Kick drum sound...
- Thread starter Salabim
- Start date
Tim Brown
New member
Salabim said:
Hi Tim,
What size kick is it?
Here's what I do.
Tighten both the heads down pretty tight.
Pillow inside. Hole in the front (Unless like me you have the MAYEA system)
play around with Mic placement before you EQ.
Put in a 75Hz High Pass (It's on the Mackie 1604 VLZ mixers).
Compress about 6:1 Ratio.
Gate if needed.
I use 1 side of a dbx 166a.
My Kicks are wired together with an XLR "Y" cable that I made. That way the Kicks only ake up 1 channel of Mixer, Gate/Comp/ or anything else I want to stick in the chain.
For the record:
I am using a pair of AKG D112 mics internally mounted (MAYEA system) in a pair of 16"x28" Kicks, and the Kicks have 25 PSI per Lugscrew (12 per head) using a Neary Drum torque. No Holes in the front heads.
1 Medium Foam Pillow is in each drum.
The Mics are aimed from about the Middle of the Drum and bout 3" above the mallet strike.
Tim
A few things to add; I've found that using a plastic beater makes for a very punchy sound. And as far as EQing goes, suck out the mids, crank the highs, and turn the bass about half way up. If you have access to a graphic EQ, this is where it will come in handy. 30 Hz to about 60 Hz (maybe 80 Hz) should be turned up. 100 Hz to about 800 Hz should be cut, unless you really want your kick to sound like a cardboard box. And adding some high end will really help it punch through. Just avoid those lower mid frequencies. That's what'll make it sound like a box.
I tried everything to get the kick sound I wanted. I finally gave up and now I record a singnal from the D112 and also, on a separate channel, I record a triggered sound from an Alesis d4. Ddrum trigger. I just mix it together and get a pretty good punchy sound, or other sounds depending on the D4 sound I use.
I like that setup...very similar to mine.
A word of caution though, don't get too silly boosting that 80hz and below. A lot of monitors don't reach that far down and unless you have a sub, you can run into some real trouble when playing back on some units.
I've also patched a little 'verb to the kick and cut the lows on the return and boosted the highs (around 4k or so) with a 25ms delay...it works if your looking for a little additional slap and tickle on the downbeat (aren't we all)...
A word of caution though, don't get too silly boosting that 80hz and below. A lot of monitors don't reach that far down and unless you have a sub, you can run into some real trouble when playing back on some units.
I've also patched a little 'verb to the kick and cut the lows on the return and boosted the highs (around 4k or so) with a 25ms delay...it works if your looking for a little additional slap and tickle on the downbeat (aren't we all)...
before you start eq'ing, get a punchy sounding kick. i have a front and kick side Aquarian Force II set. the front head has a hole in it, and the kick head has a second layer of head material around the edge with small holes in to. this holds lots of air back, but lets air get through still. its not too tight, so it sounds punchy. and since the heads cut resonance, you don't need to have anything inside, so its louder, and i think they work very well.
michael
michael
My 2 cents.....
1. Get the drum sounding how you want it first. If you are psyched with how it sounds, you'll play better, and it will record better.
2. Having the mic closer to the beater will give you more attack, as will using a wooden (as opposed to felt) beater.
3. If the drum is tuned looser you will hear more of the slappy attack, if it's cranked up you will hear more of a defined, sustained note. Personally I like to crank it pretty tight and then put a pillow or something in to control the ringing. It depends what kind of music you're playing-if you're in a metal band the ringy sustained sound isn't really gonna work, just like a clicky bass drum sound would be out of place in a jazz band.
4. Be careful with the EQ. You shouldn't really have to add too much low end if the drum is tuned and mic'd correctly. Likewise you shouldn't have to add tons of high end just to hear it in your mix. A little boost in the highs usually sounds cool though. Concentrate on the mids-I usually cut around 340Hz, but it can range from 200-500 or so. But be careful to listen to what you're doing, too much of a cut at lower frequencies and you'll have nothing but wimpiness, and too much of a cut at the higher frequencies can take all the warmth out of the drum and make it sound really artificial. Listen to your other drum mics too, and see how much of the kick is getting into those. You may find your overheads are picking up a lot of low end boom from the room and maybe this is clouding your overall drum sound. Or maybe that boom is what's making it sound huge. It all depends on the song.
