Saturation plugin for kick "splat"

[MarcusGHedwig]

Hey guys, in a somewhat ironic twist, I find I prefer the kick sound on my EP when listening to it on myspace, as the compression seems to round off the attack and make it "splattier". Any idea how to achieve this while otherwise maintaining fidelity? I'm thinking of some sort of saturation plug, but I don't want things to get all fuzzy/furry...

Thanks!

 

[Ermz]

Yes this can be interesting.

3 things I found can be quite cool at adding that 'splat' character:

1) Nebula CLC saturation. This will change the envelope of the kick slightly, fattening it out, and altering the character - sometimes to the benefit of the attack.
2) Parallel compression. You can tweak the attack of your parallel compressor between about 0 to 3ms attack, and listen to how it enhances the attack of your bass drum. This is a really cool one, and helped shape the kick attack on both Orpheus and Elm Street records I did.
3) Outboard compression. Outboard compressors naturally handle attacks better, giving a more desirable characteristic to the slap of the kick.

 

[giubis]

^ Ermz, interesting ideas, especially the Nebula's.

What about the snare? Have to follow the same path?

Giuseppe [giubis]

 

[Charles J]

Yes this can be interesting.

3 things I found can be quite cool at adding that 'splat' character:

1) Nebula CLC saturation. This will change the envelope of the kick slightly, fattening it out, and altering the character - sometimes to the benefit of the attack.
2) Parallel compression. You can tweak the attack of your parallel compressor between about 0 to 3ms attack, and listen to how it enhances the attack of your bass drum. This is a really cool one, and helped shape the kick attack on both Orpheus and Elm Street records I did.
3) Outboard compression. Outboard compressors naturally handle attacks better, giving a more desirable characteristic to the slap of the kick.

All GREAT advices from the master, of course....

VirSyn VTape works fucking MAGIC on kick/snare as well... LOVE that plug.

Ermz, what are you finding the best ITB comp for paralell drum stuff? or even in general?

 

[Ascendant]

FerricTDS is amazing for a free plug, I find myself using it on snare and kick all the time.

 

[ahjteam]

For "splat"? as in the in-your-face transient attack? Or just distorted and saturated kick? Depends on the source sound, but try this:

- First put an EQ (leave flat at first)
- then put the Transiend Designer (or the freebie Flux Bitter Sweet), and turn the attack knob up as much as you need
- then put a GVST GClip after that (or IK Multimedia Classic Clipper)
- After that start boosting around regions where you find the desired "SPLAT" (my guess is 1-6khz area) and make sure it clips hard against the GVST.

See sound example I made in this thread for similar procedure: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...p-getting-usable-natural-kick-drum-sound.html

Also if everything else fails: Use a Distressor

edit: also parallel compression works, like Ermz already said

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Thanks for the responses guys!

Ermz, what are you finding the best ITB comp for paralell drum stuff? or even in general?

+1

 

[amarshism]

Parallel blend of mp3 bounced samples?

 

[Ermz]

Ermz, what are you finding the best ITB comp for paralell drum stuff? or even in general?

So far the Waves 1176 is good. I've also used the Waves SSL Bus Comp a few times with decent results. Anything that pumps or sounds fat is generally a good contender.

I'm expecting to soon favor the Nebula AlexB SSL Bus Comp though. I've yet to try it, but will probably give it a good work-out tomorrow.

 

[drew_drummer]

For ParaComp I really like The Glue, as it has a really nice filtering and wet/dry setup going on. You can raise the high-pass and lower frequencies will not have as much of an effect on the compression.

You could also try sending the kick through an amp sim, and blending it with the original.