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Sticker's Modern Rock Kick Drum Tips

1. I prefer a front head but with a decent size whole. I think the best place for the whole slightly of center horizontally but centered vertically.

2. Place Mic 3-5 inches away from inside head. I usually end up pointing the mic half way between the beater and rim, centered horizontally.

3. Use a pillow for dampening.

4. loosen drum head to get more snap. (to what degree i still need to work on a bit)

5. most important...USE THE PLASTIC SIDE OF THE BEATER.

Comments

stickers Sat, 08/06/2005 - 08:41

thanks for 6.

I know the coin technique. i've just never needed to do it.

7-10...Like many of us, I dont have a 421 or a D12. I do have a pair of ns10s in storage in excellent condintion and im hoping they will appreciate in value over time. But if you have the channels and mics then rock on.

Reggie Sat, 08/06/2005 - 22:41

Terabyte wrote: i tried the coin technique
i applied cubase multiband bass drum compression to it

its disgusting

and i mean that in a bad way

i think i still have the crappy clip
(not that i'm a pro)

If you're talking about the "bass drum" preset, no wonder it sounded like butt. Try just using EQ first and see how you like that sound. Multiband on kick sounds too fake to me. I personally don't like much compression on kick; it usually robs the depth or something. If necessary to even it out a little, I just use the most transparent compressor I have, then let the main limiter catch the peaks later. Most of the time, the kick hits are the most consistent of all the drums; usually a variation of only a few db with a decent drummer. Snare and toms drive me nuts when drummers don't hit them solid all the time. This funks up the gating, which funks up the cymbal bleed, which needs to be reduced because they hit the dang shiny things too hard to begin with! :?

iznogood Sun, 08/07/2005 - 05:03

do NOT ever ever EVER use multicomp on a bassdrum....

i sometimes use comp.... but mostly eq..... and sometimes limiter as i find that a bassdrum can vary quite a bit..... even with a great drummer.... in harder forms of music anyway.... but you only need the coin for metal/hardcore....

and most people trigger anyway..... but i think a well recorded bassdrum sounds better...

iznogood Sun, 08/07/2005 - 06:27

the feel is alot different.... and the cymbals are rarely triggered! :lol:

but my favorite band actually programmed the whole thing on their new album.... if i'm to believe the notes in the cover..... but i sounds a bit stiff.... although their drummer usually plays like robot..... :lol:

(the band is meshuggah the album "catch 33")

TheArchitect Sun, 08/07/2005 - 06:52

iznogood wrote: the feel is alot different.... and the cymbals are rarely triggered! :lol:

but my favorite band actually programmed the whole thing on their new album.... if i'm to believe the notes in the cover..... but i sounds a bit stiff.... although their drummer usually plays like robot..... :lol:

(the band is meshuggah the album "catch 33")

But once you replace they real playing with samples the dynamics are lost and the feel is out the window anyway

This concept came about from 1) fixing issues from poor performances 2) trying to keep up with sample based music that became popular.

Unfortunately the art of capturing a performance seems to be long gone. Its also seems to have become pretty common to replace entire members for recordings because they can't cut it. Why is an act like that signed in the first place? Sad state of affairs.

Davedog Sun, 08/07/2005 - 20:38

Wouldnt all this be a moot point with the addition of a very high quality and well tuned real kick drum? And if you wanted some synthy kinda effect wouldnt you then add a trigger with velocity to attain a parallel track that has all the dynamics of a live player and none of the artifacts of the machinery? Doesnt this make sense?.....Its always gotta start with a great sounding acoustic drum before it ever gets any good......unless you're really into working something to death. just my four bits.

anonymous Mon, 08/08/2005 - 14:46

TheArchitect wrote: Unfortunately the art of capturing a performance seems to be long gone. Its also seems to have become pretty common to replace entire members for recordings because they can't cut it. Why is an act like that signed in the first place? Sad state of affairs.

One, looks... and two, the acts willingness to compromise their sound to fit into whatever niche market the label wishes to capitalize on. Yes, very sad state of affairs. But I never pay attention to bands like that.. and who's going to be listening to them 10 or 20 years down the road?

TheArchitect Mon, 08/08/2005 - 15:07

p0llen_p0ny wrote: [quote=TheArchitect]Unfortunately the art of capturing a performance seems to be long gone. Its also seems to have become pretty common to replace entire members for recordings because they can't cut it. Why is an act like that signed in the first place? Sad state of affairs.

One, looks... and two, the acts willingness to compromise their sound to fit into whatever niche market the label wishes to capitalize on. Yes, very sad state of affairs. But I never pay attention to bands like that.. and who's going to be listening to them 10 or 20 years down the road?

Points well taken but to answer your question, the same mindless, musically retarded halfwits buying those records now will be buying the flavor of the month 10 years from now. The industry will only sign these types of acts. They have discovered that its cheaper to find and sign another new one hit wonder than to develop an artist that will demand a bigger piece of the pie on subsequent albums.

I haven't bought a recording by a new artist in 10 years save for Norah Jones' debut and Maroon 5. The rest are just cooking cutter incest at it finest. Making due with Miles and Steely Dan is a nice alternative but eventually I will run out of work by them I don't already have.

Then what do I do? :)

anonymous Wed, 08/10/2005 - 08:52

Absolutely agree with the "sad state of affairs" bit, but there is some good stuff making it big. I'm a fan of music sounding like its been done by human beings playing in a band, all the "perfection" happening in modern rock music really gets to me sometimes.

In this conexion, does anyone have any views on U2's Vertigo album?

:)