Tagged As: Drum And Bass Music
Question:
Well I am definately not an expert but I will chime in my thoughts and those of you who know more can tell me where I am wrong. In a lot of music you want the attack of the bass and the kick to kind of blend together at those points that they line up time wise. On a couple occasioins I did recordings where the bass drum had a lot of mid/low woosh to it. A drummer friend of mine had set up the mic and gain. As far as I could tell he had to much gain and the mic placement was bad. If you keep the length of the bass drum envelope short via mic placement, mic choice, you wont have to much problem. Correct or way off base?
Answer:
That is part of the process, but tonal differentiation between the instruments is at least as important as time seperation. So, tuning of the drum and EQ of the bass should complement each other. Also, many pop records duck the bass using a compressor every time the kick is hit. Depends on a lot of things. Before ducking, EQing, or any of that, listen to the rhythm section. Where does the drummer place the one? Where does the bassist place the one? A lot of the great rhythm sections sounded so great because the drummer and bassist tag-teamed the downbeats. Is the bass slapped (instant attack) or finger picked (slow attack)? Is the bass drum muted or resonant? If any of the above are not to the artist's or producer's liking, talking to the players, changing heads, etc, can be a lot more effective than fixing it post mortem. Go an listen to whatever album you feel has the perfect blend of kick and bass (for me, it's hard to beat the stuff Al Jackson, Jr. did with Al Green, or maybe the Wailers). Listen really really closely to the bass and kick. Odds are, they're not hitting the beat in the same place. If you're dream rhythm section is Metallica, then ignore everything I've said and get yourself a sampler.
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