Metal Kick drum sound

[BigJunk]

I just got a Pearl Masters kit and man its way easier to make a great sounding kick when you start with one! I've never had an easier time getting a non sampled great kick sound. I use a D-6 pointed almost at the beater, added some eq, and its done! Got the kit for 600 bucks! I love broke LA musicians!
Junk

[Jake 2.0]

+20 db at 10 k, mic both sides of kick drum batter and resonant head, mix and blend with samples, compress to taste. cook for 20 minutes, stir and kick till dinner. Modern metal is all about the samples on the kicks, dont be fooled by peoples long explanations with how they track thier kicks for metal , most commerical stuff is all triggered and is prefectly suitable for the genre and for beefing up the drum sounds

[Plec]

Why re-invent the wheel? Samples on drums are almost mandatory. If you want to make your own samples, that's fine... but getting a take out of a metal drummer using only the acoustic sounds will in 95% of cases not work very well considering the much less dynamical content of everything else in the mix.

[up and at them]

has anyone ever tried the MD421 along with something else? i am doing a metal project starting this weeknd and was thinking of using this along with either the D6 or the D112.

[Todd24]

How about using some transient designer plug to sharpen the click part.

[-silent-sam-]

Originally Posted by Jake 2.0

+20 db at 10 k, mic both sides of kick drum batter and resonant head, mix and blend with samples, compress to taste. cook for 20 minutes, stir and kick till dinner. Modern metal is all about the samples on the kicks, dont be fooled by peoples long explanations with how they track thier kicks for metal , most commerical stuff is all triggered and is prefectly suitable for the genre and for beefing up the drum sounds

Originally Posted by Plec

Why re-invent the wheel? Samples on drums are almost mandatory. If you want to make your own samples, that's fine... but getting a take out of a metal drummer using only the acoustic sounds will in 95% of cases not work very well considering the much less dynamical content of everything else in the mix.

Exactly

Again

basicly you need to mic the kick drum like you always do so you get a good overall kick drum sound. then you add a sample.

the thing is when you add your sample...remember what your adding it for...tick...dont go and get a big phat bass sample and try sticking it over top of your already good recorded kick drum....

get a sample
compress the hell out of it
and roll alot of the low end off

then you will have a nice ticky kick drum

Dude try this.....even try layering 2 samples...one for low end and one for tick.

[fooman]

Anyone have any idea what the engineer for the Deftones' self titled (Skull album) used on kick? Songs like Battleaxe have a fairly dense guitar mix, but the kick is just pumping your head out the wazoo!

When I record heavy stuff I usually use my Audix D6 plus a sample with a lot of hi-end. Actually, when using parallel compression with the D6 I can get a ton of snap with a lot of low-end as well. The D6 is generally, IMO, more thump than click. But compression is your pal with that.

[Dougie Murray]

The previously mentioned coin on the skin mic'd with a d112 half way in is the Pantera kick. Near impossible to get a bad sound out of

[greyskull]

i actually find having the front skin ON, and i mean just clinging on for dear life helps get a lot of click, oh and a coin on the beater side, or kick pad and maybe wood beater helps. destroys the skin though.

im undedcide on kick mics really, depends on the kick.
d6 and senn 901 or what ever it is, has all the click added you need, although when the kick is REALLY REALLY clicky to begin with, i often feel the need to tone it down a touch by maybe using a beta 52 or a D12 or something wioth some low end.

the last kick i recorded was so clicky the mic was pointing at the bottom of the drum shell. only way to get any low out of it!

[-silent-sam-]

Originally Posted by fooman

Anyone have any idea what the engineer for the Deftones' self titled (Skull album) used on kick? Songs like Battleaxe have a fairly dense guitar mix, but the kick is just pumping your head out the wazoo!

When I record heavy stuff I usually use my Audix D6 plus a sample with a lot of hi-end. Actually, when using parallel compression with the D6 I can get a ton of snap with a lot of low-end as well. The D6 is generally, IMO, more thump than click. But compression is your pal with that.

Maybe an NS-10 speaker was used with something else....... or one of those Yamaha Kick Mics that are pretty much an NS-10 speaker (the snare drum looking ones)
I actually like the NS-10 speaker on a kick drum....im curious to try one of those Yamaha kick mics....has anyone tryed one? I always see them being used for live concerts.

[Psychoguitarz]

Originally Posted by Janesaid2me

Here it is guys...an initial mix of my first death metal song... go to here:
www.myspace.com/circleoffear
and listen to "burn the saint"...let me know how it sounds
sorry for the poor myspace quality....hook me up with some feedback!

It sounds a bit plain. Not bad, just plain. If the cymbals are on seperate overhead tracks I would bring down the Ride a bit, compress those vocals as well. The verb on the voice sounds like he's in a basement.

I think some of the power and energy is not coming across in the mix because of the kick sound. Get some snap on that baby! add some highs and compress that puppy. I don't mind dry raw mixes but I still like em to POUND with metal.

Most importantly, The playing is good!

[Janesaid2me]

In a remix i actually brought the L overhead down a bit to lessen the ride...although I think part of the problem was he just played his ride way to loud...he blamed it on the plastic tips of his drum sticks...probably something I should have noticed in tracking. He actually liked the kick how it was...i added a bit more high end to get more click, but he didnt want me to sample overtop it...so i mostly left it?! I honestly think it could have sounded better but it was my first try at getting a metal sound...Ive never played, listened to, or done anything along the lines of metal so i was a total newbie...The vocals actually have a ton of compression...compressed coming in on the meek vc1q, then a sonitus compressor and another waves compressor. I wasnt cerazy about the voice reverb we used, but again they were like ohh that one sounds cool...so we kept it...i would opted for something else most likely. But im here to please my customer...in the end all turned out well...they liked their final product and they are coming back in the fall to do alot more songs...