5. Pay attention to phase when you record. Make sure your overheads are in phase with the kick (and all other) mics.
6. People have different opinions on compressor settings, but here's what I like:
a pretty slow attack time (100ms or so) and the fastest release time possible. You want the long attack time because the transient is what gives you the punch, and with too quick an attack time that's what you'll be compressing. Bad Bad Bad! I usually use about a 4:1 ratio. Since the attack time is so long I generally have to use a pretty low threshold...around -20 I think. As long as you have a compressor with adjustable attack/release times you should be able to get some kind of good results. Just mess around with it, you'll be able to hear when it sounds good and when it sounds like a deflated basketball.
Hope this helps. Sorry for going on so long.
1. Get the drum sounding how you want it first. If you are psyched with how it sounds, you'll play better, and it will record better.
2. Having the mic closer to the beater will give you more attack, as will using a wooden (as opposed to felt) beater.
3. If the drum is tuned looser you will hear more of the slappy attack, if it's cranked up you will hear more of a defined, sustained note. Personally I like to crank it pretty tight and then put a pillow or something in to control the ringing. It depends what kind of music you're playing-if you're in a metal band the ringy sustained sound isn't really gonna work, just like a clicky bass drum sound would be out of place in a jazz band.
4. Be careful with the EQ. You shouldn't really have to add too much low end if the drum is tuned and mic'd correctly. Likewise you shouldn't have to add tons of high end just to hear it in your mix. A little boost in the highs usually sounds cool though. Concentrate on the mids-I usually cut around 340Hz, but it can range from 200-500 or so. But be careful to listen to what you're doing, too much of a cut at lower frequencies and you'll have nothing but wimpiness, and too much of a cut at the higher frequencies can take all the warmth out of the drum and make it sound really artificial. Listen to your other drum mics too, and see how much of the kick is getting into those. You may find your overheads are picking up a lot of low end boom from the room and maybe this is clouding your overall drum sound. Or maybe that boom is what's making it sound huge. It all depends on the song.
5. Pay attention to phase when you record. Make sure your overheads are in phase with the kick (and all other) mics.
6. People have different opinions on compressor settings, but here's what I like:
a pretty slow attack time (100ms or so) and the fastest release time possible. You want the long attack time because the transient is what gives you the punch, and with too quick an attack time that's what you'll be compressing. Bad Bad Bad! I usually use about a 4:1 ratio. Since the attack time is so long I generally have to use a pretty low threshold...around -20 I think. As long as you have a compressor with adjustable attack/release times you should be able to get some kind of good results. Just mess around with it, you'll be able to hear when it sounds good and when it sounds like a deflated basketball.
Hope this helps. Sorry for going on so long.
I take every opportunity I can to promote my favorite kick drum heads since I got a set last year: the Evans Retro. It comes with a pretty standard 2-ply batter head, a small black muffler pillow that attaches to the shell with velcro strips so it doesn't move, and a black screen for the front head. To me it's the perfect compromise between the front-headless and head-with-a-hole sounds, and it sounds great recorded as well as live.
Tim Brown
New member
Diragor said:
Two Reason I don't use them:
1. They don't come in a 28" Diameter.
2. I use a Full Front head.
SO this is where I promote the greatness of having a BIG KICK! (Hehehe)
It Thumps about an Octave lower than a 24".
Which means, that I can tighten the thing way up, and it will sound like a 24"-with rebound for days!
People go-"Holy Shit! That's the biggest Bass drum I've ever seen."
You get remembered for having "those Monster Bassdrums"-even by people who normally wouldn't pay any attention to you.
Hahaha
Tim
I'd love to have a gigantic bass drum but I keep me kit as tight (I mean close together) as possible and I already can't get my toms as low as I'd like. Because I keep everything close I have to have some toms directly over the kick and a 22" keeps my toms elevated about as high as I could stand to have them.
Tim Brown
New member
Diragor said:
Well, I can totally understand, I used to do the same thing... I only use 1 15" mounted tom between the 2 kicks, and it's top rim is just about 3 inches higher than the top of the snare, and then two floors.
I tend to play more "tribal" type of toms licks, so I wanted the toms to be as deep as possible-so I just went with Huge drums.
Tim