What frequencies should I cut to avoid kick drum clipping?

[itesbrent]

Everytime I run sound for my band, I have a problem with the kick drum clipping and distorting.... Seems as if there is a fine line between getting a full sound and clipping..... I use the proper gain level on the kick drum channel as wel as my whole mixing board, but when I slide the volume level up on the fader, I get clipping before I reach the desired volume .... I've tried placing the microphone in different spot and even set it on a pillow and still, the same problem... We use the best of the best microphones. What low end frequencies could I could that would not effect the fullness of the rest of the band.... 80 and 100 are for the booming sounds, so I know the problem is lower than that..... HELP!!!

[stevep]

Whats clipping the amps, speakers or the console ?

And is the peak light on the kick channel lighting ?

[Wayne]

You could definitely start by tossing everything below the low freq cut off point of the speakers. Beyond that, trim back on the low end, high pass and/or shelves and on anything in the mix, to find your best compromises on tone and headroom.
That frees things up but doesn't guaranty it won't still come up short.

[Blit67]

If you're just lighting up the overload light on the channel with no audible problem, I'd let it go.. I use to light a lot of stuff up with trans signals. But, if it's a problem beyond that, roll off everything below what the subs can take..filter. Or, stick a limiter on it and hit it easy just until you get control of it without losing the punch. Hope that helps..

[poncival]

What kind of music is it? What kind of mixer are you using?

[Jonkan]

Try this:

Put the fader at 0, the gain knob at minimum, (maybe with pad engaged) ...Then slowly increase gain until you get the desired volume of the kickdrum. Eq and compress/gate to taste. Dont forget to set the master at roughly 0 also before you do this.

Repeat for all the other channels to get a mix up and running fast.

/J

[poncival]

Also don't forget to tell the guitarist and bassist to turn their amps down if that's what it takes to make the mix come together. Or turn the guitar and/or bass down in the main mix if there is enough volume coming off the stage for that instrument

[Bassace]

yes and if you eq then dont forget to trim the gain accordingly

I normally take something out at around 300 Hz or so ,there is usually something ugly around that region

[joeq]

Originally Posted by itesbrent

... I use the proper gain level on the kick drum channel as wel as my whole mixing board, but when I slide the volume level up on the fader, I get clipping before I reach the desired volume ....

I hate to be overly obvious, but you did not mention setting the trim control. If your pre-gain is up too high, nothing that you cut afterwards is going to stop it from clipping. If you don't have a trim pot on your mixer, maybe you could get an inline pad and plug the mic into that before plugging into the board.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by joeq

I hate to be overly obvious, but you did not mention setting the trim control. If your pre-gain is up too high, nothing that you cut afterwards is going to stop it from clipping. If you don't have a trim pot on your mixer, maybe you could get an inline pad and plug the mic into that before plugging into the board.

Right... this is a gainstaging issue more than an EQ issue. Sure, you can reduce the overall level at a given stage by reducing any given frequency range -- but the right way to do it is set up your gain properly at each stage of your rig.