wooden beaters...

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Randomsk

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Hi
I'm trying to record drums and everything sounds alright, except the bass drum. I'm using a SM57 for the bass drum, and i know thats not the best choice but i've got nothing else. I also know i shouldn't expect a fantastic sound from this but if u heard what i'm getting you would know that there is much room for improvement. Now i've tried heaps of different mic positions, and used different dapening things etc.. and its just crap. So i was wondering if the wooden beater isn't helping the situation? Maybe i could try a different beater ?
Any thoughts? i'm running out of ideas and its slowly killing me
THanks.
Alex.
 
it's probably more the drum tuning, not the beater.



**waits for someone to drop the line "'blood sugar sex magic' kick was recorded with a 57"
 
So tell us about your kick drum.

What size is it?
What kind of muffling is in it?
What kind of heads are on it?
How tight are the heads?
Do you have an impact pad on it?
What kind of outboard processing do you have?(Compressors & Gates)

And most importantly, what kind of sound are you trying to get out of it? (List some examples of a kick drum sound that is similar to what you are trying to achieve.)


There's nothing wrong with an SM57. It's not my favorite mic, but I've used them before and had no problems getting a good usable kick drum sound.


Tim
 
Thanks for your replies.. :)
The bass drum is a 22" Rogers drum.
There is a 2-3 inch piece of foam against the bottem part of the batter head.. so it covers about 20% of the head.
I took the resonant skin off because i was experimenting, but it has a 6inch hole in the center of it.
The batter head is a "remo weather king, c.s. bass drum" with a king hit bass drum pad.
I don't have any outboard processing, and the sound i want is really anything useable that has punch and defenition to it.
And it isn't tuned very tight.. but i'll look into that.
thanks
 
There are several techniques that you can try.

1. loosen the head as loose as it will go and mic the mallet spot.


2. Tighten the Batterhead really tight and leave the resonant head loose, and fill the drum about 50% with Heavy blankets, then mic the kick from just inside the hole in the resonant head - and put a blanket over the kick drum.


3. Make a TUNNEL in front of the Kick drum using chairs and blankets, and put the mic in the other end of the tunnel. (This "traps" the kicks sound inside the tunnel a bit....it also helps keep the cymbals and other drums out of the kick mic.


What are you recording on? (i.e., 4-track, computer,?)


Also, instead of boosting low end, try cutting mids, and roll off about 3 db's of the low. This will give you more of a "country mallet slap" sound, instead of a metal "click".



Tim
 
thanks, i can't wait to try this stuff out. I'm recording onto a 8 track roland digital recorder (Roland vs880)
btw do u want me to mic the mallet spot from inside the kick ? or outside ... if so how far out ?
 
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If you can get a good attack the tunnel trick can help add body. Just grab some couch cushions and set up a tunnel in front of the kick. Mic the opening of the tunnel.
 
Although it wouldn't be my first choice, I have gotten plenty of good sounds out of an sm57 on kick. Try experimenting with tuning first. Then, when you have the best sound you can get with just tuning, start adding dampening until you get the best sound out of that. Next, play around A LOT with mic positioning. Start with the mic inside the drum a few inches away from the beater pointed just to the side of where the beater strikes and start moving it around from there. The final thing I would resort to is mic tricks like tunnels. These can work great, but it's more like the icing on top of the cake and they seem to work better with condensors. Get a good kick sound first. Also, you are probably going to have to eq the sm57 quite a bit. Normally I would say use eq as a last resort, but an sm57 on kick almost always will takes a fair amount of eq'ing in my experience.

Funny, I actually used an sm57 on kick for a bands' demo once and had another hobbiest ask how I got such a great kick sound. I thought it sounded so cliche when I told him it was just a good'ole 57, but it's true, you can get a useable sound out of anything with that mic.
 
thanks for all this info, its great and i will try out all this stuff. Would u recommend me to keep both heads on though? or just use the batter?
cheers
alex
 
It really depends on the type of sound you are going for. I usually keep the resonant head on, but good sounds can be had both ways.
 
I have an old Rogers 14X24 kick with a wood beater. I've gotten a great sound out of the following:
1. Resonanse head tuned skin tight and match the pitch at each lug(I have a Remo Ebony bass head with a 5 inch hole on the bottom left hand side of the drum)
2. Batter head tightened enough to get the wrinkles out and then match the pitch at each lug (i have a Remo Emperor bass head)
3. I have an old Evens E.Q. pad that my friend gave me and that is all the muffling I use.
4. My drum had a rod that went all the way through the drum from the rack tom mount to the bottom of the shell. most Rogers had this. I had a hell of a time tuning it untill I took the whole thing out, then hit the drum and the annoying ring was gone!. So then I took the mount and cut off the "rod" part of it and then put the tom mount back on the drum in just in case i wanted to use it again. The drum still looks the same and you can't tell that there was anything there to begin with.
I hope this helps. If not, get an old Gretsch 14x24. My friend has one and nothing sounds as good as his drum.
 
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