Low end turf

S8-N

..|.. Part-time Antichrist ..|..
Someone settle an argument for me.
It is my contention that the kickdrum should occupy a lower freq than the bass guitar.
My drummer claims that the kickdrum should be click and punch but not dip into the low freq's which is where the bass guitar should reside.
I say that the bass guitar should be somewhere between the kick the the guitar. Someone agree with me please...

S8-N
 
I'm no expert but I play one on the Internet and how you do it is how I do it. Seems to sound good to me. I like to feel the kick as much as hear it.

dmc
 
I think it's all about style. I don't know why, but drummers always seem to be "by the book." For instance, you can never tell a drummer that his rhythm is screwing up a tune...it's always your fault cause he's the guy who knows how to count :)

Anyway, I like deep bass drums that have a good punch but don't sound too dead. However, real low frequency bass drum sounds in techno and modern heavy metal always seem "fakey" to me. One song that I've brought up in the past is Soundgarden's "4th of July". The bass guitar is tuned really low. If I had written that song I might have opted for a really low thumpy kick drum sound, however they went with a VERY natural sound on the set...in my opinion the best drum sound they ever used. The bass wasn't low but it had enough ring to it to make it sound deep. Drums seem to take on a sound relative to the rest of the music. I use the exact same drum samples (I'd kill for a real drummer) in most of my songs and I swear that in each tune the drums sound completely different.

I think that your style (S8-N) though would work really well with a low frequency kick drum. What you need to do is come up with a scheme to let the drummer think that the low kick drum was his idea. It's like my boss here at work....if I ask for, say, a decent backup system for the server I might not get it.....however, if I say, "Man, I wish there was a way to backup the entire server" then the boss is likely to say, "Sounds like we need a bigger backup system!" Today I'm installing our new backup system. My idea channeled through them = results. :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
I play bass with a band and our keyboard player irritates me because he is always getting in my range. I say "Look - I already have that taken care of - -just move your 10 fingers somewhere else" - but it hits a brick wall. I've always been annmoyed by overzealous key players. (sorry I just saw a chance to vent)
 
Remember, if the bass drum and bass guitar work together like they're suppose to, then they will sound better being in the same occupancy together than not. The bass drum's the attack (regardless of the frequency range; and with heavier rock, usually the wider the range, the better) and the bass guitar's the sustain. Of course, not all styles or songss you'll want this, but most of the time. Also, a bass guitar can be melodic, groully, and punchy all at the same time and still have a lot of low end ummph in it. The best example is Rushes' bassist as well as my bassist (who played guitar for 12 years before playing bass for 9 years so far).
 
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