Hey guys, in this video we’re going over how to record a kick drum in the home studio.
This is a continuation of our previous videos where we setup the overheads and snare microphones,
but in this video we’ll be focusing only on the kick drum, so make sure to check out
the rest of those videos first.
Our setup here is a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 for the audio interface, a Shure Beta 52a
for the kick mic, and a set of CAD overhead microphones setup in an X-Y configuration
over the drum kit.
This whole setup will be linked in the video description down below.
As we go through the different microphone positions, we’ll keep the kick mic isolated,
then bring it all together at the end.
For the drum setup, we have a pillow in the kick as a bit of dampening, and the kick is
tied down to the drum throne to make sure it doesn’t slide along the floor and change
the microphone position.
This drum setup doesn’t have a hole in the resonant head, and we can’t place a microphone
inside the kick, but you can check out other videos on that if you’re interested in hearing
what it sounds like.
The sound you’ll be hearing during this video is just the kick microphone with no
equalization or compression applied, but the Shure Beta 52a does have a frequency response
that is designed for a kick drum.
The only processing we’ve done is to adjust some of the volume levels, since some microphone
positions are louder than others, and this makes it easier to compare.
The first microphone position is an inch or two from the drum, about a third of the way
to the center of the drum from the outside and pointed straight on.
Here we get some very low frequencies and not too much click from the beater, but it’s
also not a very full sound.
It’s a little too low at this point and not too useful to me, but just overall not
that great.
Next up the microphone is at the same distance, but at the outside edge near the rim.
We get a little more high end and a fuller sound with this one, and it gives me something
to work with.
It’s a little bit punchier as well.
This position is at the same distance but right at the center of the kick drum.
This is one of the loudest signals we get, so if you place it towards the center, make
sure you adjust your preamp level.
This gives us a little more depth too it and captures the low frequencies that you want
to emphasize with the kick drum.
Now we’re going to start backing the microphone away a little, so we’ll lose some of the
proximity effect of the microphone and therefore some of the low end.
I have the microphone about 1 foot out from the kick drum, midway between the center and
the outside of the drum.
With this setup, we’ve lost some of the low end and given ourselves more of a snappy
sounding kick drum.
This sound is a little closer to what we get out of the overheads, since the microphone
is farther away and we’re not taking advantage of that proximity effect anymore.
This recording is a foot away with the microphone at the center of the drum.
This one here is my favorite of the kick sounds so far.
It’s got the right amount of low end, but the right attack to just cut through the mix,
and I think this setup would work really well alongside our current overheads.
The last position is the microphone at the edge, but pointed in an off-axis configuration
towards the center.
This is a lot better than the previous close up microphones, giving good punch and low
end, but without that nasty upper clicking sound that sounds like someone beating on
plastic.
So I hope that so far that these examples have given you some idea of how you can alter
the sound of a kick drum in your recordings just by moving the microphone around.
Keep this in mind for your recordings, and take to time to listen carefully before you
settle on your placement.
Now let’s switch over to Cakewalk and listen to the drum sound all together.
We’re not playing the whole kit, just the kick, but we’ll add the overheads in as
well.
Once again, there’s no mixing applied in this video and we’ll be covering that in
other videos.
Similar to the snare drum, we have to flip the phase of the kick mic to get it in phase
with the overheads, that way the frequencies are not canceling each other out.
As we add the kick in with the overheads, we get quite a bit better and deeper of a
kick sound than the small diaphragm condenser overheads are able to pick up, and it really
helps fill in the sound.
Thanks for checking out this video recording a kick drum in the home studio.
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