How do I record a good bass drum?

How do I record a good bass drum?

Miking a bass drum with a front head

1. Place the mic on a short stand four to six inches away from the head, halfway up and slightly off-center.
2. Move the mic away about six inches farther away from the head.
3. Move it away about a foot farther.
4. Place it where you have the best combination of low end and definition.

How can I make my drums sound better when recording?

10 ways to make better drum recordings

1. Skins, sticks and beaters. It’s much easier to get volume, clarity and brightness from a new set of drumheads.
2. Tune up.
3. Bottom heads on toms.
4. Front head on the kick or not?
5. Tighten the kick drum.
6. Playing to a click.
7. Prepare the click for gaps.
8. Get a crappy mic.

What is the best sounding bass drum?

The Competition

Instrument	Rating
Yamaha Stage Custom Birch 18×15	solid drum made with a complete birch shell, great tone
Pearl Vision Birch Bass Drum	tone is very well balanced matched with low-end projection
Evans EMAD2 Clear Bass Drum Head	sound produced is very moving, you’ll want to keep playing all day long

How do you mic an unported bass drum?

It’s incredibly simple: Don’t put the mike on the front head. Aim the bass mike at the beater spot on the back head, maybe a foot or so away. It works, and any sound guy who’s worth his salt knows this. This was the miking technique for many years, before the “engineered” bass drum sound came into vogue.

Can you record drums with just overheads?

Just go with two overhead mics, a snare top mic, snare bottom mic, and kick mic. Easy as that. You’ll still get a great drum sound.

What kind of room is good for recording drums?

Getting a Good Room Sound If you want to capture the drums in a room, using a dedicated room microphone is a good idea. There are many uses for a room microphone. You can use it to create the space around it, like a reverb.

Should I put a pillow in my bass drum?

The bass drum will eventually sound dead and flat – not what you want. The trick is to put a small amount of muffling in there. Try placing one pillow or blanket resting on the bottom of the drum. This way you get bit more control of the air flow, as well as the resonance on the drum head without killing the sound.

How to get that killer bass drum sound?

Preceding any clever microphone techniques or studio trickery, a killer bass drum sound begins with a truly killer bass drum. According to Tavaglione — producer, engineer, musician, and owner of Catalyst Recording, Charlotte, North Carolina’s de facto indie music laboratory — drummers should carefully consider the size of their chosen studio kick.

What makes a good bass drum for a song?

Choosing from a variety of kicks usually comes down to the sonic vibe desired, the recording environment chosen, and even tempo. Since faster songs have less time in between kicks, a really resonant bass drum may simply not work. “At Ruby Red (Walker’s recording facility) we have three different rooms with completely different sounds.

How to recreate the sound of a 70s bass drum?

Fig. 3 In the ’70s it was common to dampen the bass drum with foam or a pillow and place the mike deep inside. Fig. 4 Miking the snare bed is very helpful for recreating ’70s-era crispness. (Note the wallet on the batter head.)

What kind of drum beaters did bass players use?

Bass drum beaters were hard felt or wood. Kick drum pedals were notoriously noisy, as many metal parts rubbed together. A lot of players favored the Ludwig Speed King, which featured a longboard pedal (not split) connected to the cam and beater assembly by a metal strip.