Bass Drum Production Help Sheet

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Recording a Bass Drum

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Recording & Mixing
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Recording Information
Recording Level: Control and monitor levels high but between -12db to -4db avoiding any clipping.
Mic Used: AKG D112
Mic Type: Large Dynamic Microphones
Polar Pattern: Cardioid
Mic Placement: Place mic on the outer skin about 5cm away. The closer to the centre of the drum the more bass frequencies are recorded.

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Mic Position and Capture:

[/one_half_last] [stylebox] Considerations: Tune the Drum. Dampen the sound using fabric sheets and put inside the drum to reduce ringing sounds
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Mixing a Bass Drum

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Insert Effects
compression recipes Bass Drum compression starting point – Subtle kick drum compression Threshold: adjust for about 3-6dB gain reduction Ratio: 3:1 or 4:1 Knee: Hard Attack: 4ms Release:200ms Make up gain:+5db to +10db

More “in your face” kick drum
Threshold: adjust for about 8-10dB gain reduction
Ratio: 6:1
Knee: Hard
Attack: 3ms
Release:200ms
Make up gain:+5db to +10db

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EQ

EQ recipes Bass Drum EQ Starting point: Start here to get a solid, full kick drum sound with plenty of click Band 1: +6dB at 55Hz Band 2: -9dB at 275Hz (narrow) Band 3: +7dB at 3.7kHz Band 4:+8dB at 6.2kHz shelfStart here to get a more traditional kick drum sound Band 1: +6dB at 100Hz Band 2: -10dB at 800Hz (narrow) Band 3: +6dB at 1.5kHz Band 4:+6dB at 7.0kHz shelfStart here to get a ringy bottom end with less attack Band 1: +6dB at 100Hz Band 2: 5dB at 250Hz (narrow) Band 3: +3dB at 4.0kHz Band 4: +3dB at 10.0kHz shelf

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Send FX
[alertbox bgcolor=”#4d8a83″ bordercolor=”#345c57″ textcolor=”#ffffff”] Reverb: -18db [/alertbox]

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Levels

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The Bass Drum is almost always panned dead centre and the level has to be relatively high inorder to be heard when the full mix starts pulling together.
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[alertbox color=”yellow”] More Resources:

• http://www.benvesco.com/blog/mixing/

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