bass drum gating

[FALKEN]

working with a mix and im experimenting with a gate on the bass drum. The rhythm tracks were recorded live in a room, so I notice when the track is solo'd that up until the release time, the guitars, drums, etc are slightly audible. I instantly noticed that this is an often used effect in hip hop. but this is a rock mix. I also tried this on snare and the background effect was too noticeable; I had to drop the gate altogether. So I turned off the bass drum gate, and noticed that the beginning of the bass drum hit sounded a lot better..So now I am experimenting with the threshold sort of on sort of off. I guess my question is..


When gating bass drum, do you usually set the threshold to only open on the hits, or to remain open about 50% of the time, or what?

 

[RAMI]

Yo sure you're talking about the threshold?

 

[xfinsterx]

As opposed to using a gate, next time you track a live band try using a closer proximity to the bass drum with your mic.

Or if the more distant sound of the kick is a must, try draping some heavy blankets over the kick and the mic to create a tunnel/barrier so the bleed is not as bad.

-Finster

 

[FALKEN]

really the bleed isn't bad. I'm just trying to tighten it up for effect. i've got a case of the mud-butt.

 

[sweetnubs]

yep usually set the threshold control so the gate opens when the kick hits unless you are going for some sort of special effect. I generally like fast attack times for perucssion gates. Hopefully the kick is the loudest thing going into the kick mic so it won't open when the kick isn't hit. Set the release so the gate closes at the rate you want it too. Although I try to set the release so none of the kick sound is chopped off it is kind of hard but don't worry too much about it cause the kick is also picked up in the overheads and it should cover up anything you may have chopped off, unless of course you want to chop it off a little to give it a tighter sound. You also acheive tightness in a kit sound with gates because phase issues and bleed are reduced. Another although cheesy but sometimes effective trick us old pros use is to use the gate's key input. Sample a kick sound you really like and use the kick track to trigger the gate to open, it then lets the sampled sound through and not the orginal kick sound. Great effect sometimes. Luddite sound replacer.