I've decided that the kick drum sound on Misery Signals' "Controller" is my new favorite sound - have you any kick sounds that could accomplish such awesomeness? And to anyone else, any other suggestions?
ATTN MR STEVEN SLATE (or any other sample gurus)
- Thread starter Metaltastic
- Start date
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Hey Marcus,
Can't you just mix and match the kick samples in the Slate pack until you find what you're after? I've found some amazing variety of unique sounds you can get by blending up to 2 or 3 sounds with the original kick.
Can't you just mix and match the kick samples in the Slate pack until you find what you're after? I've found some amazing variety of unique sounds you can get by blending up to 2 or 3 sounds with the original kick.
Oh, well I actually don't have any of the Slate stuff (yet) Ermin, I was more asking from an "interested potential customer" perspective 
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
oooic. I would be pretty optimistic that the Slate pack would have what you're after. There's such a stupid number of quality kicks, that a blend of 2 or more is bound to get you way beyond the ballpark.
abyssofdreams
knows what you think.
Or post it on the Slate boards, they have a subforum for tone recreation with some pretty good members.
agreed with above.. post it on my "how do I get this sound" forum.. there are a few guys in there who take on the challenge pretty quick.. it would help if you had a link to the song so it can be easily heard.
Cool, I'll check it out Steve, thanks! In the meantime, here's an example:
Even with the crappy youtube quality, I still think it comes through, but trust me, the punch when it's not all in mono is unbelievable
Even with the crappy youtube quality, I still think it comes through, but trust me, the punch when it's not all in mono is unbelievable
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too hard to tell through youtube but if I had to guess... my blackkick/pantera/and kick1a all mixed together.. who mixed it? maybe it is some of my kicks...
Aaron Smith
Envisage Audio
That kick sound has that Sneap-esque "soggy" attack that I love so much and have finally figured out how to achieve:
1) Andy's tips: wood or plastic beater; batter head tuned as loose as possible without wrinkles. I bought a used 22" birch Pearl Master's Studio for $300 earlier this year, for the sole purpose of learning to capture the metal kick sounds I most enjoy
2) In my case, I used an Audix D6 for the low end; Shure SM91 inside to pick up the attack
3) Low-pass the D6 quite low, until all the woofiness is gone- I think I seriously was down in like the 150Hz range or so (side note- I've noticed that hi-passing and low-passing with any of my Waves EQ plug-ins actually doesn't remove everything beyond your specified frequency, it turns it down more like a very extreme shelf. Not sure if all plug-ins are like this...)
4) Hi-pass the SM91 quite high as well, I believe I was in the 2k-ish range.
At this stage, my immediate reaction upon hearing the two tracks together was "WOW, I'm definitely on the right path"...
5) Find a good level blend of the two tracks, and then bus or print them together.
From here, really sculpt out the low end; it is MANY times easier (although still annoyingly difficult) within in the context of a mix. Low pass the kick as well to remove some of the extreme high end.
6) Next, I was really just playing around with no real course of action in mind, but I smashed the kick with the RComp with a fast attack (as hard as possible before the low end begins to get farty and destroyed, like 15dB of reduction). Now it sounded nice and punchy and the low end was even more controlled, but needed to be tweaked some more
7) On a whim, after realizing that the sound of the compressor was definitely helping the "soggy" attack sound even better, I threw a C4 on there and bypassed all but the highest band, so I could hit the high end harder without making the low end get farty. With a fast attack, I ended up expanding everything above 2k-ish another +8dB or so, and then turned that band's gain down to match the input level, and... FANTASTIC!
8) More fiddling with EQ to adjust the hi-pass and other weird little tones and frequencies present in the kick sound, and...my kick is sounding frighteningly close to a soggy Andy Sneap kick and I actually like it just as much... (Mind you, the EQ plug-ins are all before the RComp and C4)
Don't get me wrong here- this was not a fast process, and I've spent hours and hours on and off over many months fiddling with the processing on my stupid kick drum, and the info I've just posted here is just kind of the quick run down of the things I've discovered that have definitely sounded good in my case. I'll post something soon here that has the kick in it, or maybe I'll just be super cool and give out the processed (or unprocessed) sample... I think you would all love it.
