So yeah im a big fan of the band and i was wondering if someone had an idea of how to get the beginning kick sound of the Vagabond song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThtGuKy27qk . I know theres some tom mix into it too but the kick in the whole album in general just catches my mind and i was wondering if someone could guide me on how it can be achieved
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQPNredrDO0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpE0US9vzxU
These guys were all about trying to sound like a 70's rock band. That was thing when they became mainstream with that album, and kinda still is I guess, eh! So this reply is based on the whole kit and not just the kick in isolation.
Firstly, tuning and mic'ing and room...
Sounds like a 70'sish rock drum kit tuning. Sounds like he used larger drum sizes, put coated double-ply heads on top and tuned them fairly low and dead (not cardboard box dead, but pretty little resonance). Moon gel is good for that (top and even bottom for more control) or go the cheap route and do toilet paper squares (folded up a few times to make t thicker) underneath masking tape, but for the love of god DO NOT use duct tape unless you want to ruin the heads! The heads sound pretty warn in, if not, totally used and abused. Listen to the kit in the room until you are at least getting in that ballpark of the same sound.
The tricky part about the kick is the tuning, muffling and whether you do front head on or off...
Sounds pretty midrangey to me. Not too low and subby and flabby, not too tight and punchy. So get the head on there (batter side) and tune it up to just above the point where you can't see any wrinkles. Use a coated head. Do the same with the front head.
Muffling: you don't want it so dead that it just sounds like tightly packed suitcase, and you don't want it boomy or too flabby/floppy sounding. A lot of guys put waayyyy too much dampening materials in their bass drum. Try one pillow against the batter head first. Then if you want more, a pillow (or evans EQ pad like I use) leaning against front head. If that's still not right, try removing the front head completely and using slightly lighter pillow on the batter head.
As for mic'ing it doesn't sound like they used close mics (except maybe for the snare). It sounds like a three mic Glyn Johns thing. One above head, one over floor tom pointing at snare/kick and one out front of the kick (none inside), all equidistant from the snare drum for proper PHASE. Doesn't sound like an insanely roomy track and the kick gives that away. Either they didn't use room mics or they were de-emphasized in the mix.
The chain...
Sounds very analog to me, or well faked in the digital realm. This means using pres of the 1073 variety or similar (like the knockoff Gap Pre 73), hitting tape fairly hard, mixed on an analog console with a minimalist mindset/approach and using just eq and compression (either on the whole drum group, or individual mics, in parallel or all of the above), and not much else. It doesn't sound like they "added distortion" to anything. It sounds a little saturated, yes, but likely due to the pres, tape, console, combo of all three or well emulated in the digital domain.
Good luck and have fun!
