How To EQ A Bass Drum - Drum Lessons
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- Опубліковано 14 сер 2011
- FREE Series: Easy Drumming That Sounds Hard - bit.ly/easydrumming
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In this drum recording lesson, Victor Guidera demonstrates how he goes about EQing a bass drum.
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View the resources for this lesson at: www.drumlessons.com/drum-lesso...
Finally someone is actually using a musical ear rather than bitching or guessing! Thank you my good sir.
Don't listen to all the naysayers. Everyone thinks they're a Grammy-winning engineer. I've been recording for over 30 years and am impressed at what you guys get out of your Mackie. Keep it up!
Thanks, Jared. Thanks a lot man. Thanks for your help
You guys are awesome. Found so many solutions even for programming drums, in these videos.
Haha, love the bloopers at the end. Another great video from u guys. No mindless chatter, just straight to the point and with helpfull tips.
I'm a Engineer/drummer and I used the exact same eq settings you guys used as I was running from the control room and the drum room and wow.....I didn't have to make any adjustments as it sounded great with your settings.
nicely done. THX
Thank you for this great information!!! 👍🏻
Man that's the same way I do mic drumms for our drummers at church, also that sub is an incredible soultion. Nice video
My question is, are you running out of the Tape out puts or direct outs for each channel? I have a 32.8 version of the same board, but run into an Apollo 8p instead of a Motu.
Victor your recording lesson on the bass drum worked good for me.
the problem i had was the uncontrolled mids.
When he was adjusting the gain knob in the very beginning, was the fader all the way down like where the subkick fader started, or where was it at?
jared it would be good to find out how your drums sound without all of the gadgetry .Can you also let me know what temperature it is in your studio.My drums i play are in the basement and the different temp changes ie hot or cold are playing havock with my drums.Any suggestions thanks
what desk do you have
awesome info, thanks.
Valuable stuff here! Cutting the mids is where it's at!
those mics sound freaking awesome!
Sir what mixing console are you using?
Very nice video as a very good reference!
Will the same EQ apply if you dont have a port on the bass drum?
just got a mackie mixer 24x8x2 .....do you have a video on your setup mixer to pc ....interface card etc..etc...cable routing ..?
Sir jared please help me, infor kick both heads how many turn did you do? Please sir
Do you have lessons on how to gate drums
good video. thanks.
Epic videos dudes. Thanks very much!!!
Hey Victor, what's your formation? Where did you learn all that stuff? at school?
the gain structure really surprised me ... near peaking just seems a little risky to me ... but the pre amps on that desk sound really nice and the EQ is just awesome, what desk is it?
did you use compressors for all the drums? and great lesson
are they using sennheiser e604 on the toms
really helping me
What board is that anyway
Hey Jared can jou do a vid with hou to use different cymbels with rithums and fills? Ps u are the best.
Greetings from the Netherlands.
What would you suggest then?
Great vid!
thanks guys this help alot
what kind of monitors are those?
Anyone know model of the mixing console?
@tazdougherty It was the solo channel - fader at neutral.
what is the rcorder software you are using?
daren hobson Logic Pro 9
Excellent ear for EQ'ing. I love the sounds you get from your drums with your EQ settings. Excellent!
What kind of mixer is that?
You don't need to get it so close to red that it's not peaking. That doesn't leave you any room for any processing etc. You have plenty of headroom with your daw. No need for that. Watch how amazing your mixes will sound if you record everything a little lower. Then when you mix you will have a huge sound.
yep
You do want to your levels almost peaking (DAW/AD inputs) for an optimal signal to noise ratio. Then when you pull your fader to -30 or w/e, you are also dropping your noise floor while the bringing the desired sound to a suitable level.
While a higher bitrate will provide more headroom and dynamic range, it doesn't change this concept that is so central to gain structure. Minimize your noise floor - record em hot. Also - unlike analog gear, attenuating in a DAW won't introduce noise.
If I need to study about this what do I read/what course should I do.
this is a good cheat-sheet. www.cheatography.com/fredv/cheat-sheets/eq-tips/ ...best wishes
thanks
@JoepKooltje
He has commented on this question under an other vid. I think it is "Beginner 16~ broken fills".
pls make a video on how to eq kick on different genre, like hardcore kick, rock, pop, reggae, metal etc, that would be cool!!
@MrLennon231 Looks like an older 2404. there's a 3208 in the on-campus studio at my college
Using all your dynamic range when recording is a good thing. It allows you to minimise floor noise. Of course, your preamp has to be good enough so that it doesn't add its own noise when you're pushing the gain...
How about spending more time on the mic(s) placement and pull back 2 and 3K. D112 mic. No need for gates or eq. Also lower gain and allow more dynamic range... Sheesh.
nice
I don’t know if it’s just me or not but bass drums NEVER sound like a bass drum to me when they’re mic’d up. But I will say, at 4:50 that sounds like a bass drum to me. Excellent sound! 👌
Yup!
