kick drum rumbles

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detuned6

Metal dude
I having a hard time getting rid of this low end rumble in my kick drum.
The setup:
Im using a sennhesier E602 into a aphex 107 pre w/80 hz low cut, pearl forum series kick drum, remo plastic jobby ring on the batter side but i removed the foam strip and glued it on the he resonant head(to get rid of this over ring that i didnt like on the resonant head) and i got a "large" bath towel on the belly of the drum(im not into pillows and all that heavy shit that people put in their kick, more or lesss it kill's all the tone to me). The resonant heads pretty new and the batter head has been on a while.

The problem is on my Event PS-8's it sounds pretty good(no eq or compression) but once i burn it on a cd and play it on my home or car cd player i hear all this low end rumble during the double kick parts( i use dble kick constentlly, so this is a struggle). Im starting to think that somethings up with my kick drum. I spent sometime tuning the thing. Maybe i need a small pillow in there?
Ive even burned a version w/ a 90hz cut on the kick and it still had traces on this "rumble". I never had this problem with my CAD M37(tilll i blew the mic out, heh heh:mad: )
What can i do to rid this rumble???
 
Couple of things:

1. The rumble could be above 80Hz, say around 100Hz or so and isn't coming across on your monitors. How good is your listening environment?
2. Sounds like yes, you may need some more muffling (make it a little "punchier") - your mic is accentuating the low frequencies of the kick with boosts in that area as opposed to the M37 (great mic by the way).
3. Try and solo the kick and really listen with the low or mid EQ boosted all the way. Sweep from 80Hz to around 500Hz and see if anything really jumps out at you.
4. What is your mic position?
5. What heads are you using?

Just some starting points. Other people will definitely be able to add more.
 
4. What is your mic position?
Ive tryed many, 2 inchs in the hole, middle of the drum, 4 inchs from beater impact, off axsis etc.

5. What heads are you using?
the batter head is a remo (no pinstripe) im not sure on thickness(diplomat opr emporer) this heads been around but not all "dented" from beater attack.
Resonant head fairly new back remo pinstripe w/ 6 inch hole.
I using plastic DW beaters.
 
I just talked to the dude i bought the drum kit from and last time he changed the skin was over a year ago. Im thinking the skin is all stertched out and that is the problem(?) Wonderfull, now i have to go to G.C.
 
Yes, it is definitely time for a new head, although that is probably not your problem as the head would be more dead as it ages than anything.

I think the main thing you need to fool around with is muffling/mic technique. Just a little bit more muffling perhaps, and a mic position that isn't picking up alot of shell vibrations should help the rumble.

When you go looking for a new head, check out a pre-muffled one like a Remo Powestroke 3. Other good choices are available from Evans and Aquarian. Factory muffled heads tend to sound more natural than trying to apply some sort of muffling (OTHER than towels, pillows, etc) like a Remo Muffl.
 
I picked up the Evens foamy head, pretty cool, it comes with 2 differant foam pcs. I gotta spend some more time tunning and than i can do some recording. My biggest problem is tunning the head to respond to my iron cobra dbl pedal. The right sounds sweet/punchy but when i hit the head with the left pedal is allways sounds bassy'er/duller.
 
I'll probably get smacked for this but is there really that much "tone" in a bass drum in a home recording environment? Here's a thought but please keep in mind that I might be way off base! First, when you burn your CD, are you doing a wav file or mp3? That would make a world of difference I beleive!

I had that same problem once with my bass drum and here's what I did: You've probably already seen this done!

I agree with you about stuffing the bass drum with the kitchen sink! What I do like to put it there though is a small pillow and either a 20lb barbell or a cinderblock to weigh it down and cut excessive vibration and/or jumping around. I have the hole cut in my front bass head at the top right. I get the lowest mic stand I have to get the mic in there. I personally like the mic just inside the airhole.
Then I get the heavienst moving blanket I have and create a nice tent over the bass drum for better isolation and even more excessive vibration control.
That in itself usually allows me to use less eq and noise gate electronics. Can't say that it rocks everyone's world but I can say that it makes a hell of a difference with what you're asking.
good luck,
RF
 
Here's where I ruin your day.

If you are going to Double kick, the Kick drum has to be dead.
Why?
Because all that you will get is a rumgle of low end.

The Faster the kicking, the SHORTER the "note" needs to be-which is why the "click" on a kick drum has become dominant in all of the extreme forms of metal....because it allows the kick strikes to be heard through the guitars.

Also, try making a little "tent" in front of your kick, and mic it from about 24" to 36" in front of the Kick drum. That will give you a little more solid kick sound.



Tim
 
Tim Brown said:

The Faster the kicking, the SHORTER the "note" needs to be-which is why the "click" on a kick drum has become dominant in all of the extreme forms of metal....because it allows the kick strikes to be heard through the guitars.

Also, try making a little "tent" in front of your kick, and mic it from about 24" to 36" in front of the Kick drum. That will give you a little more solid kick sound.

Tim
Click to expand...

Yeah dbl bass constantly. Ive allways used either the danmar metal or plastic pads on my kick, so this time around i wanted to get away from those. But i think im gonna have to return to the plastic pad, because the single kicks sound really nice( ive spent some time tunning the heads, and had a friend help out two) But when the dbl kick comes in... then the sound goes to shit.
My current kick micing set up is a sennhesier E602- 3'' in the hole and a 57 aimed at the beater/skin contact of the batter head. about 8" away.
 
No, triggers would be an esay way out thou, for metal. But i need to solve these problems without "copouts", how do i explain to some jazz dude "yeah, your kick drum kinda sucks, lets use triggers!". He will be like "where'd my dynamics go". (lol)
Im looking at getting a Alesis Dm5, those are pretty sweet, some day!
 
Seriously, try loosening the batter and front heads of the BD until they are barely flapping and then just give each rod a nudge so they don't come off during recording. Make sure your pillow or towel or whatever are actually touching the heads too!

Also, double check to make sure none of your mics are facing each other (or crossing fields) or you could get wierd harmonics, distortion, feedback (ie rumble), cancellation or all kinds of other fun anomalies. Also, try turning on your low cut and scooping the mid. See if that help. If you still get that rumble after EQing, it's probably time for a different mic.

PS -
Triggers don't have to necessarily mean copping out man. If you get a good trigger system and triggers, (ie Ddrum4 and Ddrum Triggers), you can easily dial in the sounds to be every bit as dynamic as a mic. It takes a little time, but in tight or live recording situations, they be life savers.
 
i dont know much about mic placement, but i do know...

aquarian superkick1 - tuned with a dial tuner (unless you are one of the very few people in this world that REALLY know how to tune) and one pillow laying flat towards the ground pressed up to the front beater head is the only way to go

then go from there

that may sound biased but im telling you, you have to get your drums to sound good first
 
yup im a newb said:
i dont know much about mic placement, but i do know...

aquarian superkick1 - tuned with a dial tuner (unless you are one of the very few people in this world that REALLY know how to tune) and one pillow laying flat towards the ground pressed up to the front beater head is the only way to go

then go from there

that may sound biased but im telling you, you have to get your drums to sound good first
Click to expand...

I finally solved my "rumbles" problem. seems the problem was my resonant head, the dam thing no matter how low or high you tune it i get this over tone that i cant stand, so i got my little towell in the kick pressesd up to the resonant head, removed the foam from the resonant head, and fiddled with the tunning of the batter head and presto.
 
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