Micing the kick drum

[abarnett]

How do you do it? what do you use? how do you mix it? Do you use compression for it?

I use a beta b2 on the inside with no resonant head.
usually i'm just acouple inches off the batter head and a couple inches to the side

preamped through an shure m67.

I don't do any compression or eq on it and I usually mix it just a bit lower than seems right through my monitors, but that might have more to do with my monitors.

[Nubus]

funny this should come up, I just finished a few songs without the front head, and I just started a few songs with a front head, no hole. So far I think I'm more into the front head on-no port sound. I took an SM91 and put it on the floor right by the bass drum pedal to get the click and some bottom snare, and put a nd868 on the resonant head right in the middle about half inch away. This is my first attemt at dual mic'ing the bass drum with no hole, and so far it sounds way more realistic than right up inside tha drum pointing at the beater. me likey.

i've also tried this approach as seen in live sound international written bout by my favorite live sound guru Jack Alexander. got some big sounds this way. He gets his thunder from the resonant head like this (and so did I)
Here is a look thru the port at two mics inside the bass drum

[Whoopysnorp]

What kind of mics are those in that picture, Nubus?

In my opinion, when you forget about mics and just think about how the drum sounds in person, the best possible kick sounds are from drums with a solid front head. The worst possible sounds are from a drum with no front head at all. However, since it's tricky to get a good kick sound from a drum with a full front head (you generally need at least two mics), cutting a hole in the front head so you can get the mic inside the drum is a pretty good compromise.

For the longest time I had no front hoop for my kick drum, so I had no choice but to try and record it with no front head. I could never ever get a sound that worked well in a mix, no matter how I placed the mic or what kind of EQ and compression I tried (I was using a Sennheiser e602 at this point). A friend gave me a hoop and I went out and picked up a front head, and I was astounded at how much the sound improved. I'd rather record a kick with a full front head that one with no front head at all. Now, some people do manage to get good sounds from kicks with no front head. My friend Mike Lust, who runs Phantom Manor studios, usually has drummers take off their front heads, and his records sound great. I'm pretty sure a lot of Melvins records were done with a single-headed kick drum too. You can kind of tell, but in that case it really works for their sound.

I still own my e602 but I have never really liked it very much, and I much prefer the Shure Beta 52. Depending on how consistent the drummer is, I'll apply some compression (i.e., if it's my crappy drumming, I'll have to compress the hell out of it). I usually try to leave the EQ alone, or at most, make a small cut to the mids to help it coexist with the bass guitar. I don't like the heavy metal mid-scooped kick drum sound, though, so I try not to do that.

[Nubus]

I think those are Beyer Dynamic M88.

[Nubus]

I've been having fun using the mic in about the middle of the resonant head as opposed to right in the port. Seems to me to have a nice natural sound and the dynamics end up real even.

In school they taught us to put the mic right in there up as close to te beater as you can. I personally always find this sound to be crap. Funny what they can get away with teaching at an arts school.

Just to note, this is for my recording. Live you gotta get the mics in there.

[dagosto]

I think that putting mics inside the drumis asking for trouble. Think about recording inside a room as small as a bass drum. There is no way to know what kind of modes you are going to get when you place a mic in a drum and how much it will change when you move it a few inches.

I like to place the mic a few inches in front of thr port. No port, a few inches in front off the head. No head, a few inches in front of where the head would be. always pointing at the beater and trying to reduce bleed.

As for mics I wouls recommend the Electro-Voice N/D868. It is a lot to pay for a mic that only does one thing but when you think about how important the kick drum can be . . . well just think about it. It sounds great by itself and if you need it to pop through you can just boost at 5kHz and you're there.

[Jared Kubokawa]

I agree with dagosto that putting the kick mic inside the drum is not the best recipe. For one you lose all of those low mid frequencies and harmonics, essentially the boom sound of the drum itself. Maybe for some types of music this would be desired, but with some keen compression you can keep that boom under control. If you place the mic inside, especially close to the beater, it's all punch/attack and no decay.

Think of the Bonham's drums in Zeppelin's version of "When the Levee Breaks". The kit breathes, has room to let the frequencies move to the mic/the ear. You hear the kit and the drummer. You hear the drum and not just the beater. I mean sure we are all using overheads, but for the most part you are capturing cymbals and snare. Even if you boost the lows in the OH's, the snare loses its top. Maybe we don't all want that "Levee" sound but its a good allegory.

I stole this from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Levee_Breaks

"The famous drum performance was actually recorded by Andy Johns by placing Bonham and a new drumkit at the bottom of a stairwell at Headley Grange, and recording it using two Beyerdynamic M160 microphones at the top, giving the distinctive resonant but slightly muffled sound."

I like to think about recording drums in two ways, first is that each drum is an individual instrument (which requires its own mic) and second that the kit itself is an instrument. Johns used two dynamics and the natural reverberation of a stairwell, he's not even using a kick mic...

What do you think?

[dagosto]

My take on the whole "Levee" sound is that yeah, it's a cool way to mic up drums, but it probably doesn't apply to most home recording types. Zepplin could record almost anywhere they wanted, and they also had some of the most insane recording gear ever assembled. They had the most expensive and rare pre's, compressors, and eq's in a time when even cheap gear was better than most of the crap you can get now. So I think that has something to do with the sound as well.

[cthetranspire]

I'm actually torn on the subject. I have enjoyed a great live sound from close micing the kick through the port. With the proper AKG bass mic, it's workin lovely.

For recording, I enjoy taking off the resonant head and creating a pseudo chamber with a blanket. It basically creates more "boom" to the sound by creating an extension of the shell. Keeps it punchy and... boomy.

[SorenP]

Of course there's variatons depending on what sound you're going for, but I personally try and use ported heads whenever I can for tracking. If you don't have a U47 layin around.. (sigh.. someday) The Beyer M88 is pretty amazing. You can just sorta throw it inside the kick itself and it sounds great. A phase reversed RE20 (or SM57 works too) on the beater side makes a really cool combo with the M88. Takes a little tweaking but you come out with a great big rock sound