Kick Drum EQ / Sound

What mic are you using? Have you experimented with mic placement? There isn't a tried and true method that I know of. If you search around, Yep has a nice writeup on how to zero in on the correct frequencies. Even with the same drum set and same mics and placement, I use different EQ settings on different songs.

ORIGINAL: studio1000b

Just trying to find "THE" sound. It was recorded with a Sure Beta 52, about 3-4 inches from the head.

I get good thump and can control the snap of the beater, but something is missing, or rather there that i dont want, it's like an airy woosh sound.

Is that 3-4 inches from the head on the front of the kick? You might want to move the mic closer to the beater. You'll get less low end, but the sound will be sharper. I record a lot of gospel tend to go for a dark, deeper kick sound. Running a Beta 52 through a SSL Xlogic mic pre, it usually requires very little EQ

ORIGINAL: jamesg1213
There are three frequency points of interest in a kick:

Good info. I'm still trying to figure out where the airy woosh sound came from. Also don't forget about compression.

I record mostly heavy metal and the most important part about getting a nice pop from the kick is the gate with a very fast attack and release. Also, I like to boost at around 4k to make it stand out through the mix a little better.

themidiroom how do you like that SSL Xlogic mic pre? I've been toying around with getting it since I am just running everything through my firepod at the moment, and although its transparent for the most part, I want to add a bit more color.

ORIGINAL: MBP Studios
themidiroom how do you like that SSL Xlogic mic pre? I've been toying around with getting it since I am just running everything through my firepod at the moment, and although its transparent for the most part, I want to add a bit more color.

MBP Studios,
I really love the Xlogic quad pres. It's been a really nice addition to the studio. Great on vocals and drums. I love the kick and snare sound; very punchy and warm. I haven't done any heavy metal so I'm not sure if that's the sound you're looking for. I tried running other things through the unit using a DI. Keyboards didn't work well at all. A clean Strat sounds really good; very rich and gutsy, but still cuts through a mix like a Strat usually does.

My gripes are: The Xlogic unit could double as a heater if your furnace stops working. The fit and finish don't seem to be all that great. I bought mine used and three of the gain pots were loose. Because the pots are motorized(can be remote controlled), it was hard to access them to tighten. Not sure if this was simply a design flaw or if the unit had not been taken care of.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Ed_Mcg

Thanks for the info, i'll give it a try. Are you saying I should gate the snare ? I guess it would make sense. I was reading about the Sonitus gate, and how you can set it to gate different freqs. I'll check that out too.

Be careful when gating the other close-miced drums. Especially the snare w/ the hi hat right next to it. If you totally gate off the snare, meaning when it's not played you hear nothing, then when it IS hit you will hear a lot more hi hat for the time the snare drum is above the gate's threshold. That, of course, is more drastic sometimes depending on how you miced your kit, snare, and how you play the drums.

What I do is start at full gate, and then raise the threshold until the difference isn't noticable or it's real hard to tell. Sometimes, it helps a snare hit to have a bit more hihat with it.. so try leaving the extra hihat volume in there too... hehe. When gating the kick drum I usually gate it full out. I have a rug over my kick, so usually there is little bleed into that mic.

YMMV

ORIGINAL: studio1000b

Thanks guys,

Cant wait to get home from the day gig to try these ideas!

Feel free to experiment, just make sure we get our royalty checks.
As far as gating, fooman brings up a good point. Generally, I don't gate anything completely as it tends to not sound natural when the individual drum is hit. Sometimes, just knocking down the level 10dB makes a huge difference.
I had a kick that was a bit too "mushy" and I put a gate on it. It had too much snap on it, but you can put a compressor in the chain or use an expander/gate/compressor to take off the edge.

ORIGINAL: jamesg1213

Generally, I don't gate anything completely as it tends to not sound natural when the individual drum is hit.

Good advice - I made that mistake this week with a snare, and ended up with that 'Phil Collins' sound - ohhhh noooo!

Su Su Sussudio! The 80s were great!

ORIGINAL: studio1000b
How do you get that sweet warm round kick you hear on commercial recordings?

a lot of commercial recordings use pre-processed samples that are triggered. one thing that works for me is a huge dip between 300-400hz (1.0q, -6 to -12db or more depending on the track). you'll need to boost your lows (try anything between 60 and 75hz) and if you are getting "air" then a low-pass is in order. i like to have some attack on my kick, so i'll boost at 7k for that. i don't bother much with 1k. if you want to kill the air then set the low pass at 7k.

the other major thing is make sure your other instruments (especially bass!) are not masking your thump. you may need to take a whack at your bass down low, usually the same frequency you boost on the kick.

Could it be the bleed into the other mics. I recorded the kit with 2 overheads and a snare mic all on seperate tracks. I have also tried a low pass on the other tracks. Maybe I'll get the drummer to use a trigger, and save myself some grief !

yes it could - check all of your tracks and make sure they are time-aligned. basically what that means is finding where the peaks are and lining them up. you'll have to zoom in pretty far to do it right. when the sound hits the mics at different times it muddies up the attack and smears the thump. so line up those tracks.

triggering of course would be easier. =)