How do you record your kick drum?

nessbass

nessbass

New member
with back skin? without it? How much do you damp it, if at all? Do you tape several drums together, or what?
Give me your ideas, your wisdom, your faults - everything, just give it to me NOW ;)

just kidding. I'm just interested in how you do your job with the kick.

Thanks to all,

David
 
i record it with a boom stnd which is annoying as hell!!!!!! i dont have one of those short stands yet, so its really akward to position the mic. i have a hole in my reflex head so i have the mic's flat end stop about 2cm from where the hole is, this way i get all the air rushing at it and i dont get a weird boxy sound but a lot of OOMPH. and my kick (yamaha stage custom) has a natural slap sound to it. not overdone, just nice.
 
I record with the front head on and no hole in it either, with an AKG D112 set just far enough out infront of the bass drum to where I don't get to much cymbal bleed (about a foot or so). Something I want to try is using my old bass drum out in front and place the mic inside to block out the cymbals, that way I can move the mic farther back (but I've been recording at a friends house and I don't have room for another bass drum in my car). I also plan on getting another bass mic (an SM91) and experimenting with some close and distant micing.

For damping I use that floor padding that goes underneith the carpet, and that has an acceptional sound. It muffles it just enough to get rid of the "big booooom" sound, but still allows it to get it's point across. I use to have some carpet cut out in a square that was duck taped to the "beater side" head, so that when the beater hit the head it hit the carpet and didn't get that "beater click" sound. But after I got my new drumset I stopped using it, and it sounds a TON better without it. I would recomend the carpet (or I saw another drummer use a towel, which was where I got the idea in the first place) for cheap drums, like my old one was. It sounded really bad without a ton of muffling inside and the carpet on the outside. I would also recommend it for smaller live shows, I think it makes it easier to work with for smaller shows where you don't really want a HUGE bass sound over powering everything.

Sorry I couldn't get this to you "Right Away", but I hope this is soon enough for you.:D

-tkr
 
here's the latest method I've been using:

- front head on the bass drumwith a small-hole off-center to the right
- rolled up towel up against batter-head for damping
- close mic the inside of the batter-head with an SM57
- place an AKGd112 right at the hole (partially extending into the drum)

the mixture of the two mics provides nice mixture of 'boom' and 'punch'


Dortmund, eh?? my great aunt/uncle live in Dortmund. went to see them 2 years ago and drank gallons of DAB
 
I agree the d112 sm57 combo is what I use. I don't like front heads when recording, so I take it off. I have the d112 a little bit in from where the front head was and the 57 a couple inches away from the beater.
 
here's my "cheap" way of doing it.

i put a 57 at the edge of the drum facing towards where the side of the beater will be when it hits the head. no front head, no dampening (aquarian full-force head)

then take this old ('70?) realistic/radio shack mic and lay it down inside the kick on a small towel...run the attached 1/4 cable into the pod using the tub preamp and compressor, turning up the bass and high, mid at around 4 (11o'clock).....

i guess its only cheap if you have a pod.
 
Thought I'd share a trick. This is not for every drum, and not for every style of music. That said- If you're having trouble getting the attack/slap out of the drum and don't want to have to eq the hell out of it, cut a small piece of old drum head about 6" square (size is not horribly important- no joke intended!) and tape it to the beater side head. It should be taped ONLY AT THE TOP and should hang between the head and the beater(s). Try to tape it in such a fashion that it is not resting perfectly on the head. When the beater strikes the head, it will first strike the piece of old head and slam it into the drum making a suttle click sound. I've had great luck with this, and a great side effect is...It saves drum heads!
 
Some bands include a clicker track track of some sort, especially for double bass like metal bands etc. That is the best sound I have heard so far. Its very bass and also very sharp. Basically what happens is that the bass drum is mic'ed up normally to get a good sound and then the signal is mixed with a digitized bassdrum sound (probably a midi file or something). Sorry I do not know more about how its done I just know it sounds brilliant.

If you want samples as to how it sounds:
http://www.mp3.com/groinchurn - They use it very effectively

others would be Pantera and I think Napalm Death do it to
 
Helmut said:
Some bands include a clicker track track of some sort, especially for double bass like metal bands etc
Click to expand...

you are talking about triggered bass drums. No mikes needed. Even if you used mikes and tried to mix the signals it typically wont come out right. Most triggers are set to double or triple the speed. So if the drummer hits the bass drum once it triggers the sound module to produce the sound of two hits.

Very few metal drummers can pull that type of drumming off in real life without triggers.. one being Mr. Dave Witte (ex human remains / currently with burnt by the sun). amazing guy..
 
...it really depends on the sound that you're going for...For a punchy, modern sound, I'll usually "start" with a sennheiser 421 inside the kick, about 6-8" from the beater head, with a neumann fet47 about 8-10" in front of the kick...I'll usually run the 421 thru a telefunken v672 mic pre, and the fet47 thru an old western electric tube mic pre...
Andy
 
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