bassdrum eq feedback

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Hi I've seen videos showing Steve treating Bassdrum using an Eq on a parallel track. I could hear the result of that treatment (more sustain), but I could not see exactly the band used on the Eq. I mix "in the box" and i'd like to do it with a plug. Do you completely isolate a narrow band of frequences and send it on a parallel track or do you just push up a band of frequences (plus feedback by bus) ?ThanksPS: sorry for my terrible english

bassdrum eq feedback

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The only way I could see doing it with a computer would be to send the signal from the kick track out to your board, then do all of the aforementioned signal flow trickery(which I'll have to review because that is a fascinating technique) listed.... THEN record the two parallel kick tracks back into your software.From there you'll have to eyeball the waveforms to see that you haven't caused phase havoc (re:latency), slide tracks to correct any problems you caused. It might be counterintuitive to someone who loves the in-the-box quick results, but I send stuff out as analog to hardware all the time to do different things that aren't possible, or as cool in the box (reamping drums, sending digital reverb into real spaces, side-chaining compressors, putting things through dirt boxes or other guitar effects). If commitment to 'the sound' is valuable, waiting for it to print in real time (3-5 minutes with most material) is worth it. If the sound isn't cool enough to wait that long then it's probably not worth doing.
Colonel Panic wrote:Anybody who gazes directly into a laser is an idiot.

bassdrum eq feedback

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Hello,I don't think it is possible to do this (resonant equalization) without using a hardware equalizer and console, or if it is I have no idea how. The return from the equalizer is on a separate channel and fader from the original signal.I'll explain the analog method and maybe somebody else will pop in with a way to do it in the box. I don't think it's possible (for reasons I'll explain in a minute) but maybe, who knows.Send the bass drum signal to an output bus, and patch that bus into an equalizer. You should use a tune-able single-band EQ, or neutralize the other bands in a multiband EQ. Bring the return from the equalizer into another channel on the mixer, and sweep the band until you find a bass frequency you want to boost, then assign the Equalizer channel to the same output bus, creating a feedback loop. Be careful, this can easily cause oscillation, so you want to start with that channel quite low in level. Increase the gain on the channel until you get the resonant effect you want. If the send to the bus is pre-fader, you can set the amount of feedback and the return level separately, but if they're one-and-the-same, you will need to play with the initial send from the bass drum channel, the return level and the feedback as an interactive system.I don't believe this is possible inside-the-box because the eq will have some latency, and the feedback through the equalizer will then be delayed. It's possible someone makes a circuit model of an analog equalizer with resonance (like a Moog filter) that may work, but I don't think you can use just any old equalizer plug-in.In the analog domain you can use any old equalizer.
steve albini
Electrical Audio
sa at electrical dot com
Quicumque quattuor feles possidet insanus est.

bassdrum eq feedback

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I think i got it. A single band eq on logic apparently made it. I used a short size of buffers (128) and I could tune the bassdrum on a separate track. Sending a bus in the eq from this track has made a feedback loop and I finally got the sustain I desired for the bassdrum. I don't know if it sounds as good as doing it with hardware but the drummer loved it.

bassdrum eq feedback

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steve wrote:losthighway wrote:Steve, would you mind sharing a scenario where you might want to do this? Would it be for a kick sound that had attack, but not enough sustain?Yes, precisely. The low-frequency component of the bass drum isn't boomy enough. You sweep the eq to find a flattering frequency within the bass drum sound, then use the resonance to exaggerate its sustain. It isn't magic but the effect is useful often.Thanks. This might save my occasional problem of a kick that's all click, not enough boom. I can't wait to try it.
Colonel Panic wrote:Anybody who gazes directly into a laser is an idiot.

bassdrum eq feedback

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tmoneygetpaid wrote:Someone A/B resonant vs. boosting more and report back, I'm curious.Just did a quick A/B in the box, using Ableton's native EQ (worked better than any external plug-in EQs I tried). Maybe the results I got aren't quite proper due to the latency fuckery Steve was talking about, but I'm hearing a difference between the digitally-simulated "resonant" method vs. EQ dropped straight on the track. The boosted frequency definitely sustains a bit longer using the resonant method. Sounds a little bit like an 808 kick layered underneath or something. It seems more or less like the desired effect, but I don't have any outboard analog stuff with which to verify that claim. Straight up EQ sounds exactly as you might expect. Happy to send the audio files I got if anyone wants to hear.

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