doubling up the kick?

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EDIT> Holy shit. Greg, we posted the same thing at the same time. Well, we started posting at the same time, probably, but it took me 6 minutes to post this. Weird.

So if you copy the same post and double it, does that make it twice as right? ;) :D
 
Um...I'm right beside my equipment here. I tried it before my last post just to make sure. It's the exact same thing.

Copy your kik track, now you have 2 kik tracks. Play them both at the same volume.

Now, mute one and turn the other one up TWICE AS LOUD.

Exact same result.

You forgot the EQ. :p

That's a completely different thing. We're talking about doubling the exact same track, not layering 2 different bass drums.
Ah but if you eq them both differently then they begin to sound like 2 different kick drums. You can radically change the sound of a kick with eq can you not? For me it's a sound design thing more than a mixing thing though. Not that sound design isn't important to the final mix.

It's a kick drum. It should be fat and low on its own. Maybe you need to play with your mic choice, mic placement, tune the drum properly, or all of the above.
That would be awesome........ if I had a choice in mics a decent live room and more importantly an acoustic drum set. This is HOME recording after all. The most difficult thing to record properly in a home studio(IMHO) is drums because of the space requirements and the amount of noise. All my drums are either electronic, sample based or recorded somewhere else. Sometimes you need to get a little creative to work around the constraints of your setup.

I'm not sure what the original posters situation is but it may be similar. I'm also not sure what type of music he is making. This technique may be totally appropriate for his situation.
 
That would be awesome........ if I had a choice in mics a decent live room and more importantly an acoustic drum set. This is HOME recording after all. The most difficult thing to record properly in a home studio(IMHO) is drums because of the space requirements and the amount of noise. All my drums are either electronic, sample based or recorded somewhere else. Sometimes you need to get a little creative to work around the constraints of your setup.

I'm not sure what the original posters situation is but it may be similar. I'm also not sure what type of music he is making. This technique may be totally appropriate for his situation.

He's using an acoustic kit and a beta52 in the kick to do metal. You're acting like drum-loops and sample software are the norm for home-recording. He should be able to get a usable kick sound without resorting to samples or other trickery. Isn't sticking a mic on what you got what HOME recording is all about? I mean, if you have drums, which this guy does, wouldn't trying to record them be the home-recording way to do it? Why should he mess with samples and "studio trickery" when he has an actual kit? Learning how to record it and get it sounding good is probably one of the most rewarding aspects of home-recording. To my ears, nothing is more impressive than a well done acoustic drum track done by regular people using regular equipment.
 
You forgot the EQ. :p

Ah but if you eq them both differently then they begin to sound like 2 different kick drums. You can radically change the sound of a kick with eq can you not?
No, it will sound like the SAME kik drum louder and EQ'd. Like you said, you can change the sound of ONE KIK DRUM radically. Boosting frequencies (which you shouldn't really be doing too much of, if at all, anyway) on one of those tracks is the same thing. You can't boost what's not already there.


That would be awesome........ if I had a choice in mics a decent live room and more importantly an acoustic drum set. This is HOME recording after all.
Yes it is HOME recording. And we're answering the original poster who HAS an acoustic drum set. So that's what we're talking about.

Doubling up electronic drums, etc......has nothing to do with it. Even doubling up his kik track shouldn't have anything to do with it. He should be able to get a good sound with a well-recorded single track. You don't magically get a good sound by just sticking a mic in front of everything. It could take hours and hours to get a good drum sound. One has to experiment with mic placement, learn how to tune the drums, get bass traps, find the best place in the room for the kit. Not everything's as easy as NINTENDO, as much as we'd all like to just clap our hands and get results without working for anything these days. This is why there are too many people who settle for electronic replacements, which never sounds as good as well recorded real instruments.
 
hey guys

always struggle with my kick, getting it loud enough and cutting thru the mix

a friend of mine suggested i double up the kick (as in copy paste the kick track into a second track that will run simultaneously)

he said in the one track you can boost the lows and cut highs and in the second you can cut the lows and mids and get more attack in the 1k region. he said the doubling up will get the kick sounding louder too

just wondering if this is a valid method or a bad idea?


I would compress the heck out of the second kick, and just roll off the low and and start adding that in for more attack rather than trying to do it via a bunch of radical eq'ing, but that's just me.


Tim
 
msmales, what delay are you using?

what settings do you use? never gotten a nice delay from the crap plugins that come with cubase


Instead of using a delay, just offset the track a few milliseconds if that is what you are after.

If you delay all of the tracks by a few milliseconds, you can make the kick sit better in the mix sometimes as well.

Tim
 
don't knock it until you've tried it. Do it listen to it use your ears and then tell me you get the same effect from a single track.

