Getting the kick drum to stand out more?

  • Thread starter Thread starter o0Charlie0o
  • Start date Start date
O

o0Charlie0o

New member
Hey,

I started recording my bands demo, and we recorded all the drums. Now with out re-recording the drums again, are there any frequencies i can mess with to get the kick to stand out more, but leave everything else alone? Well maybe possibly doing something with the snare cause it stands out too much...

Thanks for the suggestions... (btw there is reverb on the drums in this file... but i ended up taking it off, or lightening it up cause this was to much in my )

 
My taste would say to boost for more click. It sound like you mic'd it at the sound hole or in front of the head!? You have bottom already but it needs attack. Maybe between 2.5k to 6k?

RF
 
it sounds to me like there might be enough click, but u need to turn the bass drum up more and maybe the snare down . but if u want more click, then folow rushfans advice. (it's good stuff)
 
To me it appears like you have to turn the bassdrum's volume up, too. One can't say really anything about it when you can't really hear it :)



But the main reason I'm replying in this thread is to thank for the link to the great article. Didn't know that one before and it's a good one!
 
I wrote those articles to help out and I'm on the constant outlook for a place to put them with the audio samples.
I wanted to write more but have almost givin up on it as I cant find a stable place on the web with room to store the samples....
The current place isnt all to stable.

If any of you know of something let me know....
 
I listened to that sample, and the music sounds good so far. Love that groove metal. Well, I think I know the sound you're looking for, and I've gotten help here asking the same thing. It's all in the eq. Take out as much low-mid as possible, or to your taste (80-320hz).. I think, hehe.. I forget, but play around with those numbers. Then, boost the hi's at about 3khz and up. I do think the volume of the kick needs to go up through. My tast is to have the kick not to far behind the snare in volume. Hope this helps a little bit. Oh, which plugin are you using for eq, I found that some are not as good as others for this. I found the best results with the sonic foundry graphic eq. Peace...

Donnie
 
Shailat said:
I wrote those articles to help out and I'm on the constant outlook for a place to put them with the audio samples.
I wanted to write more but have almost givin up on it as I cant find a stable place on the web with room to store the samples....
The current place isnt all to stable.

If any of you know of something let me know....
Click to expand...

Shailat,

if nowhereradio.com isn't good enough for you, hit me with a pm... I've got a small account you could use.


Chad
 
Try coming out of one of your buss outs or the insert out and go into a compressor. Hit is pretty hard and bring it back in on another input. Blend that channel with the original channel to taste. Also, how loud are you monitoring when you mix it? Try mixing it at a lower volume and see if that helps get the blend right. It think you've almost got the "sound" of it right. It might be a little pillowy but not too bad. It just needs a little more chest punch.
 
how did you record your set? i mean, are you still able to JUST edit the kick drum's track? or will you be affecting the entire drum track?
 
Yeah effecting the whole track cause i don't have 4-6 in's.. I only have 2 in's...

I went ahead and re-recorded every track again with the kick up a little and the snare down a little and i think it all sounds good now. However thanks for all the advice, i'll still be using some of the eq advice :)
 
also look into carving out other instruments w/ eq rather than boosting the kick.......this helps me a lot..........try removing all 150Hz and under frequesncies on everything other than bass and kick
 
Well, I am downloading other stuff so its not real possible to listen to it right this second.... but... have you done ALL of the other neccesary evils already? Have you hi-passed all the guitars to above 120hz (150 even) to make sure you have some room for the kick? Often, you can get more thump by boosting about 3db in the 60hz range with a fairly narrow Q.. sweep it to find the area you want. And then get a little boostage just above that for the bass guitar, someplace that makes it sound nice without being boomy. Try rolling the kick out of your overheads too, from about 120 hz down, get the intial boom and its next harmonic out and work with the kick mic only. That way you dont have too much kit and room rumble sucking out kick and bass energy.
I have taken out guitars to over 200hz, and with a solid bass track, sometimes it works great at making room.
Also, a standard trick is to compress the bass drum preety heavy or to mult it off to a very heavuly compressed and EQ's track and bring it in just under the original track.
Track replacer is always a possiblility. ;)
 
Based on that particular file, you'll hear a lot more kick if you boost 100 hz. You might also want to try boosting 56 hz, which might be kind of fun . . . but you won't get it unless you listen with a subwoofer.

I'm assuming of course that remixing isn't an option. If it is, then I'd try cutting about 3-4 db of 100 hz from your bass, another 3-4 db @ 126 hz from the electric guitar tracks . . . and another cut at 56 hz from just the bass track (maybe another 3 db or so).

(That is assuming there is a bass track in there . . . I can't really tell. :D)

And turn the kick up more in the mix. I know you went back and messed with it, but it's still too quiet. Jack it up good. :D That's all that's really missing the most -- volume.
 
Well yeah i turned it up... But i didn't post the new file yet... Also there is no bass track in that file you heard... I'll post a new file for with my progress soon.
 
I see. On the 'ol spectrum analyzer, your kick looks a lot like one that I worked on with my last client. There's a small bump around 56 hz, and another at 100 hz, but it's taking up too much real estate in-betwen, and even all the way up to 142. It's not focused enough (your kick). You might consider a wide gouge out of everything between 56 hz and 100 hz . . . and a subsequent cut around 142. The bulk of the energy from this particular kick is at 100 hz, which is a little high for a kick, but it's also got that 56 hz thing going on to give it some beef.

The guitars don't seem to be interfering with it much (at least in this passage, where it seems to be strongest at 126), although you might consider a little multiband compression on 100 hz, just in case it does later in the song.

If you wind up adding any bass, look out for the 100 hz thing. You might cut it some (from the bass track) and/or multiband comp it.
 
A trick

This may not really be an available option for the original poster, but one trick is to take the bass drum (by itself, or as close to by itself as possible) and run it into the sidechain input of a compressor. If you run either (i) the whole mix or (ii) just the bass through the compressor, you wind up having the whole mix (or the bass) "duck" for the bass drum.
 
just boost the highs a little. maybe at 4.00khz and 10khz

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