compression/limiting) to a/b with as you work to make sure your sh*t is tight when you finally slam it!Īlso finally a/b with a lower/higher volume, to make sure everything is behaving itself, if it sounds good loud and not quiet, you still have work to do. There is also mathematical relationships with regard to frequency and BPM if you are so inclined, I'm not so I mix by feel.Īlso really helps to have some percussion and synthwork to a/b with while synthing back end, because quite often what sounds right in isolation does not with a fuller mix and vice versa!Īlso have a faux master bus chain (i.e. Pull the outside mike back a bit to capture the resonating frequencies and mix this with the sensitive boundary microphone for a well-rounded, defined, and punchy bass drum sound.

Repeat steps 1-3, and aim to tune the resonant head higher than you have for the batter head. Put the mike inside the drum on the padding, pointing at the beater head. An Evans EMAD or Aquarian Superkick is going to help a lot. If you want more of a 'sub' sound, increase the tension on the batter side.

Try tuning lower, finger tighten front and batter heads.

I could get no satisfaction with samples for kicks, some territory gained by layering for transient/ mid and sub portions but so fiddly and time consuming, same with compression and side chain techniques, for me it was synthesing kick and bass simultaneously, while running the lot through a variety of group/send channels, then adjusting adsr, filters and compressor and saturation settings, until the right 'feel' popped out with regards to transient snap and low freq thump. Now we have tuned the bass drum batter head, we need to tune the resonant head. Take all the muffling out save for one small towel on the bottom of the drum, make sure it's laid out so it touches both heads.

How to make a bass drum