Just wait, Andy is going to come on here and say "you're really overthinking it, there's just a touch of eq and compression on my kick"
Well guess what, imaginary Andy answer- I don't believe you (yet)
1) Andy's tips: wood or plastic beater; batter head tuned as loose as possible without wrinkles. I bought a used 22" birch Pearl Master's Studio for $300 earlier this year, for the sole purpose of learning to capture the metal kick sounds I most enjoy
2) In my case, I used an Audix D6 for the low end; Shure SM91 inside to pick up the attack
3) Low-pass the D6 quite low, until all the woofiness is gone- I think I seriously was down in like the 150Hz range or so (side note- I've noticed that hi-passing and low-passing with any of my Waves EQ plug-ins actually doesn't remove everything beyond your specified frequency, it turns it down more like a very extreme shelf. Not sure if all plug-ins are like this...)
4) Hi-pass the SM91 quite high as well, I believe I was in the 2k-ish range.
At this stage, my immediate reaction upon hearing the two tracks together was "WOW, I'm definitely on the right path"...
5) Find a good level blend of the two tracks, and then bus or print them together.
From here, really sculpt out the low end; it is MANY times easier (although still annoyingly difficult) within in the context of a mix. Low pass the kick as well to remove some of the extreme high end.
6) Next, I was really just playing around with no real course of action in mind, but I smashed the kick with the RComp with a fast attack (as hard as possible before the low end begins to get farty and destroyed, like 15dB of reduction). Now it sounded nice and punchy and the low end was even more controlled, but needed to be tweaked some more
7) On a whim, after realizing that the sound of the compressor was definitely helping the "soggy" attack sound even better, I threw a C4 on there and bypassed all but the highest band, so I could hit the high end harder without making the low end get farty. With a fast attack, I ended up expanding everything above 2k-ish another +8dB or so, and then turned that band's gain down to match the input level, and... FANTASTIC!
8) More fiddling with EQ to adjust the hi-pass and other weird little tones and frequencies present in the kick sound, and...my kick is sounding frighteningly close to a soggy Andy Sneap kick and I actually like it just as much... (Mind you, the EQ plug-ins are all before the RComp and C4)
Don't get me wrong here- this was not a fast process, and I've spent hours and hours on and off over many months fiddling with the processing on my stupid kick drum, and the info I've just posted here is just kind of the quick run down of the things I've discovered that have definitely sounded good in my case. I'll post something soon here that has the kick in it, or maybe I'll just be super cool and give out the processed (or unprocessed) sample... I think you would all love it.
Just wait, Andy is going to come on here and say "you're really overthinking it, there's just a touch of eq and compression on my kick"
Well guess what, imaginary Andy answer- I don't believe you (yet)
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
It sounds like a not-so-bright kick with a slappy attack, with a compressor used to really bring out the slap and an EQ cranking up the higher mids. Lots of bass in there pumping the master comp, as seems to be the fashion these days. It sounds to me like the comp and EQ are bringing out a lot of that attack.
Seizure.
Member
whats a fast attack in your book Aaron? and thanks for the advice, i'll try it in my next recording
Aaron, great tips dude, though I hope to never mic a kick in the forseeable future, so I'll leave it to the pros! 
Ermin, yeah, I definitely hear the kick's effect on the master comp, that's why I like the mix so much I think, it's so punchy without being too fatiguingly pumpy IMO
Steven, to answer your question, Dean Maher recorded the drums for the album, though Devin Townsend mixed it.
Ermin, yeah, I definitely hear the kick's effect on the master comp, that's why I like the mix so much I think, it's so punchy without being too fatiguingly pumpy IMO
Steven, to answer your question, Dean Maher recorded the drums for the album, though Devin Townsend mixed it.
Aaron, i didn't listen, but if Ermin is right about the sound then too fast of an attack would not be what you'd want. the way you'd use a compressor to emphasize the attack on a given sound source is to set the attack parameter slow enough to allow the full attack portion of the envelope to pass before compression kicks in, preserving the attack. a too fast attack time will actually kill or blunt the kick drum's attack.
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
I'm fairly certain slow attack compression (and fairly moderate release somewhere along the way, hence the pumping) is a factor in this kick sound.
dan weapon
Planet Smasher
Agree about the kick on controller!
So much punch and weight behind it. Definitely one of the best kicks I've heard.
So much punch and weight behind it. Definitely one of the best kicks I've heard.
kaomao
Member
Yes andy uses emperor heads on the batter, he actually told me to go as low as possible with tuning on a 22", not so much stuff with eq anyway, the magic tip was of course going low, and of course using a dampener inside the kick.
You know maybe he's not revealing all the secrets lol
You know maybe he's not revealing all the secrets lol
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