NEED that shirt!
www.thinkgeek.com/product/8753/
Jareds shirts are amazing I want his whole wardrobe :)
proWaffles935 ERMAHGERD!! *MEHGASM*
i must have duff ears cause i could not hear any difference when the Sub Kick was introduced ??
Great video !!
Holy holy... This guy knows his stuff.
In digital formats noise floor is NOT the priority. Peak signal level IS. In the analog world, signal is metered dbVU or db Volume Units which is measured with a mechanical device called a VU meter. In analog a good target for signal is 0dbVU with peaks around (+)6~8dbVU. Digital is measured dbFS or db Full Scale. 0dbVU is = to (-) 20dbFS thus (-) 12dbFS is equal to (+) 8dbVU. In digital -2dbFS would be equal to (+) 18dbVU. Tracking near 0dbFS sounds like crap!!!! Chris Thom is correct
dam I wanna learn how to tune my bassdrum like this!
when you're singling out something to be EQd on the kit, its easier to bring it up to peak, then down 2 dB. then in your mixdown of the kit, you bring the gain back down. its just a basic method of EQ. that's how i started out.
Consoles do not have phase switches. The switch most people associate with being a phase switch is actually a polarity switch. Phase is a function of time. Many console manufacturers have labeled the polarity switch incorrectly with the word phase. This switch changes the polarity from positive to negative or negative to positive relative to the other signals on the console. If the signals for the bass drum had opposite polarity you would hear the low end go away. Use your ears people !!!!!
where does jared get his shirts!?!?!?!?
I don't necessarily think it's a problem to do this, his signal to noise ratio is going to be much larger this way. Of course, when recording at 24-bit you've got the dynamic range to boost the level with less adverse effects than at 16-bit, but why not just get a strong signal in the first place, as he's doing. E.g. If he turns it down in the mix, he'll also reduce extraneous noise, whereas if he had to increase gain he's only ever going to introduce more noise.
Just my opinion :)
First, level setting... okay fine, have the drummer go through each drum and set a level. What you'll end up with is... well, nothing terribly useful in terms of the recording. Have them play whatever they're going to play, and then you will get your proper level. I guarantee you when he starts playing, he's going to be digging into that kick harder than he is in sound check and given the way you're setting levels (which is WAY too hot for a digital recording), what you're going to end up with is a clipped track (you won't be forgiven or rewarded for this misdeed as you would be with analog tape).
Even cheap electronics are so quiet now that we really don't need to be worrying about maximizing signal to noise (within reason) and since you're not tracking to analog tape, there's absolutely no argument for hitting the track hard in order to induce the wonderful things that happen when analog tape begins to saturate and distort. So... setting levels... when all is said and done, you should be able to move all your faders to unity (kick, sub-kick, snare, hats, R1, R2, Rx, overheads, front mics, and room mics) and have it sound pretty well mixed. Doing that will save a TON of time when you actually get to mixing. Hitting a digital track as hard as you are, when you get to mixing that, your drum tracks will all end up being way below unity ("unity" in the digital world is often represented as -18 dbfs or -20 dbfs) to avoid beating the crap out of your mix stem. Here's a good article on the subject gain staging (I particularly like the photos that shows what happens to your overall mix when you set gain as hot as possible, vs. setting your gain to more reasonable levels):
www.prosoundweb.com/article/how_and_why_unity_mixing_can_make_all_the_difference_in_the_world/
Now on to the sound:
If you wanted more "point" there are other things I would suggest trying first. EQ should never be your first solution to solve a problem (to be clear though, I am not saying don't use EQ, I'm saying try other things first). Just by listening to the kick it sounds like the mic is placed just inside the sound hole on the outer head. If you wanted to get more of the beater there are two things that you should have tried first...
1) Simply move the mic incrementally inside the shell, getting closer to the beater. That will give you more "point" without having to resort to EQ. This makes even more sense considering you're also using a sub-kick. Moving the mic closer to the beater would have resulted in less room tone as well (maybe a pro or a con depending on your taste).
2) Use a second mic placed next to the beater. You will have to be careful not to cause problems with phase alignment when adding a 2nd mic.
3) Choose a different mic (this may not be practical if you're on a budget, but option 1 is very practical).
Finally, another thought on EQ... when does anyone ever listen soloed tracks? As mentioned, there are many approaches. The approach I recommend is to start EQing in the context of the entire mix. How can you possibly know if the changes you are making are going to sit well in the context of a mix if you've cut the rest of it out? The argument against that often is "but I can't hear the changes". That's my argument too. I you can't hear a change in the context of a mix, then what's the point in making the change?
