Kick Drum, Large Echo -- Any Help?

E

elgrayso

New member
Hello!
I am wondering how to make a big powerful, echoey kick drum like in these old post-punk songs.
I have provided 2 good examples of what I am talking about.
I assume it is a combination of reverb/delay and compression. Although I have read quite a bit and experimented, I still feel like a noob in these fields.
Any ideas? :)


i have no made enough posts to have links so you will have to copy/paste :-/

Attrition - beginning of the end
(0:13 seconds in)
grooveshark.com/#!/s/The+Beginning+Of+The+End/5MpwpU?src=5

Cocteau Twins - when mama was a moth
(kick happens immediately)
youtube.com/watch?v=DkLC_kpJMrc
 
It sounds to me like the kick just has some epic reverb on it, and the "delay" you're hearing isn't the kick, it's just a possibly filtered and reverb'd snare (the one I'm referencing is the Cocteau Twins).

My boss at the studio I work at does this a lot in one of the slow songs similar to this, he calls it a "space barf" or something weird. How he does it is he'll basically take a SINGLE hit of the kick drum from the song and apply a ton of reverb and compression and EQ to get something that sounds like that.

He only uses it during one or two parts during any given song, so if you were wanting to do it for the WHOLE song like that one does, it'd be easier to just send to an aux, and from there apply the reverb/compression/EQ. =]
 
If he asked that question in the Cave it would need some political or religious twist, otherwise the regular Cave dwellers can't comprehend anything else.
 
i dont know what neg-rep means. (negative reputation?).
as for the cave... well i wanted to post my URLs here and it said i had to make 10 posts, so i started commenting on random subjects in the cave until i had ten... then i realized it said 10 POSTS, not comments, so i wasted my time there i guess, ha. I didnt say anything offense or mean, i dont know why i would be affected badly by what i wrote....?
 
elgrayso said:
i dont know what neg-rep means. (negative reputation?).
as for the cave... well i wanted to post my URLs here and it said i had to make 10 posts, so i started commenting on random subjects in the cave until i had ten... then i realized it said 10 POSTS, not comments, so i wasted my time there i guess, ha. I didnt say anything offense or mean, i dont know why i would be affected badly by what i wrote....?
Click to expand...

Yep, you got neg rep'd twice.

"as for the cave... well". *Wrong method. lol! Get your ten posts HERE.

The cave is for people who wish to vent other topics than the ones that relate to recording. Over time, it resulted in becoming a completely different entity. Your post count will not go up by posting there. You will just meet some unique friends (that as a joke) that will give you no support as to your recordings.

You decide for yourself where you want to hang out and what you are interested in. :)

As a moderator, I only hang out in the 'on topic' forums. I only care to help out those who wish to improve their recording experience. The cave can be what it is. I just do not go there ever....
 
as for my original Question, i should have clarified they are both most likely drum machines. i know the site says "homeRECORDING", but i assume people use drum machines sometimes, and the reverb knowledge applies to both.


MrWrenchy, thank you for your input. That is what i suspected, however i am not sure on the details. aside from a long decay time, im not sure what i am hearing. ie: im not sure what i should dial in to get this sound. any reverb heads have some insight into what is going on in these mixes?
the cocteau twins one sounds like it has a good amount of compression on it as well. so any advice on those settings would be helpful too. i have been trying to wrap my head around compression for a few months now but im struggling being able to know what im hearing and how to use it.

also i realize what original kick sample/sound they use makes a difference as well, but i think if i knew how to set up my effects, i could manage picking the right kick sample.
 
elgrayso said:
as for my original Question, i should have clarified they are both most likely drum machines. i know the site says "homeRECORDING", but i assume people use drum machines sometimes, and the reverb knowledge applies to both.


MrWrenchy, thank you for your input. That is what i suspected, however i am not sure on the details. aside from a long decay time, im not sure what i am hearing. ie: im not sure what i should dial in to get this sound. any reverb heads have some insight into what is going on in these mixes?
the cocteau twins one sounds like it has a good amount of compression on it as well. so any advice on those settings would be helpful too. i have been trying to wrap my head around compression for a few months now but im struggling being able to know what im hearing and how to use it.

also i realize what original kick sample/sound they use makes a difference as well, but i think if i knew how to set up my effects, i could manage picking the right kick sample.
Click to expand...

Alright then. What DAW are you using, and what samples do you currently have available to you? Are you trying to record live drums to sound like this? This has a bunch to do with what you are looking for.
 
DAW: Ableton
Drum samples: i have Battery 4 which has a ton of kick samples. I also have the Drums From Hell EZDrummer kit.
PLUGINS: I have Waves plugins for compressors and reverb, as well as the ones that come with ableton.
 
The reverb on the Cocteau twins thing is probably one of the "state of the art" hardware units of the day. So, probably like 12-bit something by Yamaha or Alesis or something set to "cathedral" and probably smashed quite a bit.

There are some plugs out there designed to emulate those old units, but you might be able to find an IR out there which would work, or maybe just put a "bit crusher" on either side of whatever verb you have. It's likely that the compression comes at least partly from the tape to which it was tracked. Of course, they probably weren't actually shooting for the grainy, low-rez sound...
 
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