Bob Rock...

C

Call-Of-Ktulu

Rockaholic
Most of what Bob Rock has been able to do with sound has completely amazed me, but one of the most interesting things i've discovered that he can do is make the bass drum completely, utterly massive. So the first thing I did when I started mixing down my home recording is EQ my bass drum so it sounds nice and Bob Rocky and crank it up only to have it clip at about half as loud as I want it. Besides the bass drum, everything else in his mixes is always right up front, crystal clear and overall somehow much louder and more present than any other CDs i have that were engineered by different people.

I'm sure no one quite knows all his secrets but does anyone have any theories or guesses?
 
Just a guess

Experienced

Knowledgeable

Highly Competent

World class gear (and knows how to use it).

Great sounding, acoustically treated rooms (and knows how to use them).

Records professional musicians.

That's just for starters. I can't help you with specific techniques because while I like a nice "thud in the chest" kick drum, I don't like it to sound like a marching band bass drum.
 
That guy has 5 or 6 mics on the kick, all going through kick ass preamps. Then they are gated, compressed, and eq'ed within an inch of their lives. Putting a beta 52 in a 22 inch pearl export kick with old heads isn't really going to hold up to what he does.

BTW, he also uses samples in there as well. Not the whole sound but mixed in with all the other stuff.
 
Sorry for not having a care in the world about modern, big label music, but what bands/albums has Bob Rock done?
 
BRIEFCASEMANX said:
Sorry for not having a care in the world about modern, big label music, but what bands/albums has Bob Rock done?
Click to expand...


