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[BigJguitar]

The saga continues my friend, the search for the killer kick drum is as elusive as big foot but Even Mr. Big gets “sighted” every now and then. I dont claim to be some super engineer but heres how I approch kick drums.

1) Get a reference, pick some song that makes you say, “OMFG that kick is bad ass!”
2) Do your frequency cuts. This means cutting those frequencies that add the sounds you dont want like hollowness and ringing. This allows you to”PUSH” the frequencies that you want without adding volume to the ones you dont want. I do this for every part of the kit save the crashes as you want that full body crash.
3) Mix the kick to as close to your reference as you can get it. then listen to it with your body of music and tweak. Even if your reference kick is spot on, its eq’d for that song not yours and your going to have to do some tweaking.
4) Depending on your production, you’ll want to boost some frequencies and lower others. If you want to emphasize the lower end of the kick, anywhere from 20-1000 Hz may be used, but it isn’t limited to those areas. If you want the kick to be sharp sounding, a higher frequency like 3 kHz might be reasonable. Anything can work depending on the sound. Try making a boost peak in the equalizer and scanning along the frequencies with the kick drum playing and find out which frequencies you want to stand out. Then mix accordingly.
5) You may have to compensate when another sound occupies the same frequency or pan it to make it stand out. You can use VST audio analyzers to figure out exactly what frequencies are used. What you ultimately boost or turn down will depend on the kick drum’s place in your tune.

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[BigJguitar]

I havent upgraded to SD2 mainly for the cost vs what do I really need SD2 for. I feel its for those drummers looking to build kits cause they use electronic pad kits. For me SD2 would mean that I could build kits to my liking or what was needed giving more control over individual drums making up a full kit, and maybe tracking? I get that anyway. I have made a template in sonar tracking each EZ kit I have depending on what im feelin for what ever style im using. Each track has its own drum sound on it, so i can alter the sound to what ever and so on… Its almost too much to type even. Im much more into not haveing to think about the drums all that much

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[BigJguitar]

After listening to your tunes I have to say I like your production. Everything is nice and clean. I tend to be into the more upbeat songs and thus the Sheeple was my fav.
Like you I have come to rely on myself for putting my music out to the world and even though Superior Drummer is well superior, I have not upgraded from Ez drummer either.
As for wanting a real drum kit for that

completely raw and unpolished

sound, I can understand that, but also disagree that you had to settle with EZ. EZ gives it to you
as real as it gets IMHO. That raw and unpolished sound that you might want can be achived quite easyly with some of the onboard “ROOM” effects or maybe using simulation effects with your DAW.
You should experiment, think about what your really looking for, ie, is it more reverb, a bigger sounding room or smaller room. Check out techniques for mastering a drum kit, theres alot to learn there.
I also own several EZ kits like the funk masters, Metal machine kit. I dont limit my kits by their names either. Im well known for using the funk kits for my ballads as well as the metal machine
kit for just straight up hard rock and even still use the basic kit for all of the above mentioned. Even my drummer friends are still blown away by how real EZ sounds.
Click the link below to listen bro!

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[BigJguitar]

here is a piece that my daughter made just using EZkeys midi files and the editing tool

http://soundcloud.com/jason-hanerfeld/someday-in-spring

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[BigJguitar]

thats the new link guys sorryhttp://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/song/13609335

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[BigJguitar]

Agreed! I think I saw he was a newbie forum member and felt I would “help” with the info I gave. I used to be the same way. If we can land a man on the moon why isnt there a VST that just makes everything sound like its fresh off the press from Sony Music ?!?!?!?
In the past year I have learned more about mixing / mastering by watching vids and READING, yes reading online info boards and actually applying what Ive seen and read to what Im listening to!

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[BigJguitar]

honestly why arent there any posts to this? 110 veiws and nothing? We are better then this guys!

Sy, please understand Im not a pro engineer working for the music industry, but I can tell you what works for me. First off you cant rely on presets to just be amazing. As awesome as ezmix is, your going to have to use some eq, compression and dynamics
to at least get your sounds as close as possible to where you want them to be THEN add the ezmix presets to them for that extra kick. As for the drums, what are running your tracks on, Pro tools, sonar, cubase? I use sonar X1 for my editing/recording and for my drum tracks I break down each drum to its own track so I can have total control over its sound. Building the kit this way allows me more control over the whole kit in the end and allows me to push something if its lacking like the snare or kick without messing with the whole kit.
listen to my track http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_11734722 the drums for me are just slammin!
Presets are well…. preset and thats the dirty truth of it and while ezmix is great you dont have total control over the effect. Make your own presets with what ever production software your using and save them for futur use. The more you have to choose from the better it gets.
I cant tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself”omg the drum track in this song was insane, I wanna use that for this new song with some tweeks!” , or the bass line was slammin or the guitar was awesome. Making these effect presets for yourself is the best way.
As for mastering, I would never use ezmix for that, I use http://youtu.be/m5gYm–nhZk, best mastering VST addon IMHO!
If you wanna get into more tech spit just let me know!

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[BigJguitar]

Great tunes … I couldnt listen to the new one keep getting error on the page, but the other tunes are slammin!

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[BigJguitar]

Agreed! I havent used Metal machine for metal since I got it and no regrets either!

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonhanerfeld

[Author]

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