kick drum technique?

P

pntsmillion

New member
does anybody have a great technique for getting a kick ass drum sound?

I am currently using a Tama 22" with no res head and a blanket against the beater head, with an Audix fusion kick mic.
 
get good heads, learn how to tune your drums,put the drum in a decent room, kick it well, have a better mic go into a good preamp...and press recordddddddd


if none of those are good options....do what you can...

experiment with tuning, mic placement, drum placement in the room, eq, compression, etc...
 
My first thought is "remove the blanket," but....

My second thought is "AKG D112".

My third thought is to experiment with mic placement.
 
When good sounding drums or good micing equipment is not really available, some work with EQ will really help a bunch on the kick (in my experience)
 
It's best to get the Kick the way you want it to sound before it enters the world of Digital precessing. The D112 with a good pre with the right placement with the right tuning should give you a great result.
 
If you have a gate that has a ducking feature (dbx, Drawmer, etc) you could try a mic in front of the kick to get the meat of the sound, and another mic on the beater side facing the point where the beater hits the head, to pick up some "click" and blend to taste. Then duck the beater side mic keyed to the snare drum, so that you don't pick up obscene amounts of snare in your beater side kick mic.
 
Get rid of the blanket. Tune the drum. Get an a good kick mic. Learm how to place it to get the sound you want.

Or, just get Drumagog. :D
 
in reponse to removing the blanket...

being a drummer, i'd very much like to see how you are to tune a kick with no muffling and get a modern kick sound that's deep, tight, and punchy. maybe with an emad if you're lucky, but really...the kick drum just has way too much resonation and overtones without some sort of muffling in there and there is nothing wrong with using a blanket. there are however, better products out there like dw's pillow, etc.
 
Definitely go at an angle when you're miking the kick... and I don't know what has worked for other people, but placing the mic directly in the sound hole with nothing muffling the drum will yield sound of a dead fish, atleast in my experience. A little mid cut on the EQ can fix this but it's still quite a pain. I have had the best luck with a dynamic set on the very edge of the head at a modest angle - very crisp sound. But then again that depends on what you're recording. As far as mikes go, if you can get your hands on an RE-20, you're set.
 
tsl92802 said:
being a drummer, i'd very much like to see how you are to tune a kick with no muffling and get a modern kick sound that's deep, tight, and punchy. maybe with an emad if you're lucky, but really...the kick drum just has way too much resonation and overtones without some sort of muffling in there and there is nothing wrong with using a blanket. there are however, better products out there like dw's pillow, etc.
Click to expand...


It's all in tuning the drum correctly - VERY few drummers even know where to start.......
 
NL5 said:
It's all in tuning the drum correctly - VERY few drummers even know where to start.......
Click to expand...

well frankly, i have a kit that resonates more than most. a dw satin oil kit...no protective finish, just a stain. if you tune my floor tom in any configuration you can think of...aside from choked so much there is no tone...it will ring out for about 15 seconds. your comment crossed my mind so i took it to a local 5 star drum shop that has been here for about 20 years. the owner advised me that's just the drum and gave me some tips on how to tune it. i didn't really believe him so i checked around more and he's correct. now, it's a 16x16 floor tom...let's bump that up to a 22x20 kick...more drum/skin to resonate if tuned properly. now, i do realize there's a big difference between live and recording tuning/tone, etc...but if you have some secret of tuning to get an unmuffled remo abassador to sound like a modern kick, please share, because i am sure i'm not alone in wanting to know your trick. i don't mean to come off arrogant or even accuse you of being a liar...but it's a rather bold statement to say you can get a modern sounding kick with no muffling.
 
pshhh having a good drum and the know-how to tune it is all you need to get the perfect kick sound...

my drummer has no muffling and he has a 24" x 18" C and C Custom kick and it sounds beautiful for rock
 
tsl92802 said:
...but if you have some secret of tuning to getting a modern kick, please share, because i am sure i'm not alone in wanting to know your trick.
Click to expand...


If, by "modern" you mean a "clicky" kick - how is the blanket going to help you?

I told you my "secret" - several people have said the same thing. I am not a drummer, so I don't know how they do it (although I am getting a lot better at it), but I can sure the hell hear when it is tuned right and when it is not. If it's not, there is only one way I can get a decent kick sound out of it - DRUMAGOG! :D

I can tell you this as well, the heads make a difference, and so do the beaters.

If you want a muffled 70's "whump" kick, throw the blanket in - hell, throw in two...........

edit - and BTW - The kick on my personal kit used to resonat so much Blue Bear swore I was using a floor tom. Guess what - it was WAY outta tune.
 
I had a metal drummer (I mean, a drummer who plays metal music) come in one time with some kind of flappy thing on the inside of the beater head that would flap off of the head when you hit it, but come back against it quickly to stop the ringing/resonating. Sounded a little weird, but kinda kewl. Anyone know what that is called? He also had some kind of chunk of actual metal stuck to the head directly where the beater hits it. Gave a pretty good click, but kept falling off and needing to be re-ducttaped.

I hear that a pile of sugar packets works pretty well too.......

Although I must admit I have yet to record a kick that doesn't at least need some 150-250 EQ'd out.
 
Reggie said:
He also had some kind of chunk of actual metal stuck to the head directly where the beater hits it. Gave a pretty good click, but kept falling off and needing to be re-ducttaped.
Click to expand...

I've seen guys tape a metal washer to the beater "hit-point" - I guess that's one way to get some click, but not the route I would take.......
 
Get a great head like Evans EQ2 or 3, tune it very good and use a D12 for a big sound, a D112 for more click, a Beyer M88 for even more click and a very tight sound or a Beyer M201 to get surprised how good a 201 sounds on kick.

MD421 isn't bad either and there are a number of mics I don't own, but I'm sure they'll sound great.

If you wanna damp the sound a bit, use a pillow inside, hold it in place with a brick.
 
NL5 said:
I've seen guys tape a metal washer to the beater "hit-point" - I guess that's one way to get some click, but not the route I would take.......
Click to expand...
Got to GC and get a Danmar pad if that's what you are trying to do. It won't fall off.
 
pntsmillion said:
does anybody have a great technique for getting a kick ass drum sound?

I am currently using a Tama 22" with no res head and a blanket against the beater head, with an Audix fusion kick mic.
Click to expand...
Evans EMAD head, lose the blanket and put the front head back on. Cut a hole in the front head and put the mic just inside the hole. I prefer a shure beta 52 in that position. If you can get a D112, put it inside the drum a couple inches from the batter head about half way between the middle and the shell.
 
I've never really had "bad" results from pointing a mic at the kick and recording it. I mean really, it's a kick drum - not an orchestra.

I like to boost 80hz and 2.50khz, then cut around 400hz and run a lowpass around 10-12khz. It usually fits in the mix alright and works.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top