Bass Drum Problems

[Bulls Hit]

I gave up trying to get a good kick sound. One day it would sound beautiful and I'd think finally I've nailed it. Next day, nothing's changed, and it sounds like shit again. Now I just use drumagog and I don't need to worry about it anymore. A copout? Probably, but now I've got a kick sound for every occassion without the heartache and aggravation.

Besides it still bleeds into the overheads so that's kind of keeping it real

 

[jmxdrummer]

Ya dude, i usually make my bass drum better by using eq and effecs. It depends what sound you are going for and what music you are recording. I recommend putting the mic in the bass drum but leaving it almost outside, right near the hole, also pointing at the beater. This way you will get attack and low thump. Also make sure that your tuning is good, i like to tune my resonator head a little bit on the tighter side to get more a "round" drum sound in terms of tone, and for the batter head, not as tight tuning it low to get more thump and low end. Also try to get the ripples out of the bass drum, i know a friend of mine tunes the middle a little looser to get his thump. Try some stuff out and see what you like best.Hey man, look in the forum for mic placement too,. If all else fails, and you have $300 bucks to spend, get the Yamaha Subkick, or better yet, make your own with a woofer. Good luck and happy recording man. Flame

I also recommend putting the mic slightly inside the kick drum hole. What kind of mic are you using? This will have a huge impact on the recording. Are you happy with the kick drum itself? If you are then, consider a new mic.

 

[drossfile]

The mic is a CAD bass mic. ( cheap I know.lol )

I position it in the center,becasue I don't wanna cut into my Tama head.

The shell is 22".

Material is just wood I guess. It's a old kit. No maple or birch.

Tally me up for removal--If you don't want to cut open the resonant head, then just take it off--even if you have a head w/ a hole in it, you'll get more attack and less ringing that way anyway. Place the mic inside the kick, off-center, pointed at the beater. Since you're using the CAD, which has major attenuation at higher frequencies, you may want to get it fairly close to the batter head (say, no less than 6 inches away), and then you can tweak your attack by adding maybe 2-3 dB @ 2-10k (experiment until you get the sound you want).
But remember that if you're nowhere close to the sound you want before adding/trimming eq, sound source is most likely your problem. The drum itself has to sound good before any freq tweak will help. And my guess is that miking the outside of the res head will not get you the sound you're looking for. Also you may want to trim as much as 4 dB @ 250-350 Hz to make it less muddy. I assume you already have a blanket inside the kick and secured against the batter head? If not, this will work wonders for getting the "thwack!" As for tuning, see the June 2006 issue of Recording Magazine--it's all you need to know for tuning drums. good luck!