Should you do it all the time? Of course not but sometimes it sounds awesome. Some songs just beg for it. You can get some pretty nasty sounding kicks by layering different kicks on top of each other. Don't tell me you guys have never heard of layering an 808 style kick over an acoustic kick to get some boom?

I would never do this on an acoustic kit for a standard rock or country type sound but it is very useful for metal/industrial/techno in certain situations.


That's what I'm talking about. I usually use eq on the individual tracks the bounce them to a single track and compress that track. I don't do my final mix with 2 separate kick tracks.

I don't think that is what Greg is talking about.
You leave 1 uncompressed, or slightly compressed, then you completely squash the other kick track to accentuate the attack.

Putting them together and compressing them both the same negates some of the Eq'ing you are doing.


Tim
 
That's a completely different thing. We're talking about doubling the exact same track, not layering 2 different bass drums.

EDIT> Holy shit. Greg, we posted the same thing at the same time. Well, we started posting at the same time, probably, but it took me 6 minutes to post this. Weird.


Great minds think alike.
:D


Tim
 
You forgot the EQ. :p

Ah but if you eq them both differently then they begin to sound like 2 different kick drums. You can radically change the sound of a kick with eq can you not? For me it's a sound design thing more than a mixing thing though. Not that sound design isn't important to the final mix.


That would be awesome........ if I had a choice in mics a decent live room and more importantly an acoustic drum set. This is HOME recording after all. The most difficult thing to record properly in a home studio(IMHO) is drums because of the space requirements and the amount of noise. All my drums are either electronic, sample based or recorded somewhere else. Sometimes you need to get a little creative to work around the constraints of your setup.

I'm not sure what the original posters situation is but it may be similar. I'm also not sure what type of music he is making. This technique may be totally appropriate for his situation.


If you want your electronic kick sounds to sound different - run it out through a speaker into another room, and put up a mic or two and record THAT!

:)

Treat it like an acoustic kick. Try different tunings, reverb, etc. to see what sounds best out of the speaker.


Tim
 
If you have to resort to ANY (I repeat ANY) of this, especially using EQ to get what you want, then you're not recording the kick correctly in the first place. You've got to start with the source and if it doesn't sound the way you want then you've got to change things there instead of "fixing it in the mix".

You should NEVER have to resort to some suspicious trick to get the sound you want!

Start by tuning the drum, use the kind of beater/head combo for the sound you want, decide if you need an impact pad or not, adjust dampening so it's not too much, and put the right mic in the right spot.

Back to square one before trying anything else, folks!
 
Ah but if you eq them both differently then they begin to sound like 2 different kick drums. You can radically change the sound of a kick with eq can you not? For me it's a sound design thing more than a mixing thing though. Not that sound design isn't important to the final mix.

You really don't understand how wave forms work, do you?
 
i do completely agree with getting the best raw sound possible

my problem is i dont know what to look for in completely raw drum sounds as im so new to the game.

so what ill try do tomorrow or the next day is record a little test on my kit, completely raw no eq or compression or reverbs or anything, and ill try get it posted up here so you guys can hopefully tell me if im doing anything right or anything wrong.

id be very grateful :)

oh and does any one know a good site i could host the mp3 on?
 
If you want your electronic kick sounds to sound different - run it out through a speaker into another room, and put up a mic or two and record THAT!

:)

Treat it like an acoustic kick. Try different tunings, reverb, etc. to see what sounds best out of the speaker.


Tim

That's a cool idea! I've done similar things in the past with synths, running them through guitar amps but never thought to do it with drums.
Another cool trick for kick sounds is to stick a mic in a cardboard box and beat on the box with various household items. Usually doesn't stand on it's own but sounds cool layered.


He's using an acoustic kit and a beta52 in the kick to do metal.
Obviously I missed something because I don't see that info anywhere in this thread.
You're acting like drum-loops and sample software are the norm for home-recording. He should be able to get a usable kick sound without resorting to samples or other trickery. .
It is pretty common, my guess would be over 50%. But that's another discussion. I never said he should use samples I never said that doubling the kick is the right thing for him to do. I said it might work for him depending on the sound he is going for.

My only point is that it IS a legitimate technique and you can get some really cool results with it. Honestly try it and see. Isn't that half the fun? Messing around and trying different things? If you are happy with the end result why does it matter what path you took?
 
My only point is that it IS a legitimate technique and you can get some really cool results with it. Honestly try it and see.
Absilutely, I agree with experimentation. But again, mixing 2 identical kik drum sounds that come from the same mic, drum, and recording does nothing other than make the kik louder. Your technique of mixing DIFFERENT bass drums is legitimate.
 
well heres a clip of some raw drums i recorded



never seems to sound the same mixed down as in cubase tho:(
 
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