The Logic Off Topic list

"Save the Universe" wrote:

>  I'm especially having trouble keeping my kicks from sounding muddy.
> 
First of all, if the drummer doesn't play well, the kit isn't tuned 
well, and the room isn't right for tracking drums, you are quite 
possibly, to use a time honoured phrase, "polishing a turd".

If all these very important factors are taken care of, look at how 
you mike the drums. For the kick, you need to pay special attention 
to getting plenty of attack for the sound you are going for. As well 
as miking in front of, or inside the drum, try pointing a mike down 
at the beater, behind the drum. Pointing it down will help reject 
some of the sound from the snare, HH and rest of kit, and this should 
help capture more of the attack of the beater striking the head. Try 
an SM 57 for this. The type of beater is important too - wood 
striking one of those "click pads" will give you lots more attack. In 
front of the drum - long list - AKG 112 or even C 414, Sennheiser 
421, E 602. Shure Beta 52, they have a PZM that works well here. 
Electro voice RE 20, Audio Technica 4050, Neumann TLM 103, 170, and 
many many more ...

You will very likely have a phasing issue using mikes in front of and 
behind the drum, something to watch out for. 

I like to have some mikes in the room - I tend to start with an MS 
pair 10 - 15 feet out in front of the drums, preferably a nice pair 
of large diaphragm condensers - but move the mikes around, till you 
find what sounds best. In many cases, this can help layer the various 
multi tracked instruments better than adding artificial 'verb later - 
IF the room is up to it! You may want to time correct these tracks 
later.

When mixing, be careful when boosting low frequencies. While it is 
common practice to boost around 62 Hz, watch out for the 200-500 Hz 
area, which can usually take a cut. Of course, you will probably be 
adding some highs to accentuate the attack - esp. if you don't use 
that mike for the beater. Don't take any of this as gospel though - 
let your ears decide. While it is very convenient to use a DAW where 
you can see all the settings displayed as nice EQ curves, it can be 
misleading. Don't look at the EQ - hear it ;-).

> How do you maintain bass response AND definition in a kick drum 
> when it's played so fast?  Many professionally recorded speed metal 
> albums do this so well.

Listen to them again - I think you might find that there isn't that 
much deep bass in the kick drum sound - it slows everything down, and 
muddies up the bottom end ...

HTH kind regards

Mark Cahill