Famous for capturing smooth low end, the wide-range frequency response of the large diaphragm cardioid dynamic Shure SM7B make it Jae’s choice for an inside the kick mic. All the air is moving in and out of that hole, and that air is going to move the diaphragm unnecessarily. These days I’m seeing more Neumann U 47 FET microphones on the outside of a kick drum — in tandem with an inside beater mic — than anything else. A pillow or dense foam can work as well, but they tend to absorb some of the high-frequency energy, so keep that in mind. What benefit is a recording studio session or a live concert if you constantly have to deal with distorted sounds? KICK DRUM MICROPHONES It’s relatively easy to choose an appropriate microphone for recording bass drums. You take a boom mic stand at a 90º angle, and you place the arm of the boom on top of the kick drum – making sure there’s foam or something between the stand and the drum so you don’t scratch the drum up. When learning how to record a kick drum, realize there are no rules. A Shure SM7b (inside the kick aimed at the beater) and AKG D112 (in front of the kick) serve as Jae’s kick drum mics. Yes, and with good results too! The next thing I do is make a teepee. There are so many great mics, and so many mic techniques you can use, but the first one I’m typically going to go to is the AKG D112. The recording of the 'KickHeadOnOutside' audio files placed five AKG D112s at four inches from the kick drum's resonant head, and combined them with a Sennheiser MD421 and a … Maybe for live that could work, but for the studio, I’m always working somewhere in the middle of the drum. How to record better tones in your home studio, How to get better results mixing in your home studio, How to use interviews to promote and maximize your message, The services and skills you need to promote and grow your music career, Licensing holiday songs — don’t assume it’s in the public domain, Don’t do it alone: Live music event roles, My overnight success was 15 years in the making. I used to see a lot of the Yamaha NS-10 Subkicks in front of a kick drum, but over the years, that’s been waning in favor of a larger, more punchy and controlled sound. He owns and operates a private studio called Kiva Productions right outside of Philadelphia in Jenkintown, PA, where he records and produces his own music along with local and national acts. You’ll get some strange ill effects if you’ve got one side tuned higher than the other. Getting a great vocal take in the studio Check out Kiva Productions on Facebook. Like Paul McCartney’s, “Dance Tonight,” where the whole thing is driven by the kick drum… it just sounds a little more natural, like you’re in the room. At the end of the tent, I put a shotgun microphone (like the Sennheiser 416), and that’s where I get the extended low end. How to Record a Kick Drum – Example Recordings Step 2 – Choose the right kick drum. Required fields are marked *. Sometimes I’m no more than 2″ from where the beater is smacking the head, and that’s going to give me a real tappy sound. Step 3 – Choosing the right drum heads. Sometimes I might add a third mic on the beater side, in front of the beater, to pick up the beater sound. It’s not a sound everyone loves, but it can work well in songs that have a lot of heavy guitar tracks. You can use any mic, really, but I prefer the sound of the shotgun. While certainly not a “natural” sound, this approach can be heard on countless recordings and remains many engineers’ go-to strategy for kick drum recording. A kick drum mic is specifically created to be used on kick drums. Then take a heavy blanket, like a moving blanket, something really dense, and you make a tent out of it. I’ve heard some decent home recordings where there was a mic in the kick or in front of the kick and a pair of mics overhead and it can work really well, depending on the room you’re in. They can handle the sharp attacks as well as the high volume propensity. Psychology and the music producer, Your email address will not be published. I wasn’t able to gate the kick and had to work with more of an open sound, which isn’t always a bad thing. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. You need to make sure that the beater head is evenly tuned, to start with. The good news is there are many clones of the 47 FET available on the market these days. You need to make sure that the beater head is evenly tuned, to start with. I’d stay away from attempting to use a tube mic for this purpose as it’ll sound a lot more wobbly and undefined. The biggest issue with having the mic outside the drum is the bleed. Jon Marc Weiss is the Director of IT Operations for Disc Makers and also an accomplished recording engineer, studio designer, and musician with 30 years’ of industry experience. It depends on the style of music. You really can change the sound quite a bit by altering the angle and pulling the mic either in or out. You’ll get some strange ill effects if you’ve got one side tuned higher than the other. You kinda get this “ba-uum” sound with an additional tail to the hit. The idea here is to use a large diaphragm condenser with fast electronics to really move some air. Kick (bass) drum. Tune your drum kit. Bleed from the cymbals and from the other drums, which can be a real problem for the kick, because it’s driving the entire song and a lot of times, when you’re mixing, you want to gate your kick and snare. I wound up putting a mic on either side of the bass drum, with the front mic out of phase, and the end result was actually pretty good. There’s air moving even after you hit that drum. However, most of us, including myself, are unable to afford a $3-4k microphone for this use. Related Posts You don’t really want to put the mic right behind the beater, facing it straight on, because you can pretty easily over-extend the diaphragm and distort the transformer, as well as produce other unwanted effects. You can buy these pads from Remo (Falam Slam) that do the same thing. For muffling, I’ve used sandbags, really thin ones, like the ones you might find for physical therapy or something – those things filled with sand are awesome inside a kick drum. I’ve had situations where I’ve changed out the beater, from a felt beater to a wood or a plastic beater to get a little more attack.

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