Kick Drum tonal changes between sections

[drew_drummer]

Thought we could get a compendium of kick related tips.

One thing I like to do is have a different tone to the kick drum during really saturated sections than the tone used during quite or calm sections.

If you're finding your low-end gets muddied up during quicker parts... try killing some of the sustain to the kick drum - transient monster by Stillwell Audio is pretty good for that.

Also during sections of distorted guitar, sidechain the kick drum to the overheads and room - so that on kick hits, you get as dry a kick sound as possible. This will poke out through the walls of guitar, and will sound more plosivey than usual.

In cleaner passages, I like to have as much room sound for the kick as I can without it overpowering the main kick signal.

I've noticed in some mixes that people don't really change the dynamics of their kick drum for different sections - leading to a very undynamic mix. If you automate your compressor so your kick isn't as clicky during the clean parts of your song, the heavy sections will seem much more heavier in comparison, and the whole mix will have more dynamical edge.

ime.

 

[espartaco]

really useful tips ! thanks for sharing . and i agree that there are a lot o mixes that have the same exact dynamic during the whole song , just sounds wear when you hear the click of the kick so pronounced in slower parts.

and to add something :

depending of the style it really helps send more kick to the drum verb in really slow sections ,this way the kick sit better in the mix and does not sound so unnaturally dry.

 

[Morgan C]

For a rock mix I had a normal kick with not much lowend in the verses, then in the chorus and on certain impact points I had a lowpassed trance kick triggering also. I don't usually mess with the kick though, maybe volume automation in cleaner or quieter parts, but rarely tonal changes.. I really should experiment with automating the lowend

 

[Ermz]

I used to get lazy in my prior work and not do much automation, but automating drums is an absolute must for certain modern genres where the dynamics are totally in control of the mix engineer.

In metal you can be hard pressed to find places to really ride levels, because by its virtue it tends to be fairly constant and hard-hitting stuff. In rock, or more prog-oriented areas of metal you do find areas where you need to really move stuff around for it to sound right.

I don't yet change drum sounds as much as I'd like to, but I do usually have multiple snare samples set up, with some dedicated for lighter, or faster playing (blasts, rolls etc.). With the kick I normally just automate its level. Agreed that riding compression intensity is a great way to create dynamic feel.

 

[colonel kurtz]

funny, the last project i worked on was some metalcore-ish stuff where one of the songs had a slow break with clean guitars in the middle...for that part i just automated the kick to have more low end and less attack than during the faster passages - didn't seem necessary to automate any compression parameters tho

 

[Melodeath]

funny, the last project i worked on was some metalcore-ish stuff where one of the songs had a slow break with clean guitars in the middle...for that part i just automated the kick to have more low end and less attack than during the faster passages - didn't seem necessary to automate any compression parameters tho

This what I did for an old school death group I just mixed. Put in a bit more thump on the slow passages/doomy partys

 

[John_C]

I always prefer to automate processing on one kick as opposed to changing sample or w/e, helps to keep it sounding like one kit with a magically huge variety in playing style!

 

[MetalSound]

i never compress my bd as it is nearly all of the time 100% sampled but i ride levels in fast double bass parts.
i also change tone sometimes when in clean parts the "click" is too heavy compared to heavy parts where it is needed to cut through the wall of guitars.
automation is the most important thing for mixing drums especially if you are working with sampled/replaced drums.