We just came back after a series of gigs, and there was this band, FJ, who had the greatest live sound I heard so far.
What got me thinking. Normally, we EQ, say, the kick drum quite a lot, ie boosting some low end, accentuating the click, etc. It sounds good, but nothing special. Now, FJ's drummer had this huge (24'?) Pearl kick drum, miked with a Beyer mic, and it sounded awesome. All the EQ on the board were at noon, xpt they cut 600 Hz a bit. Also, here on the forum was a debate on tom sizes.. This dude had two huge floor toms (like 18' or something) and two rack toms.. they also sounded way, way cool.. No probs in the mix, or so it seemed.

I never thought it was common to leave the drum / kick sound "as is" in a context of a metal band? Was it? Or is it the case of a great drum set?

Normally when you leave the EQ flat for a kick drum it will sound pretty much OK for metal, because you need to preserve a lot of the high-mids in order for the kick to be HEARD as well as felt. (Not that you can't hear the resonant frequency, but you know what I mean.)
So if you had a 24' kick drum it would probably be a little lower in frequnecy and require a more powerful drummer, thus no need for EQ to make is sound heavy.

Not knowing the band, I've got to speculate it was a tuning issue.

I'd have to say tuning is as big an issue, if not bigger, than anything in the recording/mic'ing realm.

-n

oh yeah, they had a very loud drummer. now, our bucket puncher is a hell of a noise machine too, really really loud (in a good way), but FJ was even louder. When he walloped his cymbals, of which he had lots and lots, I couldn't tell the difference which cymbal was hit. One giant homogeneous WAASSSHHHHHH.

Anybody got some tricks on tuning drums for heavier stuff, but not all "click"??

EDIT: There's quite a bit of advice on the web, but may be something less common??

This sounds like a great example of the most important thing in playing live or recording.....
A good musician playing good sounding equipment. That is the single most important aspect of getting good sounds.
Pearl's high end drums are some of the best sounding kicks I've heard. If this guy's a good drummer to boot, then you're nearly there. As mentioned earlier, you probably won't have to boost the bottom as the 24" kick and good drummer/tuning will take care of that for you. They were cutting a bit of low mids to mids I guess to cut some mudd out of the mix. This is going to depend on the room and what else is on the stage with him....gtrs, bass player's tone, etc....
I know that in my recording, I'll sometimes fight to get good sounds, eq here, there, add this effect and that effect.....its maddening. When I get a really good musician to work with that has great tase in tones and gear....it's just a matter of slapping a mic in front and it sounds great.
later,
m

maybe a bit offtopic, but this thread got me thinking...

i find that in metal (especially deathmetal) a typical drum mix has a very high close-mic-to-overhead ratio. what's nice about hearing mostly the close mics is that you get a lot of clarity--you hear every drum, especially when you compress and boost treble. the problem with this is that once you get that unrealistically ultra-precise and biting drum sound, the heaviness starts to lack. this is the conundrum that runs through all deathmetal production--are you going for extreme clarity or extreme heaviness? it's really hard to have it both ways.
i find that i like the overheads higher in the mix than is the case on most fast metal recordings. yes it's a "sloppier" sound, but having that distance between the drums and mics, i find, makes the recording sound heavier because you're getting more room sound (making the drummer sound like he's hitting harder). loud cymbals--the byproduct of louder overheads--i find add a bit more life to the drum sound, rather having cymbals be this curious swish somewhere in the background (listen to a scott burns recording).

if anyone wants to check out a recording i did where i wrestled with some of these issues, go here:
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cjm246/sensory_amusia.mp3