Omar Hakim's bass drum from the Jennifer Lopez session

[brandy]

Hi Bruce,

Recently we were discussing about some kick-drum stuff - you know, tunnels etc...

I was courious for what the Kick Drum Cover was/is good for you used for Omar Hakims Kick drum (Jennifer Lopez session).

[That beautifull, handmade one which could be found in your book ("make mine music" - for those who don't know) ]

Angelo aka UltraMambo showed me that pic as well


How did that construction chanced/modified the sound? Was it made to dampen the kick on the room mics or was it made to reduce cymbal spill on the kick mic etc? Or is it more like a damping "pad" for the kick...



Thanks a lot for beeing here and answering our questions!

brandy

[brandy]

I hope it's ok to give this a small *bump*.
I was not here for a few weeks, my post was not showing up after i submitted it - so i forgot. Just found it here - and i am still curious about that thing :-)

[Pr.tiouz]

Hi,

As you can see i'm not bruce, but the way this cover is made make me think it could act on the resonant skin of the bass drum like the damper inside an EMT 140...
Maybe the mid and hights of the bass drum just becomes clearer when it's on, and reducing spill is just a side effect.

Matthieu Le Roux

[Bruce Swedien]

Originally Posted by brandy

I hope it's ok to give this a small *bump*.
I was not here for a few weeks, my post was not showing up after i submitted it - so i forgot. Just found it here - and i am still curious about that thing :-)

Christoph....

Here are two photo's of my technique involving Kick Drums with Omar Hakim...

[nosebleedaudio]

Bruce,
Is the cover over the head or is it headless, how far in is the mic.
Thanks,
MK

[brandy]

Bruce,

thanks for the pics! I am interested in that stuff cause i love to record drums and i try to create unique sounding drums for every session i do.

So: What was the benefit of using that cover? I guess you wouldn't have used it if there wasn't a benefit... Maybe it was to cold in the room? Or you did not want the studio-cat to walk into the kick for a sleep? ;-)))

When i look at it - i can imagine that it could dampen the moving air a little without muffling the drumheads too much or changing the tone of the kickdrum/inner-mic.
Additional to that the kick will sound softer on the room mics as well as Cymbal-bleed will stay out. But i am just guessing.

[I have to say that i never heard the record where that technique was used. Btw: I even don't know wich record it was.... ]

Thanks a lot!

Christoph

[Shelton]

Bruce,

Would you mind going into detail on why you use the cover? To echo Brandy's questions: does it help keep the kick out of the room mic's or keep other signals out of the kick mic?

Thanks,

Mike Shelton

[Bruce Swedien]

Originally Posted by Shelton

Bruce,

Would you mind going into detail on why you use the cover? To echo Brandy's questions: does it help keep the kick out of the room mic's or keep other signals out of the kick mic?

Thanks,

Mike Shelton

Mike....

And Brandy too....

Listen to "Billie Jean". That's why I made that cover, and the Drum Platform, too...

Bruce Swedien

[chrisj]

It's extreme isolation. If there's a front head it will damp it so totally there will be nothing left (unless the head is tuned real high) but more than anything, this move will totally reduce bleed coming into the kick drum, and bleed from the kick getting into the room. It is indeed well shown on 'Billie Jean'- hasn't anyone noticed how eerily clear and separated that kick sound is? It's like it's a separate overdub, or a drum machine. Well, now we know

If there's a front head, highs will bounce around in the kick a bit, with a basketball-like . If no front head, the highs will be totally killed and the attack will be only the batter head's contribution.

Also, you're using the weight of the packing blanket to sort of seal up the kick into a little round box with a mic inside. Particularly if it was an omni (which I doubt, though) this causes the lows to be part of the pressure zone of that little box. Result- lows more compressed inside the drum rather than getting right out, and more low frequency extension.

This has inspired me to return to a trick I tried long ago. I glued fake-fur to a kick batter head for muffling. It was awful unless you didn't want to hear the kick in anything but subwoofers, then it was great :D However, I have a spare head lying around (I think...) and why not do the same thing on both sides of an actual drumhead, then cut a hole? That would bring enough weight and damping that it could work, and it would look interesting plus you could see the rim.

The operating principles here are damping and MASS. Just damping a head isn't going to work. The material's gotta be heavy enough to bottle the bass up in there, without forcing it to totally bounce back as if you had a brick wall across the front.

-Chris Johnson