Help with editing kick drum track with a dominant foot?

[chagos]

Greetings,
I'm mixing a song right now, and it has one mono kick drum track, but the drummer used a double bass pedal.

this wouldn't be a big deal, but he has a very, very dominant right foot, so half of the kicks are much louder and pronounced than the other half.

Anyone have any ideas on how to get them to be around the same levels without having to edit the living heck out of the mono track?

I just want the weak beats to blend in with the dominant beats.


Thanks.

[O.G. Killa]

Originally Posted by chagos

Greetings,
I'm mixing a song right now, and it has one mono kick drum track, but the drummer used a double bass pedal.

this wouldn't be a big deal, but he has a very, very dominant right foot, so half of the kicks are much louder and pronounced than the other half.

Anyone have any ideas on how to get them to be around the same levels without having to edit the living heck out of the mono track?

I just want the weak beats to blend in with the dominant beats.


Thanks.

Hire a better drummer to come in and replay the track. Seriously!

Aside from that... you can try to trigger/replace the kick drum track with a sample. Set the velocity range so that the weak kick and the strong kick trigger the same kick sample at the same volume. That will even it out.

[Bill Denton]

But you do want to make sure that wasn't an effect the drummer was trying to achieve.

I'm not at all a double bass drum player, but I do have a double pedal. While I do my "main" drum parts as "single bass", I will sometimes use the double pedal to do flams or to add grace notes.

If the bass drum track is soloed it sounds a little off, but it blends well in the mix...

[chagos]

he definitely wanted the double kick in there.
it's a basic metal song, so there is a lot of double kick going on, but his feet are so imbalanced it just kills me.
i wasn't in charge of the recording otherwise i would have made him completely redo it. sadly, i just ended up with the mixing duty.

what would be the easiest way to go about replacing the kick with a triggered sample?

[albee1952]

First off, do you really NEED to edit the drummers dynamics(whaddya mean dynamics....I'm playin' as hard as I can????). If the answer is yes, you have a few options, depending on what tools you have available. If you have Sound Replacer, you could set it to replace the softer hits with a sample made from one of the harder hits. Or use a drum replacement plugin(like Drumagog) and set it for less dynamics so the replacement is more even. Or just copy a loud hit and paste it over the soft hits(using Tab to Transient). Tedious but effective. Or run the kick track thru something that can export a midi file(like Melodyne) import the midi to an instrument track with a drum plugin(or any Virtual Instrument with drum sounds) to trigger a new kick, then open the Velocity lane and adjust all the softer hits upwards. Then again, you could also try a brick wall limiter on the kick track

[chagos]

Thanks for the advice.

I'm trying to talk them into just re-recording the whole track, because the take is just not that good.
In the end, i think the drummer would be much happier just starting over. I doubt he wants his poor performance mixed, and i definitely don't want it, so i'm trying to get him to do it again.

I am going to check out the options you listed just in case. Thanks for the help everyone.

[O.G. Killa]

Originally Posted by chagos

what would be the easiest way to go about replacing the kick with a triggered sample?

"Trigger" from Steven Slate.

http://www.slatedigital.com/trigger.php

[O.G. Killa]

Originally Posted by chagos

Thanks for the advice.

I'm trying to talk them into just re-recording the whole track, because the take is just not that good.
In the end, i think the drummer would be much happier just starting over. I doubt he wants his poor performance mixed, and i definitely don't want it, so i'm trying to get him to do it again.

I am going to check out the options you listed just in case. Thanks for the help everyone.

Getting it right from the get-go is the best way to do it. If the drummer's feet aren't good enough yet, have him practice to a metronome for a couple months before going back into the studio.

speaking of getting it right, I just had a session the other day with Mike Portnoy. WOW !!! He is freakin' amazing. His feet are so even, it sounded like I had triggered the kick even though I hadn't. And his time is incredible too, I don't have to do any beat detective or anything, he's like a machine. His time is as good as Vinnie Colaiuta's and Nate Morton's (both of which I referred to as atomic clocks when I've recorded them). I can see why he's in the Modern Drummer hall of fame. He was phenomenal and a lot of fun to work with.

[Raoul23]

Originally Posted by O.G. Killa

speaking of getting it right, I just had a session the other day with Mike Portnoy. WOW !!! .

You lucky GIT he's an awesome drummer