I'd like to thank you for this comment. As a an up and coming musician/artist that understands the importance of mixing, this is enviable knowledge you are giving. Not to take any steam away from the drumlessoncom people but it's always great to shop around for new opinions and ways of doing things.
Thanks a, gain. :-)
shewh0rn
Drummers are ALWAYS quieter in sound checks......you're right.
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sometimes i personally will look for a papery sound in the upper mids and cut that before boosting the beater sound, it can work nicer sometimes.
How?
if your board is capable of that much head room it is actually a fairly common practice, more for live performance though
damn that's tight kickdrum :O when I eq with my pc it isn't all that easy :/ good tutorial!
Those monitors aren't that pricey lol. These dudes are really great at using what they have and knowing what they're doing. Pricey gear doesn't buy you good recordings and knowledge, and that's certainly not what these videos are about. In fact quite the opposite. They are about achieving great results using the fundamentals. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I actually haven't seen a piece of gear in the 7 videos I've watched that's over a thousand bucks yet... except the computer and video gear.
that sub sounds like its out of phase.. it thinners the sound rather then giving it sub bass..
Not sure if i am right it... just sounds to me like that.
I haven't witnessed the mix going distorted because individual channels are in the "orange" levels.
More common problem for novices (like me) is that your channels are just darn too silent. So I'd interpret about your guys comments that something in the middle of the orange levels is the best. Right?
"As close as I can to peaking, without going into the red." :facepalm:
proper gainstaging - a thing the young guns will never get right :-)
@Norman Süsstrunk: Do you have a video showing proper gain staging? I would love to learn.
@@jambam6176 proper gainstaging. Nobody ever demonstrates that...
I like Vinnie Paul bass drum sound.
I wonder if those people recording high-end awesome-sounding bass drums through perfectly positioned mics are the ones in need of a tutorial telling them to take out the low mids and boost the kick...
What happened to the DW kit? Also do you want to give me some cymbals?? ;) :D
Mic placement - Poor
Gain settings - Poor
My question is... How much adjusting of gain setting do you apply one the drummer goes LIVE into a session? I didn't hear instruction on giving the most dynamic output either? What if the drummer is just being lazy on a check?
Overall professional production - Poor
Sending LOVE!!!
Are you sure you're gonna eq with that monitors?
Intruppaman what´s wrong with them?
hectorqwer
They are not flat monitors.
/watch?v=jFKnGNIa58c
ltgrulz it's a Mackie 24/8
he is making the signal/noise ratio larger.
@asecretninja ok lol! Slow down!! It's some type of mackie. Thats all i know
On youtube is no difference with the subkick :(
yep. The rattle is about that frequency :-)
Decay goes up.
@asecretninja a mixer
Besides, a tuned room is FAR more important than just buying the best monitors... How can you engineer accurately if you can't trust what you hear?
I believe EQ-ing also depends on the genre of music.
best T-shirt ever.
Telling people to meter to almost peaking is so wrong. Once you do that with more than one channel you are just going to end up with a distorted mix and there was a obvious ringing on that kick which would need dialed out as well.
"As close as I can to peaking without going in to the red." no no no no no no.
haha..I can understand your pain
Guys, on a analog mixer you can go close to clipping. Even if you clip the snare or kick here and then, it is not a issue. On digital mixers it is the opposite.
The two heads aren't tuned correctly to each other. They're creating a semi-tone, thats the rattling you're hearing.
I just lol when I saw the Meh!!!!
Since you said that you like feedback, I thought I'd give you some. I've always thought your bass drums sound kind of "plasticy." Like there isn't much substance to the drum. To me, it sounds like there should be more of a "boom" sound instead of a "slap" kind of sound from the beater. I hope that makes sense. And thanks for the video.
where's dave?
Thumbs up if you think that Victor should have a personal channel! :)
I didn't know Nick Swardson played the drums.
I thought he had a blue mohawk from the thumbnail
n00b. He is talking about gain. You want the gain as high up as you can get without peaking, so that you can get the most natural volume without processed amplification. Then, you can adjust the volume in the mix. n00b.
Great vid but why couldn't the drummer just have played once, have the engineer record it into a sampler, play it back on loop and EQ off that instead of the drummer having to keep playing live??
It's a drum studio and their job is to make and film lessons. Wonder why they have the best gear and equipment ... I betcha it's not to make you feel bad.
Isn't there a connection to the tuning of a bass drum in addition to the actual mic and EQ of the bass drum? The drummer must be aware of the fact a too thick muddy bass drum can really screw it up for the bass player...Has this happened to YOU? How many sound men out there have a clue on this issue? How many drummers have any awareness of this? There have been a many of fine concert screwed up this mistake along with many other mixing mistakes..
robert pattinson let himself go?