Recording double-kick for thrash?

  • Thread starter Thread starter nuemes
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nuemes

nuemes

Be Here Now
I recorded a thrash band with a single kick & two beaters. I used an ATM25 on the kick. When it came time to mix the band wanted a lot of click on the kick so a fair amount of high end was added with EQ, which sounded good to help it cut through the mix. The problem I had though is that the kick sounds muddy, even after a fair amount of tweeking. I don't like to add/subtract a lot of EQ; maybe that's the issue. Do thrash kicks require a lot EQ or did I miss something else?

Here's the audio:
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=4556/singles

Mics on drums for reference:
Kick: Audio Technica ATM25
Snare: SM57
Overhead left/right: MXL603s
 
Yo have to add what ever it takes to get it to sound right. It doesn't matter what you do to get the sound, just do it. If you listen to any of the thrash stuff on modern albums I would bet you a weeks pay that they tweaked the daylights out of it. It's probably in many cases not even a real drum you're hearing. ( sound replacer or some other trick ) If it's muddy then cut until it clears up. If it needs click then add until it clicks.
 
Most of the time, muddiness in a kick is found right around 250hz. Try taking that out.

Also, try boosting <100hz with a low shelf. It will give you a nice boom that metal guys seem to like.

Jacob
 
Instead of just adding high end, try cutting some low and low mid, and then raising the kick's volume in the mix.

In extreme forms of metal, it really tends to be all about the impact of the mallet, versus a big low pitched kick sound, especially since there's so much low end content from the guitar and bass sounds these days.




Tim
 
Tim Brown said:
In extreme forms of metal, it really tends to be all about the impact of the mallet, versus a big low pitched kick sound, especially since there's so much low end content from the guitar and bass sounds these days. Tim
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's part of it. I'm not used to recording thrash so mixing was very different in regards to low end. I ended up doing the oposite of what I typically do on the kick because there was so much low end from the guitars & bass tuned to C.
 
It sounds like you are trying to get a natural, ambient sound on the drums. That is the opposite of what this genre calls for. Most of the kicks are triggered and in almost every case, everything is heavily gated. The drums are supposed to sound very over-hyped. Death metal is to music, what a horror movie is to films. It needs to vivid and hyper-real. If you make it sound like it really does, it loses it's effect and ruins it.
 
First off...great sounding tune! Getting the kick to stand out in my recordings took me months of fooling around and what not. Until i looked on the internet and found this phrase "no mid kick' and it was the answer to my problems. 250 hertz to around 3k i cut a pretty good amount and i can get so close to the sound of a triggered kick it ain't even funny. Good luck
 
cut a lot of 160hz to 900 hz

boost a lot of 3khz to 5khz......or above.

you will get the click sound you wanted

nice song by the way~~
 
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