Kick Drum mic'ing technique

  • Thread starter Thread starter qbert1
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qbert1

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Frequently, I can't get a good "polished" kick drum sound that fits in the mix with my Beta 52 into my 002r or HHB pres'. Once I had a good result with a double headed BD muted on the non-batterhead sided with a pillow and also creating a "tent" of mic stands and heavy blankets. That worked well, but what a pain in the a$$.

Mostly I see bass drums with "mic holes". In this situation I usually get the low thump but little to no attack and it frequently conflicts with the bass guitar. It also gets lost in the mix on stereos with smaller speakers. O larger speakers, the result is muddy and without definition.

I'm still learning, I've been searching and reading everything I can, Any suggestions? I think I need Pre and Post production advice. What's in your bag of tricks?

Thanks in advance
 
You need to put the mic in the drum. As close as you can to the batter head. The closer you get to where the beater hits, the more attack you get. If the drummer is using a felt 'puff ball' beater, you won't get much attack anyway. Use a hard beater if you can. Compress and add some 2k-3k and you should be fine.
 
I like the technique of putting the mic in the drum about 4 inches or so. Try to position the capsule to "point" about halfway between where the beater meets the head and the top of the drum where the head meets the shell. This has given me a good blend of attack from the beater and resonance from the drum itself. If you have too much attack, tilt mic towards the top of the drum....if there's too little attack, tilt the mic more towards the beater. my 2 cents...
 
Consider another mic on the beater side of the mic solely for picking up the attack. You'll have to reverse phase and mess with the positioning so the 2 mics don't fight each other.

Compression is a good tool for bringing out attack too. Dial in a good bit of reduction and tweak the attack time such that the "click" gets through unreduced while the resonance of the drum gets squashed down.
 
i mentioned this in another thread, but it would probably fit what your doing fairly well.
take an electronic drum trigger, stick it on your kick, and run it through something with alot of gain, and then blend it with your mic. will still give you the pop of the kick but with out the smacking sound that i personally hate with a passion.
 
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