Everyone likes a little kick drum in their mix. A lot of people like a lot of little kick, or even a lot of big kick in their mix. We at FRONT of HOUSE would like to present some suggestions for getting a killer kick sound without killing yourself.
Work With the Drum and the Drummer
Anything we’d like to try with a kick drum has to be okay with the drummer. It’s their gig, and some of the things we do (in terms of mufflers, pillows, etc.) can change the feel of the drum. If the drummer doesn’t like the way a drum plays, their performance will suffer — and that’s not cool.
Start by listening to the drum with nothing inside of it. I prefer a front head on the drum (some people do not) and a hole in the front head will facilitate placing the mic inside the drum. It will also provide options that would not be available to you with a solid head.
If the drum does not have a hole in the head, don’t make one — or the drummer may put a hole in your head. Be aware that some jazz drummers will not want to put a hole in the front, and that’s okay. Many a great jazz drum sounds have been captured with a mic sitting in front of a kick sans hole. Padding inside the shell ranging anywhere from a small pillow to a large cushion the size of something that might pad your bottom on a couch (not the bottom in your mix) can help control excessive ringing. But don’t overdo it. I’ve had good luck with minimal “stuff” inside a kick, and if it occupies more than the bottom third of the drum shell, it’s too much for me. Stuffing a drum full of blankets is a sure way to kill the tone, so let it breathe. If you and the drummer don’t like the idea of putting anything inside the drum, consider taping felt strips to the heads.
Tuning a kick drum is a job to be coordinated with (and often best left to) the drummer or drum tech. Again, many drummers tune for feel first. This is where leaving on the front head becomes an asset: it gives you a means to tune the drum without messing with the way the beater head responds to being kicked. I’d suggest tuning the front head as low as you can get it without any of the hardware rattling (keep in mind that it may loosen over the course of a show if the player is a hard hitter). Put your hand in front of the hole while someone plays the kick. If you don’t feel any air moving out of the hole when the drum is struck, you have a fundamental problem. Remove some padding and/or try to drop the tuning.
Head choices for the beater side make quite an impact on the way a kick drum sounds. My favorite choice for the beater side is a Remo Powerstroke, which is available in a few varieties. All of them provide plenty of “umph” but also control excessive ringing. An impact pad, such as the Remo Falam Slam (center photo, below), placed on the head where the beater strikes not only adds a bit of attack to the sound, but can also extend the life of the head. A certain amount of experimentation is required in finding the right heads for any given drum kit.
The Usual Suspects
As evidenced by the Buyers Guide in this issue, which focuses on kick drum mics (page 46), there are more kick drum microphones on the market than you can shake a Regal Tip 5B drumstick at, and the general state of the kick drum mic is very good indeed. Popular choices include the AKG D112 (now Mk II), Audix D6, Sennheiser e602 II (my favorite of late) and Shure Beta 52A — most of which require minimal EQ to fit into a mix. Placement for some of these mics is a bit more critical than others so you’ll have to ask an assistant to move the mic while you listen. I generally start with the front of the mic’s grill just poking inside the hole in the front head. Make sure that the mic is not touching any part of the head or padding inside the drum, or you’ll get a buzz. Some engineers have success with placing the mic close to the beater inside the drum but I usually find that position produces too much click and not enough poof (all very technical terms).
Unusual Suspects
Sometimes it’s effective to use one mic for capturing the lowest components of the low-end while using a second, different mic to handle the top-end “snap.” For example, you might try a small diaphragm, condenser microphone inside the kick for the top end, and one of the usual suspects at the hole for the low-end. Make sure that the condenser mic can handle the SPLs produced by a kick drum without being damaged. Bring those mics to separate channels of the mixing console and mix to taste — but be sure to check the phase relationship between the two to make sure that they are not fighting each other.
If you think that placing two mics inside a kick drum is a royal pain in the arse, you’re correct. And that’s why Audio-Technica manufactures the AE-2500 Dual Element microphone. Hidden underneath the AE-2500’s grill are two separate cardioid capsules, one a dynamic and the other a condenser. Since they are mounted right next to each other, you generally wouldn’t experience any phase cancellation. The output connector is a 5-pin XLR. A-T includes a breakout cable with a 5-pin XLR on one end and two separate male 3-pin XLR connectors on the other end, each carrying the signal from one of the capsules. The two signals can be patched to different channels on your mixing console. Trés clever, and it only requires one mic stand.
Variations on a (Kick) Theme
Variations for a secondary kick mic include a PZM or boundary microphone placed inside the shell. The frequency response of a boundary microphone is related to the size of the “plate” upon which it is mounted, which is why a boundary mic often sounds great when laid on the floor in front of the kick drum. The floor essentially becomes the plate, extending the mic’s low frequency response. This technique is very useful in the studio, but not so useful on stage. Placing a boundary mic on a pillow or blankie inside the kick naturally limits the low-frequency response of the mic, so don’t expect to get your pants leg flapping solely from a boundary mic. My favorite boundary mic for this purpose is my trusty old Shure SM91, which has been succeeded by the Beta 91A. Sometimes I’ll mix the ‘91 with a Sennheiser e602 II or Audix D6, letting the ‘91 provide the snap while the other mic provides the low octaves. A problem with putting a boundary mic inside a kick drum is getting it to stay in one place, and that’s why there’s a device call the Kelly SHU (kellyshu.com), a suspension platform designed to hold a variety of boundary mics securely inside the shell of a kick drum.
Beyond EQ
I usually like to gate and compress my kick channels. Given the option, gate first and then compress. If you compress first, it’s harder to set the threshold of the gate to close between hits. Set the gate’s attack time long enough not to produce a click (usually a few milliseconds), and set the hold and release so that you don’t chop off the decay of the drum (100 to 200 milliseconds each). Crushing the kick mic with compression tends to make the low-end go away, so use a subtle hand: start with an attack time between 5 and 10 mS, a ratio of 2:1, and set the threshold so that you get a few dB of gain reduction when the drummer digs in. Bypassing the gates during soft musical passages ensures that you are not cutting off any parts of the drummer’s performance — an important consideration when it comes to keeping your gig!
Steve “Woody” La Cerra is the tour manager and front of house engineer for Blue Öyster Cult.
