I'm not sure if you ever heard of From Zero, but their very first album (now called the "Green cd") they produced and mixed themselves. Still one of my favorite kickdrum sounds of all time. I got a chance to talk the bassist who pretty much mixed all of it (really cool guy), he say they did it with a combination of 2 mics on the kick (one in, one out) in conjunction with a triggered kick drum for the click.
We were planning on doing that on our full length album (which we start on in like 2 weeks), until the other day I found that damn kick drum sound I've been trying to get forever, with the simplest damn tactics. The sound reminds me a lot of kick drum sounds on Disturbed, Staind, Nothingface, etc.
Mic inside micing beaters, mic outside a foot or two. Outside mic picks up "thuddy" frequencies, right around 150hz. EQ out everything exept that (you get a lot of kit bleed) after you gate it. Inside mic picks up attack (click) and low sub frequencies. Make a big ass "scoop" after 100ish hz and before 1000hz. Rolloff at 4-5hz. Boost around 80hz. This is your mega-low end with gives fullness. Make a really sharp eq spike (this gives you the click) with a real narrow q at around 2.5khz, and another one about an octave down, same q but not quite as much boost (near 1000hz).
Bring in the outer mic (the 150hz one). That's what you hear with crappy speakers that don't go down far. TA-DAH!!! Radio friendly kick drum sound. If you crank it in a good system, it will give you that "hit your chest" feeling. You gotta get the ratios right, too much of the outer mic will sound wimpy, not enough sounds hollow and boomy. The cool part: The predominant frequencies around near 150hz, 80hz, and 2.5khz. Between 80hz and 150hz leaves plenty of room for.... BASS GUITAR!!! Fits together rather snugly.
Oh yeah, don't forget to gate and compress and all that stuff.
But I think we're still gonna trigger a sound for a more consistent "click" when he does double-bass stuff.
