Hi Steve/Everyone,

I was listening to Excellent Italian Greyhound the other day, which sparked an interest in the kick drum sound captured on the song "Paco". While I have heard other songs/albums recorded at Electrical that also have this type of kick drum sound, "Paco" is the most recent example I can think of.

Does anyone know how this sound is achieved? It has a nice resonance to it, the room can be heard, and it is nicely "separated" from the rest of the kit. In other words, the crashing of cymbals, etc. do not seem to interfere with the capturing of the room sound of the kick.

Most kick drums I record seem to result in a "thump", rather than a nice "whoomp". Any suggestions?

Thanks!

The "whoompiest" kick drum I ever recorded was a friend's Pork Pie, which was I believe 20x24. It was completely empty, and mic'd with a Green Bullet he brought with him, I think. I didn't have a working kick mic, and the harmonica mic worked surprisingly well...gave a more focused, refined kick sound than I usually get when I use my crap kick mics.

Big, empty kick drum = big whoomp.
Big, loaded kick drum = tight thump.

I don't think Mr. Trainer puts anything in his kick drum, and if I remember correctly it's a big fucking drum. But I don't know for sure.

I'm interested in a definite answer to this if someone could provide one.

Steve V. wrote: if I remember correctly it's a big fucking drum. But I don't know for sure.

every time I have seen him play his set is relatively small- 20" bass drum tops! of course, the recording could be different.

I think it's all about the right underwear:

I don't know how they recorded Paco, but for whoomp, a pretty much completely empty kick drum is needed.
I hate it when people insist on stuffing the kick full of blankets, quilts and whatever. I understand if you put like a small towel at the bottom to get rid of a troublesome resonance, but to stuff it full and kill the tone sounds poo to these ears.
A lot of people (drummers as well as engineers) just do this by default cause they've seen people do it and assume that's just the way it's supposed to be. I hate that type of kick sound. It's a drum for fucks sake, it's supposed to have tone.

I have two Ludwig kits, one w/ 26" kick and one with 22" kick and I've found that when recording, the 22" kick can actually sometimes sound bigger than the 26". It cuts through better, resonates better in the room and just has more BOOM!! The 26" can get a bit "lost" as it doesn't have the same punch as a smaller drum + the tone is lower.
I never damp the kick with towels/blankets and 90% of the time I use coated Ambassador heads (single ply = lots of tone). Sometimes I use a coated Emperor to get more focus and a darker tone, but for that POW BOOM BOOM it's Ambassador.
I've had great results with Fiberskyn's also, but they're so fucking expensive, especially the 26" ones.

And as far as mics go, I've never been happy with how a D112 makes a kick drum sound. U47 FET on the other hand.. mmm..

bassdriver wrote:I think it's all about the right underwear:

and the dollar bill.

vaka wrote:I hate it when people insist on stuffing the kick full of blankets, quilts and whatever. I understand if you put like a small towel at the bottom to get rid of a troublesome resonance

I never knew why people put stuff in the kick drums! I always thought it was there because they didn't want to lose their wallets and such.

burun wrote:

vaka wrote:I hate it when people insist on stuffing the kick full of blankets, quilts and whatever. I understand if you put like a small towel at the bottom to get rid of a troublesome resonance

I never knew why people put stuff in the kick drums! I always thought it was there because they didn't want to lose their wallets and such.

That would actually be a valid reason for putting stuff in the kick drum.

you deaden the bass drum if thats the sound the drummer is going for what other explanation would there be?

you are right it is a drum, and drums are suppose to have a tone or pitch. its going to continue to have this no matter how dead you make it. some people prefer not to hear as much of it. some guitar players cant stand the sound of their guitars with new strings. same concept to me.

by the way im not a lobbyist for either sound.

congleton wrote:you deaden the bass drum if thats the sound the drummer is going for what other explanation would there be?

you are right it is a drum, and drums are suppose to have a tone or pitch. its going to continue to have this no matter how dead you make it. some people prefer not to hear as much of it. some guitar players cant stand the sound of their guitars with new strings. same concept to me.

by the way im not a lobbyist for either sound.

I am fully aware of this. I am just saying a lot of people stuff the kick drum by default. I've met tons of drummers who do this "just because" and when I remove all the shit from inside, like 9/10 think it sounds better.