even took some carpet off the walls to try to brighten up the room sound. But the one thing i could not not do.... try another room, i am stuck with a 8 X 10 ft drum room.
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
i've had a great kick sound last gig, with the same preamp, and i allready tried reaplcing the cable. And I'm sure my room doesn't sound great, but it sounds a lot better then any room i've ever been in. The kick sounds very good in the room.
I might try another reso head, the current one is the original yamaha head (with a hole in it).
Thankx for the response ppl
 
I hate to state the obvious but have you checked your mic? You said that at the club you had great sound. Was it the same mic? Just a thought!
RF
 
fazil said:
I've been thinking bout that, but if the basses in my recording room are being cancelled, my overheads wouldn't pick up a good sound would they ? :D
Click to expand...

The kick drum freqs may be cancelling near your mic.

Have you tried using a different mic? If it still sounds crappy, it's not the mic

Have you tried one of your overheads in place of the kick mic? If it still sounds crappy, it's probably the mic position
 
This may not work for you but it worked for me. I had about the same problem nothing I did worked I got no boom alot of click way too buried. But i decided to try reversing the phase on my bass drum track and boom there it came nice and punchy I suppose that w/ my over heads it was cancelling out the signal but as soon as I switched the phase there it was. Like I said it may not work for you but thats my 2 cents. Laters and good luck.
 
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