Hardcore Double Bass sounds!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hyperslug
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Hyperslug

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hey guys,
i was just wondering, when you record an intense double bass track, how would you go about doing it?

HOpefully some of you out there have listened to professional recordings with "crazy" double bass...and you can clearly hear and seperate each note on the drum. When i go to record it, its all cluttered. If you guys would like an example to listen...heres a band that has a good recording of it in one of their songs(high school band)

www.myspace.com/soldiersdiesaints

If anybody knows any tequniques or michrophones that help achieve this sound, or just a simple setting....it would be greatly appreciated!
 
I record double bass quite a bit. just make sure to boost the high end a bit or use two mics with one close to the beater so you pick up the click sound. If you dont have the high end click in there it will just sound muddy.
 
You want to stick the kick mic inside the drum about 6 inches off where the beater strikes, adjust to taste. Then boost the eq at somewhere between 1 and 3 khz til you get a good click, and also adjust to tastel. That would get you close to that sound.
 
eh... you can get that sound without triggers. You just need a good drumer, well tuned drum, good mic placement, and a healthy boost in the 1k-3k range. but that particular recording is probably triggers.
 
jonnyc said:
eh... you can get that sound without triggers. You just need a good drumer, well tuned drum, good mic placement, and a healthy boost in the 1k-3k range. but that particular recording is probably triggers.
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True, but for simplicity with "intense" double bass you can't beat that approach. Some call it cheating, but I say a sound is a sound, who cares. I prefer the sound of a great drummer and a great sounding drum, but that is such a rarity these days. I think 90% of modern metal has at the very least sample reinforced kick sounds if not 100% triggered sounds. Every metal band I record either requests them or absolutely needs them. If you're not dealing with an exceptional drummer it's a good option to have.
 
metalhead28 said:
True, but for simplicity with "intense" double bass you can't beat that approach. Some call it cheating, but I say a sound is a sound, who cares. I prefer the sound of a great drummer and a great sounding drum, but that is such a rarity these days. I think 90% of modern metal has at the very least sample reinforced kick sounds if not 100% triggered sounds. Every metal band I record either requests them or absolutely needs them. If you're not dealing with an exceptional drummer it's a good option to have.
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Luckily here in my small town there seems to be a plethora of very talented young drummers. These kids were all in bands together growing up and there are really like 5 spectacular drummers within 5 miles of my house. They can all tune a drum and they can all play to a click. It's freakin awesome and makes my job easy as shit. However I'm with you and completely agree.
 
i dont know if any of you guys have heard this but i saw a drummer use the kick drum mic near the beater like you guys have said plus use the yamaha sub kick outside the drum and let me tell you the sound was thunderous with the click...the next metal band that i do i am going to use that combo.
 
Hey JonnyC, what drummers/ bands are you talking about? Just curious. In my oppinion the drummer of Mary Viscious is probably the best local drummer. He can handel the Grind-core with fucking flying colors.

Oh yeah, and for click, try a gate, with a fast attack, that will accentuate the original hit and get rid of some of the mud.
 
www.soundclick.com/dodo Compo 6 Drum Track.

That track was recorded with a Behringer XM1800 Vocal Mic. In to a very dead untuned bass drum. Its all EQ. I kinda like that Trigger sound.
 
Hard beaters, NEW single ply heads, hit hard. The rest is easy.
 
I always mic'd close to the beater head-compression, gate, eq. Maybe a wee bit verb. had very good luck with that.
 
Farview said:
Yes, sometimes it's called double kick.
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Yeah, I figured that out. I was being facetious. I'm just amused at the misuse of the term double bass. Here's a term with a well-known meaning for hundreds of years, and a bunch of rock'n'rollers think they can just swipe it to mean something entirely different. Amusing, nothing more. If it helps you guys communicate, I guess it's OK. As long as you realize that there is a rather large group of musicians who still use it with its original meaning.
 
One nice trick to get that metal sound: put a coin (25 cents is fine) where the beater hits the drum head using duct tape or something similar, then ask the drummer to hit it very constant and verify the tension of the drum head, must be very tight. With all of these things in order, you'll get an amazing kick sound.

Cheers! :cool:
 
felipousis said:
One nice trick to get that metal sound: put a coin (25 cents is fine) where the beater hits the drum head using duct tape or something similar, then ask the drummer to hit it very constant and verify the tension of the drum head, must be very tight. With all of these things in order, you'll get an amazing kick sound.

Cheers! :cool:
Click to expand...
Just get a Danmar pad if you are going to do this. The duct tape will get worn and get your beater sticky.
 
jonnyc said:
eh... you can get that sound without triggers. You just need a good drumer, well tuned drum, good mic placement, and a healthy boost in the 1k-3k range. but that particular recording is probably triggers.
Click to expand...

What do most people use to trigger the drums? I worked with the demo of drumagog and it seemed sloppy with metal drums. It worked great on drummers with simple solid drum beats...but any straight double bass, tripplet patterns or even loud players (bleed in the mics), drumagog would just mess up the sound of the performance.

It was a sweet plug in while it lasted, but just didnt live up to what I thought it could (or maybe I was working it wrong, or the demo didnt have all the options).
 
You have to set up the filters and the threshold. I trigger metal performances every day. I don't have many problems, ever.
 
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