tight and punchy kick drum

[usinare]

my kicks sound muddy and too bassy. any ideas to correct this. eq , compressor settings etc.
i am using waves plugs. thanks.

[Joz]

Start by cutting alot around 250hz, this will make your kick less muddy, and also less loud, so you'll have to turn it up.
Use a compressor, but have a slow attack and fast release so it still kicks.

[Alécio Costa]

try the thump kick with TDM digirack plugin. a good start...maybe bring up 5.6K . slap is at 2.5k...bottom: 60/80hz.

which drum kit did you use? DW, odery, Master custom Pearl?

[earshatter]

if you have the plug pwr, create 2 aux. trks, send out all low end (kik, toms) to aux 1 (post), the same with the med/highs (cymbals, snr). Put a compressor on each aux trk., and then you can control with eq, and compression seperatly instead of as one. You will be able to notch out a good kik punch regardless of the kik you've used.

[tom_mac]

And of course....

make sure you aren't bleeding the BD into the verbs..

[tom_mac]

Originally posted by Joz:
Start by cutting alot around 250hz, this will make your kick less muddy, and also less loud, so you'll have to turn it up.
Use a compressor, but have a slow attack and fast release so it still kicks.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Yes, that 150-450 range can get muddy.
( but be subtle, don't butcher the tone )

and if you want to tighten it up FURTHER,
try a gate with a quick release.

I like gates on a Bass Drum (especially in hiphop) you can clamp it down TIGHT
[img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[Jeff Hodges]

Producher had a gate trick you should try that has been working great for me:

duplicate your kick drum track and shift up the dup. track about 2000 samples. Mute the track; do a pre-send to a buss. On your regular kick drum track put a gate on it and then set it to trigger from external key (the same buss channel)

Your gate will open up just before the kick and then close nice and tight. Play with it, this trick works great.

[6X 2]

Jeff, I've actually tried the same -but with a compressor- on an annoyingly snappy acoustic guitar. Works great, but you waste a voice (yes, bounce to disk... takes time...).

when you use a gate on the kick, make sure to give it some attack, otherwise it cuts off the LF waveform too abruptly and creates a nasty snap sound.

6X 2

[Vini]

and from a totally different angle (and forgive me if i'm suggesting how to suck eggs)-

take more time to pay attention to the sound at the recording stage. mic choice and placement makes all the difference.... and then do all those other things suggested 'cause it'll sound even better.

[davemc]

Yep a different drummer, beater and kick tuning can work wonders. if it is real bad. The muting to diff channels with diff EQ/Comp is cool. Just double check with time adjuster. Sound Replace a sample with it that has what is missing I find I do that with drummers who just do not kick the kick drum right. Same kick drum diffrent drummers equals really different sound a lot of the times.

Hope this helps