Really deep bass drum live

[freshcelery]

Hey fellow TBers,

I was just wondering how to get a massive deep bass drum sound live, the sound we are going for is like this ( YouTube - ‪Our Last Night - Elephants (Video)‬‏ at about 1:07 into the video). We know how to do it in a recording, but are unsure if it is even possible live. If anyone knows anything about this technique any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Freshcelery

 

[Nev375]

The bigger the drum, (particularly diameter) the deeper the fundamental.
A deep drum tends to reinforce the low as well, from there it's a matter of head tensioning.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

Tuning, and a really good pa. I quite often use a resonant filter on kick drum live, blended with the natural sound.
Used to use a moog mf101 a lot but i'm really into the little labs vog since replacing big racks with 500 series stuff:
Little Labs

 

[onosson]

That spot you pointed out in the video doesn't sound like it was the kick drum, but something else (possibly a sample) overdubbed at that point. The kick isn't really very deep in the rest of the song. Maybe trigger it live?

 

[modulusman]

Looks like a really big bird took a dump on that band in the video.

 

[fourstringdrums]

I don't really consider that a "deep" bass sound. To me it just sounds like your typical metal bass drum sound with a pronounced punch/attack.

Without knowing what size bass drum you guys are using already, I would just suggest that:

1) Make sure the front head has a 4-5" port in it.

2) Wooden Beater to emphasize the attack

3) Tune the front head slightly higher than the batter

4)_ Tune both heads so that they are as low as possible while still retaining some resonance (not "flappy")

5) Don't kill the bass drum with muffling. A pre-muffled batter head and resonant head with a small pillow slightly touching the batter (Try an Evans EQ pad)

6) Slight use of compression

 

[Ric5]

Big subwoofers

 

[Jimbob Jones]

Two mics can help; one inside and one on a stand outside.

 

[MNAirHead]

Depending on your setup...,.. you can send the bassdrum subharmonic.... much of what you see live is compressed and synthd bass drum

 

[staindbass]

add an octave below with a harmonizer ?

 

[allexcosta]

I can't hear anything on that clip... Add a bunch of white and pink noise and you'll have something similar...

 

[Hellbastard]

I can't hear anything on that clip... Add a bunch of white and pink noise and you'll have something similar...

Help much?
if you can't hear anything, you must have really crappy speakers.

A yamaha subkick will help, but you really need to have a PA system that's capable of handling those really low frequencies.

 

[Govier966]

owieees what eryone else said, mic inside drum subckick outside or just use a trigger.

 

[jaywa]

Just keep in mind the more low-end freqencies you allocate to the kick drum, the less there is left for bass. You can wind up with the biggest kick drum sound ever... and no bass guitar in the mix at all. In fact it happens quite a bit.

But if you're OK with that, go for it.

 

[freshcelery]

Wow thanks for all the replies, ill have to show my band all of this tomorrow. In response to a few of the comments, I should have been more informative on my situation. We are looking to do that super deep sound in only a few parts if the song while having the regular kick available for the rest.

Thanks again,
Freshcelery

 

[troy mcclure]

Wow thanks for all the replies, ill have to show my band all of this tomorrow. In response to a few of the comments, I should have been more informative on my situation. We are looking to do that super deep sound in only a few parts if the song while having the regular kick available for the rest.

Thanks again,
Freshcelery

Then use samples that are triggered....

 

[xxaexx]

I know this is an older post, but I thought I thought I would share this...

Normally, when I'm mixing front of house, I'm working on an DigiDesign SC48. If I find that there is a particular song that could use a little bit of lower end, and the 65-70hz that I pull from the kick just isn't doing it, I bring up the default pitch shift plugin and throw it on an auxiliary I'm not using along with a BF76, and have the return on the pitch shift and BF76 go to a channel strip I'm not using. I then send some kick drum to that auxiliary, pre fader of course, and pitch the signal down until the kick sounds deep, nasty, and grimy and unnatural. (Remember, I'm not touching my original kick, but rather 'copying' it and working on that 'copy') Then, I'll work with my BF76 and squash the crap out of it. Then, with the EQ on that channel strip I'll low cut anything above 60hz to avoid messing with the original kick and bass, and do a slight boost at 30-35hz while high passing at 25hz to avoid the mud and clean it up. If I want a tighter punch, I'll throw a gate on it. After that I'll send that signal to my subwoofer auxiliary and mix it in with my original kick until I'm satisfied with it. If you only want it in certain parts of the song, mute the aux or channel strip. Now, this obviously isn't going to be as easy if you're not working with a digital desk, but hey, it works.