Is Ducking the ONLY way ?

[Alanfc]

hello-

is Ducking the 100% only way to have the Bass and the Kick both give you that vibration/thud in the body?

Can Ducking go terribly wrong? I mean in the hands of the inexperienced, can it be a real gloppy mess? If so, I must choose between the Kick and the Bass to rule, correct?

thanks for your patience

 

[chessrock]

is Ducking the 100% only way to have the Bass and the Kick both give you that vibration/thud in the body?

Hmmm. I always thought of it as more of a "last resort" than the only way.


Best way is to get a really good, kickass-sounding kick drum, coupled with a really tight, punchy bass sound . . . and use a combination of EQ and/or arrangement . . . as well as drum tuning creatively so the two work together and form a solid foundation rather than compete.

 

[Alanfc]

Thank you sir I see .

So I can get close to what I want with smart tracking and artful use of EQ. Thats good to hear.

I am really getting the hang of it with compressors, but they make me angry (not in the political anti-compression way),
and I try avoid them

 

[chessrock]

So I can get close to what I want with smart tracking and artful use of EQ. Thats good to hear.

Sure. And don't forget tuning and adjustment of the kickdrum head. That's important.

I am really getting the hang of it with compressors, but they make me angry

Perhaps a switch to decaff might be helpful? Really, you shouldn't be getting angry with compressors. They're not out to harm you.

 

[Alanfc]

Perhaps a switch to decaff might be helpful? Really, you shouldn't be getting angry with compressors. They're not out to harm you. [/B]

Yeah, I know (Alan shrugs&hangs head) ,
guess you have a point there

thanks

 

[Outlaws]

My Roland has a LFO that turns a kick into one of those, earthquake ripples. Doesn't get much better than that

 

[Son of Mixerman]

Use a parametric eq on the kick drum to carve out the center frequency of the bass guitar, then boost that same area of the bass. Using artful eq means unmasking frequencies to make room for everything to breath a little. I have always disliked ducking because it can create artifacts that are obvious to me.

SoMm

 

[Alanfc]

Use a parametric eq on the kick drum to carve out the center frequency of the bass guitar, then boost that same area of the bass. Using artful eq means unmasking frequencies to make room for everything to breath a little. I have always disliked ducking because it can create artifacts that are obvious to me.

SoMm

Indeed even with my realtively untrained ears I think I hear some of the ducking on radio/CD songs now. Now that I know what it is, it sounds cheesey to me when I hear it. Maybe I've only heard the sloppy approach.
On the song I'm working on at the moment, I want to make the kick be felt all the time, and the bass only a little bit thinner, like one level up from that. This will be a challenge.. because when I identify radio/CD songs that have chosen to let the kick rule, the bass always seems too weak. I want to make the bass guitar
-almost- heavy & rumbling, but the kick will take precedence. On my other tunes where the kick is more busy, the bass will need to be the heavy element and the kick will need to lighten up (sounds good in principle, we'll see)

Thanks guys

 

[pennylink]

Not meaning to sidetrack, but could someone please explain, in simple terms, what DUCKING is?

Thanks!

 

[Alanfc]

OK since I started this mess I'll try this one- everyone please correct me

Ducking is the setting of a compressor to take effect on one instrument channel when triggered by a signal from another instrument on a separate channel.

For example when the kick drum hits, the bass guitar is compressed so as to make way for the kick, since they may share similar low frequencies. This is very simplified but in principle I think I'm close.

also see this awesome site for more info

http://www.studiocovers.com/