Hello Everyone,
 
I have an array of drum synths/samplers, and no matter which one I pick, it feels like the kick is just WAY too boomy.  Has anyone else ever noticed that?   I always have to treat the kicks with an LPF and some other bass-reducing measures.   
 
I would think that if a company is making a drum synth or sampler, they would make them sound good right out of the box, no?
 
I use Native Instruments Battery 4, AudioRealism 808/909 Drum Machine, Arturia Spark, etc..  (to name a few).
 
Was wondering if anyone else has this problem.
 
Thanks,
Adam

I think different VST software and sample library creators have different goals. Some produce sounds that are like plain live recordings and leave the effect works to the composer, some aim at more edited/production ready sounds.
 
Hmmm...I don't regard LPF a bass reducing filter, actually, already the name states that it lets the low end pass (without blocking it). IMO, it leaves (with almost any average kick settings) the most hard-to-controll, boomy low end on the track, and eliminates the more easily controllable area,  that gives kick drum the thuddy, firm body. LPF can be used as an element in controlling sub-bass, but that's another story.
AFAIK, most often the character of the kick is between 45-70 Hz (body) and around 700-800 Hz (click).
 
In the Addictive Drums kits that I use most I usually put a HPF at around 45 Hz, a gentle, narrow boost somewhere between 55-70 Hz and a little narrow boost around 800 Hz. I use mostly only "natural" sounds, though.
 
Your mentiong the boomyness reminds me of  myself starting with drum VSTs: It was an ahaa-experience to notice that the VST behaved in realistic way depending on whether I leave the kick drum key pressed or release it immediately. Holding the key down gave a thuddy sound just like when the kick drum mallet is held against the drum head to suffocate the boomy reverberation.

Ooops, I meant an HPF (not LPF). :)

I just don't get it, if I was running a real Roland DR 909 and I set it up to route directly into the DAW with no plugins, it would sound PERFECT!  I wouldn't need the HPF on the kick.  The machine was meant to be used in live situations.

So it makes me wonder why all my VST's kick drums are sooo damn heavy on the bass end.  20 Hz to 60hz, and then again around 150hz to 200hz causing that box-like feel.
 
 

If no effects (in your signal  chain) are in the picture, then I humbly admit I don't know . I've always assumed the many emulations of, say, Rolands drum machines are close enough to the real thing not to need very much tweaking.

Yea, I don't know man.  If you run it with a lot of synths and synth bass sounds, it does sound good, but when you drop the synths and run it just solo (or with 1 higher-end instrument, such as a piano), the thing sounds WAYYY too hard and boomy.
 
I'm looking for a clean, analog drum sound, something you might hear from the late 80's/early 90's.  Not overbearing, just there as a normal kick... and I can't achieve it lol.

aglewis723
Yea, I don't know man.  If you run it with a lot of synths and synth bass sounds, it does sound good, but when you drop the synths and run it just solo (or with 1 higher-end instrument, such as a piano), the thing sounds WAYYY too hard and boomy.
 
I'm looking for a clean, analog drum sound, something you might hear from the late 80's/early 90's.  Not overbearing, just there as a normal kick... and I can't achieve it lol.

This is key. You should be making EQ & mix adjustements IN CONTEXT with all other instruments playing.
 
If you go the other way and get it to sound how you want in Solo mode, when you've added the other instrumentation, you'll probably say " where's my kick gone"

I wouldn't say "it's just you" but I also wouldn't say that all of the kicks on these synths are overly boomy. My son occasionally makes "trap beats" and he occasionally tries to make songs in Sonar.  He asked me "where are the 808 sounds"? because he did not find anything boomy enough for that genre.  I explained to him that the 808 sounds included with Sonar are pretty straight forward and are (if we are to believe the marketing) the sounds taken directly from Roland.  He is used to working with a lot of the per-processed "drumkits" available on the web.  To his ears, standard 808 and 909 are lacking boom.  Imagine that!  This was awhile back and he knows better now.  In general 808 and 909 kicks are boomier than most acoustic drums but it is easily contriolled.  Even in trap, dubstep and other bass heavy genres, the boomy bass is just one of several kick sounds used so that same 808  in a tighter, less boomy form is coming into play. Battery has a buttload of kicks, some boomy, some not so.  I'm sure the same holds true for your other programs/samples.
 
It could also be your monitoring setup.  The studio I work at had the sub wired wrong and cranked up too much when I started.  Every kick sounded boomy.  Upon making somne adjustments we got a better range listening to the exact same material.

Bristol_Jonesey

aglewis723
Yea, I don't know man.  If you run it with a lot of synths and synth bass sounds, it does sound good, but when you drop the synths and run it just solo (or with 1 higher-end instrument, such as a piano), the thing sounds WAYYY too hard and boomy.
 
I'm looking for a clean, analog drum sound, something you might hear from the late 80's/early 90's.  Not overbearing, just there as a normal kick... and I can't achieve it lol.

This is key. You should be making EQ & mix adjustements IN CONTEXT with all other instruments playing.
 
If you go the other way and get it to sound how you want in Solo mode, when you've added the other instrumentation, you'll probably say " where's my kick gone"

This sir, is VERY true, but still I've heard synth-jams on youtube (basically a guy turns on an 808 or 909 drum machine then plays a bunch of synths along to it.  He's not EQ'ing as parts come in and out... and it always sounds great.   

aglewis723

Bristol_Jonesey

aglewis723
Yea, I don't know man.  If you run it with a lot of synths and synth bass sounds, it does sound good, but when you drop the synths and run it just solo (or with 1 higher-end instrument, such as a piano), the thing sounds WAYYY too hard and boomy.
 
I'm looking for a clean, analog drum sound, something you might hear from the late 80's/early 90's.  Not overbearing, just there as a normal kick... and I can't achieve it lol.

This is key. You should be making EQ & mix adjustements IN CONTEXT with all other instruments playing.
 
If you go the other way and get it to sound how you want in Solo mode, when you've added the other instrumentation, you'll probably say " where's my kick gone"

This sir, is VERY true, but still I've heard synth-jams on youtube (basically a guy turns on an 808 or 909 drum machine then plays a bunch of synths along to it.  He's not EQ'ing as parts come in and out... and it always sounds great.   

Just because they are not adjusting it in the video does not mean it was not adjusted.  If this is not their first time jamming in this manner, odds are good the EQ is not sitting idle but was pre-adjusted before recording started. When I set up even for live events, I tend to make small eq adjustments to account for anticipated conflicts.  Not saying this is the cascade but very  much possible.

The classic 808 family of "kick" sounds came from a gated sinewave generator. A HPF on an 808 sample is therefore simply a volume control.