I'm trying to create a kick drum that has a lovely soft beater sound, but still cuts through the mix and commands a nice groove.
My efforts are, not entirely satisfying, either sounding too punchy and not at all fluffy, or just getting lost.

What kind of combos work well, an 808 very probably, with a jazz kick???
Any other secret ingrediants to try?

Griff,

For jazz drums, I sometimes use a low pass filter on the kick drum. That allows me to use the close miced kick to add roundness and bottom to the kit. The top of the kick comes through the OH and snare mics. For more bottom, I find that the Renaissance Bass plug from Waves can be very nice, too.

When you are after this softer type of sound, it is also important to remember not to make the other sounds in the ensemble too bright, since the top of the kick and the upright bass won't tolerate much competition up there.

Steve

@Kent - when you say bass tone, do you mean like a sine wave? I'm quite interested in that idea, with a little 'reality' bass drum to fool the listener maybe.

I actually find it pretty easy to get a good low sound and with a colourful beater, but getting that blend without it suddenly getting all tough and punchy, is a little harder.

@Extreme - I think this is needed also. Its not for a Jazz track as such though, but for a tune with a psuedo 'jazz' sounding kick.

Actually, what it is, is like a heartbeat - tricky, tricky.

thanks guys

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GRiFF
[B]I'm trying to create a kick drum that has a lovely soft beater sound, but still cuts through the mix and commands a nice groove.
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if you are talking about recording it , if i want a lovely soft beater sound , i will use a lovely soft beater.

s

Try micing the outside of the kick with an NS-10 woofer (sic) to augment your usual D-112-up-close scenario.

-R

Try an RE20. It is a pretty poofy kick mic. I used to think of it as sounding like hitting a pillow, but if the pillow just came out of the drier it likely would be warm and fluffy.

Not going to tell you how to set up your kick drum, but you probably don't want a vented reso head or either head to have built-in muffling. Felt strips between the shell and head work well though. And of course, a felt beater and possibly no patch. The rest of it is up to tuning, the player, and the mic position.

DBX160

try pitch the kick one octave down... and play it with the original sound
it´s sure to get the very low end with no eq...
M.

maybe you want to lowpass it due to the odd kick sound... maybe not...
try

Griff,
I would say that getting a warm fluffy kick while tracking is all about the kick and the mic/mic placement.

I've gotten great warm fluffy kicks with a Beta 52 inside a small Tama kick with a fuzzy beater.

I think there's been great suggestions regarding using samples to achieve this in the previous threads.

Why not post a short MP3 of a choon with an example of the kinda sound you need?.......would make it much easier for peeps to figure out what you mean.

But if it's the sound i think you mean, then it's a kick with a lot of sub and a lot of click and not much in between (which leaves space for the bass).

Thanks all,

I'm going to be using samples to make the sound however.

Good tips on some kick drum mikeing tho)

If you can find a sample with the "soft 70's" type discription I bet you can find a nice fat soft beater D12 miced BD.

I think the AKG D12 is what you are looking for.