A "tiny" but useful kick drum tip

Subject: A "tiny" but useful kick drum tip Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:02 am

In this topic I won't talk about EQ or any other technical stuff.
I'll tell you something that you should keep in mind. It will be something like a... "sense" tip.

Many of us love the kick drum to be bit dominant to the mix. Cause we love our kick drum right?! We are trying to create a thick, "to your face" kick drum sound with EQ, compressors etc.

So our tweaks are ready and we bring our kick in the mix. Now it's the most important part. Our big mistake is that:
Even that we put the kick to the mix we are still focused only on the kick drum.

The kick is way too loud and anyone can hear it, even your neighbour that has no clue about mixing will decrease the volume fader, but you insist that fits perfectly.

Why is this bad?

You can't imagine how many times i didnt notice what the problem was that caused masking in my mix. I ended up bringing up the volume of some instruments (and continue masking another instruments of course) and i couldnt see (ok ok i mean hear) that the problem that my mix couldn't be "fixed" was my love for the kick drum!

So, what do i suggest?

Don't pay attention to what you like most. If you like blastbeats go to youtube and type "blastbeat" and listen. If you like kick drums type "double bass drumming".
But in mixing your job is to create a great mix, not a mix with a sense of "what i like to be heard will be on top. the rest will be secondary"

And Don't be afraid to decrease the volume of your kick. You will have so much space then and minutes by minutes later, your instruments will finally tie together.
The kick will still be there it wont leave you.

When first read you may think that the article is a little "off" and dumb. But think again.. most of us have been through this weird situation. Cheers!

Subject: Re: A "tiny" but useful kick drum tip Mon Nov 08, 2010 11:34 am

I was always one for this...
A very valid tip!

Subject: Re: A "tiny" but useful kick drum tip Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:50 pm

Sender wrote:: And Don't be afraid to decrease the volume of your kick. You will have so much space then and minutes by minutes later, your instruments will finally tie together.
The kick will still be there it wont leave you.

Another good way to realise where you kick is sitting in your mix, is the same way I explain to bassists that think "OMG IM TOO QUIET TURN ME UP".

Play back a section with everything normal. In this case the Bass/Kick. Listen to it a few times, then mid play, mute the instrument in question. You'll soon notice it isn't there, and the amount of bassists i've shut up doing that, is rather funny.

You may not notice its there, but you'll 100% notice its not there.