Kick drum

  • Thread starter Thread starter sirslurpee
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sirslurpee

What does THIS button do?
So I can't get my kick drum to sound how I want it when I am using a head that is vented. It sounds really good in the room, more specifically, it sounds a LOT better in front of the kit than behind it. I tried to throw a mic on it last night and do some recording and I have the whole kit sounding great, except the kick I cannot seem to get it to sound right. My question is, is there some way I can mic it to capture the natural sound of the kick? Should I mic it 5 or 6 feet in front of the kick? Should I build a tunnel and mic it that way?
I'm still going to play with it more.. and I can probably post a sound clip later. I had to EQ it a TON to get it to sound even halfway natural and it still sounds like rubber mallots on a 5 gallon bucket.
 
What mic were you using and where did you put it? it makes a big difference.
 
Well, it's the kick mic in the CAD pro-7 pack. Yeah I know it is a sucky mic but I've gotten decent tracks with it before. I put it about 3 inches away from the center of the resonant head.
 
if it sounds better in front of the kcik, put the mic there, build a kcik tunnel.

The simplist versikon is to lean some cushions against reach other in front of the kick so they add about 2-3 feet of space to the front and thne you stick you mic at the end of this tunnel. To tend to lose attack but get good low end, since the mic is far enough way to let the low frequency waves develop. You can put another mic on the beater side to capture the attack if you like.

Daav
 
Do you have the KM212? If so, and if its anything like the KBM412 it might be the problem. I have the KBM412 and it is very boomy and has no attack.
I really have the EQ it to hell and back to get it to even sound close to a kick drum.
The best sound I ever got with the Cad kick mic was by putting it back in the box and using an SM58. I am saving for a better kick mic like a D112 or a Beta52. When I get one I will use the KBM412 on floortom or use it as a mallet when I eat crab legs.
 
haha well new heads are first and then later I can get a better kick mic but I have to try to make do with what I have. I haven't started doing any real serious recording yet but I can't even lesiurely record with it sounding like that....
 
If your kick mic is boomy, put it outside the kick and stick a 57 inside pointing at the beater, mix the two.
 
Farview said:
If your kick mic is boomy, put it outside the kick and stick a 57 inside pointing at the beater, mix the two.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing he's working with the bare minimum of mics here. I'd just keep messing with placement, move it towards the beater, away from the beater, towards the shell, etc. Tuning will make all of the difference in the world, also. Try various combinations, from fairly cranked to just finger tightened. If you don't have mic options, you've just got to do these things until you get at least a workable sound. It takes effort, but it's a necessary thing when working with cheap equipment.
 
Tacking on here, I got an extremely good kick sound on a difficult kick drum by taking a 15" stage monitor, standing it speaker side towards the kick, and then run that directly into your console. Then mix in the kick mic to taste, letting the monitor take the low end and the mic gets everything else.

May not work for everything, but it's nice to have the option.
 
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