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didgitaldu · 18th December 2003

Brandon,

This reply may be a little late but here goes:

Try a steep and narrow cut somewhere in the 300-500hz area. Sweep until you find the right frequency. Cut as much as your gain knob will allow. If you have overlapping bands try cutting twice at the same frequency. Use a very narrow "Q". It'll start to sound less boxy. Boost somewhere in the presence range, maybe 1-5khz. Not too steep but a moderately gentle bell. You're looking for "click" or "snap", maybe "crack". If there's still too much bottom roll it off. Sometimes a high pass filter on the very bottom (40hz) does it. Other times you may need a shelf gently cutting from a little higher (maybe 100 hz). Alternate listening to the kick soloed and in the mix. Roll off the low end on the guitars. You'll have to judge how much and at what frequency. A good high pass filter in the 100-200hz area should work. You'll start to hear the kick becoming more distinct and the bottom end clearing up. Soloed the guitars will sound thinner but in the mix they should be fine. Do the same to the bass but at a lower frequency. Lastly, you can try compression on the kick post EQ but it will depend on how much leakage there is; if there is a lot it will affect the rest of the drum sound. You could try gating the kick either by setting the threshhold carefully or by keying a ducking mode from the snare track. Of course, given enough time and patience you could edit every drum hit to get rid of snare leakage... If the compressor works, set the attack very slow and the attack fast. Try different ratios but start in the 3x1 range. Now speed up the attack and adjust the threshhold until you get the punch you need.

All the other suggestions in this thread are good. I used to trigger replacement drums from my Alesis D4 before I got Sound Replacer. That works well if the drum is played consistently. Another trick, if you don't have a wooden beater when recording, is to press a thumbtack into the felt beater right where it makes contact with the head.

Hope this helps...

18th December 2003	#11
didgitaldu Gear interested Joined: Aug 2003 Location: Emeryville	Brandon, This reply may be a little late but here goes: Try a steep and narrow cut somewhere in the 300-500hz area. Sweep until you find the right frequency. Cut as much as your gain knob will allow. If you have overlapping bands try cutting twice at the same frequency. Use a very narrow "Q". It'll start to sound less boxy. Boost somewhere in the presence range, maybe 1-5khz. Not too steep but a moderately gentle bell. You're looking for "click" or "snap", maybe "crack". If there's still too much bottom roll it off. Sometimes a high pass filter on the very bottom (40hz) does it. Other times you may need a shelf gently cutting from a little higher (maybe 100 hz). Alternate listening to the kick soloed and in the mix. Roll off the low end on the guitars. You'll have to judge how much and at what frequency. A good high pass filter in the 100-200hz area should work. You'll start to hear the kick becoming more distinct and the bottom end clearing up. Soloed the guitars will sound thinner but in the mix they should be fine. Do the same to the bass but at a lower frequency. Lastly, you can try compression on the kick post EQ but it will depend on how much leakage there is; if there is a lot it will affect the rest of the drum sound. You could try gating the kick either by setting the threshhold carefully or by keying a ducking mode from the snare track. Of course, given enough time and patience you could edit every drum hit to get rid of snare leakage... If the compressor works, set the attack very slow and the attack fast. Try different ratios but start in the 3x1 range. Now speed up the attack and adjust the threshhold until you get the punch you need. All the other suggestions in this thread are good. I used to trigger replacement drums from my Alesis D4 before I got Sound Replacer. That works well if the drum is played consistently. Another trick, if you don't have a wooden beater when recording, is to press a thumbtack into the felt beater right where it makes contact with the head. Hope this helps...