Bass Drum = Crap

  • Thread starter Thread starter Whyte Ice
  • Start date Start date
W

Whyte Ice

The Next Vanilla Ice
Whenever I play my drums, my bass / kick drum sounds just fine, it sounds really nice but whenever I record and listen to the playback, it sounds really weak, the other drums come out nice but the bass drum sounds weak. Is there any miking techniques I could use to get a good bass sound out of it?

The same thing happens with my crash cymbals also but I think its because my crash cymbals are crap.
 
How ARE you doing it now? And what do you want to be different. People are particlular about what they like in a bass drum.
 
what mic are you using on your bass drum? make sure you're using a mic with a good low frequency response, such as the AKG D112
 
Compression can really bring out the thump in a kick drum mess around with that next time you track.
 
???

You didn't list ANY of the gear you are using to mic the kick drum. What mic? What preamp? Where are you placing the mic?

I have had good luck with a HUGE variety of kick drum mics in the past. D112's, Pro 25's, Beta 52's, RE 20's, RE 27 n/d (my favorite by a long shot, but costs $900 new!), Beyers, etc......

You could have a significant monitoring problem that is "hiding" what is actually being recorded or mixed with your kick drum. 95% of the sound in a kick drum will be below 100Hz, about the same frequency that you start having bad problems in most rooms you monitor.

You should investigate your monitoring environment a little closer before you decide that the kick sounds like crap.

Also, you may just be placing the mic totally wrong! Experimentation is the key here. If you are missing low end, try moving the mic back away from the beater and/or aiming the mic more towards the shell of the drum. If you are missing definition, the reverse application would help. Double micing CAN work very well, but I haven't found it to be as good as a great sounding kick drum that is tuned appropriately for the style of music (something you didn't share either, and I never trust what a drummer thinks sound "great" in a drum sound because my experience is that most drummer suffer from very bad hearing loss....) and a well placed mic.

Please share more with us, and maybe a high resolution mp3 of either your kick drum alone, or within a drum submix. That, with a detailed description of how you mic'ed it and with what you used, people could offer better suggestions to "improve" the sound.

Ed
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top