Appearances
2005 Motley Crue[+] Red, White & Crüe [Clean] [+]
2004 Simple Plan [+] Still Not Getting Any... [Bonus DVD] [+]
2004 Metallica [+] Unnamed Feeling, Pt. 2 [+]
2004 The Tea Party [+] Seven Circles [+]
2004 Metallica [+] Unnamed Feeling, Pt. 1 [+]
2004 Various Artists Big Day Out 2004 [+]
2004 Kingdom Come [+] Kingdom Come [Bonus Track] [+]
2004 Mistheria [+] Messenger of the Gods [+]
2004 Mötley Crüe [+] Loud as Fuck [Bonus DVD] [+]
2004 Metallica [+] Some Kind of Monster [EP] [+]
2003 Mötley Crüe [+] Supersonic and Demonic Relics [Bonus Track] [+]
2003 Bryan Adams [+] Best of Me [Australia Bonus Tracks] [+]
2003 Metallica [+] St. Anger [Bonus DVD] [+]
2003 Cher [+] The Very Best of Cher [Special Edition] [+]
2003 Metallica [+] St Anger [UK CD #2] [+]
2003 Cher [+] The Very Best of Cher [+]
2003 Various Artists I've Always Been Crazy: A Tribute to Waylon Jennings [+]
2003 Our Lady Peace [+] Somewhere Out There/Bring Back the Sun [+]
2003 Kingdom Come [+] 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kingdom Come [+]
2003 Bon Jovi [+] New Jersey [Australia Bonus Track] [+]
2003 Mötley Crüe [+] Greatest Hits [Hip-O] [+]
2002 Metallica [+] The Memory Remains [Japan] [+]
2002 Tonic [+] Head on Straight [+]
2002 Bryan Adams [+] Early Years [+]
2002 Our Lady Peace [+] Gravity [+]
2002 Swizz Beatz [+] Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories [+]
2002 Swizz Beatz [+] Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories [Clean] [+]
2002 Various Artists National Lampoon's Van Wilder [+]
2001 Various Artists Get Over It [+]
2001 American Hi-Fi [+] Flavour of the Weak [+]
2001 Bryan Adams [+] The Best of Me [+]
2001 American Hi-Fi [+] American Hi-Fi [Clean] [+]
2001 The Cult [+] Beyond Good and Evil [+]
2001 Nina Gordon [+] Tonight and the Rest of My Life [Japan Bonus Track] [+]
2001 American Hi-Fi [+] American Hi-Fi [+]
2001 Econoline Crush [+] Brand New History [+]
2000 The Cult [+] Rare Cult [+]
2000 The Cult [+] Pure Cult: The Singles 1984-1995 [+]
2000 Tal Bachman [+] If You Sleep [+]
2000 The Cult [+] Best of Rare Cult [+]
2000 John Sykes [+] Best of John Sykes: Chapter One [+]
2000 Bon Jovi [+] Wild in the Streets [+]
2000 Metallica [+] Turn the Page [Japan CD] [+]
1999 Bon Jovi [+] Keep the Faith [Japan 2-CD] [+]
1999 Mötley Crüe [+] Supersonic Relics [Clean] [+]
1999 Metallica [+] S&M [Edited] [+]
1999 Bryan Adams [+] On a Day Like Today [Australia Bonus Tracks] [+]
1999 Mötley Crüe [+] Supersonic and Demonic Relics [+]
1999 Bryan Adams [+] Greatest Hits [+]
1999 Mötley Crüe [+] Live: Entertainment or Death [+]
1999 Mötley Crüe [+] Live: Entertainment or Death [Clean] [+]
1999 Cher [+] If I Could Turn Back Time: Greatest Hits [Geffen] [+]
1998 Mötley Crüe [+] Greatest Hits [Motley/Beyond] [+]
1998 John Sykes [+] Chapter One [+]
1998 Metallica [+] Reload [Australia Bonus CD] [+]
1998 Various Artists Geffen Vintage 80's Presents: It Rocks [+]
1998 Metallica [+] Mama Said [Japan] [+]
1998 The Afghan Whigs [+] 66 [+]
1998 Tal Bachman [+] She's So High [US CD Single] [+]
1998 Skid Row [+] Forty Seasons: The Best of Skid Row [+]
1998 Metallica [+] Turn the Page [Australia CD] [+]
1997 Veruca Salt [+] Eight Arms to Hold You [+]
1997 Metallica [+] Reload [+]
1996 Metallica [+] Load [+]
1996 Metallica [+] Hero of the Day [Japan] [+]
1996 The Subhumans [+] Pissed Off...With Good Reason! [+]
1996 Prism [+] The Best of Prism [+]
1995 Various Artists Basketball Diaries [+]
1994 The Cult [+] The Cult [+]
1994 Aerosmith [+] Big Ones [+]
1994 Mick Ronson [+] Heaven and Hull [+]
1993 Cher [+] Greatest Hits: 1965-1992 [Import #1/Geffen] [+]
1992 Bon Jovi [+] Keep the Faith [Japan] [+]
1992 Bon Jovi [+] Keep the Faith [Enhanced] [+]
1992 Various Artists Rock the First, Vol. 2 [+]
1992 London Quireboys [+] Bitter Sweet & Twisted [+]
1992 Bon Jovi [+] Keep the Faith [+]
1991 Honeymoon Suite [+] The Singles [+]
1991 Metallica [+] Metallica [+]
1991 Mötley Crüe [+] Decade of Decadence [+]
1991 David Lee Roth [+] A Little Ain't Enough [+]
1991 Cher [+] Love Hurts [+]
1990 The Cult [+] Sweet Soul Sister [Single Version] [+]
1990 The Cult [+] Sweet Soul Sister [Rock's Mix] [+]
1990 Various Artists Adventures of Ford Fairlane [+]
1990 Various Artists Navy Seals [+]
1989 Blue Murder [+] Blue Murder [+]
1989 Dion [+] Yo Frankie [+]
1989 Various Artists A Very Special Christmas [+]
1988 Kingdom Come [+] Kingdom Come [+]
1988 Bonnie Tyler [+] Notes from America [+]
1987 Paul Janz [+] Electricity [+]
1987 Cher [+] Cher [Geffen] [+]
1987 Various Artists St. Elmo's Fire [+]
1987 Loverboy [+] Wildside [+]
1986 Doug Bennett [+] Animato [+]
1986 Bon Jovi [+] Slippery When Wet [+]
1984 Servant [+] Light Maneuvers [+]
1983 The Payola$ [+] Hammer on a Drum [+]
1980 FM [+] City of Fear [+]
1980 The Modernettes [+] Teen City [+]
1979 Survivor [+] Survivor [+]
 
And that was just a partial list.

Personally, I can't stand most of his stuff, but that being said, here are a few tricks to doing that kind of stuff.

Compression - Frequently, when doing that kind of mix, you can make your kick drum cut through better by using it to trigger some compression on other tracks, particularly the bass guitar (which, of course, shares the same frequency range) to open up some space for the kick. Short attack and release, please.

You are also usually going to have some pretty major compression on the vocals, but you don't always want it to SOUND compressed, so you need a REALLY nice compressor (not necissarily the model, but the concept - if an RNC works for you, great, but it doesn't always do it for me).

EQ - you really need to carve out space for every thing, so give some thought to what you really need for that kick to sound like that in the context of a mix. Remember, it will sound smaller if it is competeing with other instruments.

Samples - often as not, those drums are sample replacements.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top