Accentuating the Positive: EQ'ing a Drum Kit

[ken]

Some tips I found on the internet:

BASS DRUM
For a modern sound, boost slightly in the 6kHz to 12kHz region, to accentuate the transient click as the beater hits the skin. The thump of the beat can be brought out by boosting between 2kHz and 3kHz. To give a deep, powerful 'thud' to the sound, boost between 75Hz and 100Hz. If the sound has a tendency to boom or resonate, try cutting between 200Hz and 400Hz.

SNARE DRUM
To accentuate the stick impact and rim shots, boost at about 5kHz. The rattle of the snares lies mostly between 5kHz and 10kHz. The 'bang' of the drum is in the region of 1-3kHz. The body resonance of the drum can be found at 100-250Hz.

TOM-TOMS
The tom-tom sound can be made more dynamic by boosting at around 6-8kHz for the stick impact and 3kHz for the 'thwack'. The body of the sound generally lies between 100Hz and 500Hz depending on the size of the drum. Depending on context, you may wish to boost the lower registers to add power and coloration, or cut these frequencies to emphasise the impact rather than the body and decay of the sound.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Good stuff there, Ken, and easy to grasp. Frequencies I both did and didn't know to putz around with. Thanks!

[Billy's Little Trip]

I'll try those specific EQ ranges on my next song. As of now, I just go off my ears, which I still will, but it's nice to have pro start points.
By the way, can you believe that I JUST figured out a few songs ago that the missing frequencies on my kick were in the highs? All this time I've been boosting the lows every way I could and still couldn't get the sound right. I couldn't get it to thump hard. Then, I was listening to a song in my car and blew a fuse on my sub woofer amp. Low and behold, there it was. The kick was this whole range of high frequencies. No lows, but I could hear every hit with a wonderful slap and very short ring of the head. As soon as I got home, I opened the song I was working on at the time (All We Could See At The Window) and copied the kick track, then pulled out the lows and concentrated on the highs, mixed them in and BAM! There it is. I did the same with a third track for the lows. So basically I had three kick tracks. 1 full range straight off the mic, 1 EQd for the highs and 1 EQd for the lows, then just brought the highs and lows up into the full range kick track.
This gives a better sound on good stereos, crappy headphones, etc, because you can both feel the kick AND hear it. I'm still experimenting with it.

[Paco Del Stinko]

By the way, can you believe that I JUST figured out a few songs ago that the missing frequencies on my kick were in the highs?

I believe it. (Not because it's you, though ) A buddy of mine gets a great drum sound, and says "don't be afraid to add some high end". But I didn't think it was as high as on Ken's info. I add some, but I'll try higher frequencies now.

Chris - don't you use some kind of drum loops or whatever? Do you have to EQ those all that much? Aren't they kind of pre-mixed? Just asking. When I use the drum machine I just give it a nudge on top and bottom, at most.

[blue]

I'll try those specific EQ ranges on my next song. As of now, I just go off my ears, which I still will, but it's nice to have pro start points.
By the way, can you believe that I JUST figured out a few songs ago that the missing frequencies on my kick were in the highs? All this time I've been boosting the lows every way I could and still couldn't get the sound right. I couldn't get it to thump hard. Then, I was listening to a song in my car and blew a fuse on my sub woofer amp. Low and behold, there it was. The kick was this whole range of high frequencies. No lows, but I could hear every hit with a wonderful slap and very short ring of the head. As soon as I got home, I opened the song I was working on at the time (All We Could See At The Window) and copied the kick track, then pulled out the lows and concentrated on the highs, mixed them in and BAM! There it is. I did the same with a third track for the lows. So basically I had three kick tracks. 1 full range straight off the mic, 1 EQd for the highs and 1 EQd for the lows, then just brought the highs and lows up into the full range kick track.
This gives a better sound on good stereos, crappy headphones, etc, because you can both feel the kick AND hear it. I'm still experimenting with it.

any track to have 3 copies of is going to magically stand out in the mix.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Chris - don't you use some kind of drum loops or whatever? Do you have to EQ those all that much? Aren't they kind of pre-mixed? Just asking. When I use the drum machine I just give it a nudge on top and bottom, at most.

Yes, but I have to create the loops. The hits are raw straight off the mic. I still have to gate, compress and EQ. IE: the hat hits are picking up the snare, the snare is picking up the kick, etc. It's not a clean signal like my old drum machine. It's a real drum hit, BUT, the best part is they are recorded in a pro studio with 20k worth of mics, etc. But the cool thing is they will have a matching room hit to go with it. So I can use the hit, plus fade in the room size with it which is already EQd with fx. The problem is that I don't care for their room sounds because they are very wet. Even if I just mix in a touch, it's too yucky. So I do each track the way I want it. But I do LOVE their right and left overhead mic tracks for the cymbals and I use them on every song I do, to one degree or another. That's how I get that nice wide spread on my songs.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I'll try those specific EQ ranges on my next song. As of now, I just go off my ears, which I still will, but it's nice to have pro start points.
By the way, can you believe that I JUST figured out a few songs ago that the missing frequencies on my kick were in the highs? All this time I've been boosting the lows every way I could and still couldn't get the sound right. I couldn't get it to thump hard. Then, I was listening to a song in my car and blew a fuse on my sub woofer amp. Low and behold, there it was. The kick was this whole range of high frequencies. No lows, but I could hear every hit with a wonderful slap and very short ring of the head. As soon as I got home, I opened the song I was working on at the time (All We Could See At The Window) and copied the kick track, then pulled out the lows and concentrated on the highs, mixed them in and BAM! There it is. I did the same with a third track for the lows. So basically I had three kick tracks. 1 full range straight off the mic, 1 EQd for the highs and 1 EQd for the lows, then just brought the highs and lows up into the full range kick track.
This gives a better sound on good stereos, crappy headphones, etc, because you can both feel the kick AND hear it. I'm still experimenting with it.

any track to have 3 copies of is going to magically stand out in the mix.

Yeah, I know that, because I've over done it on many an occasion. But what I'm doing is a bit different. For instance, for my kick track that I want to work on the highs, I'll do a low pass (or is it called high pass) to take out the lows on it then EQ from there. Then I am fading it into the mix just until I hear that hit. I don't want to add anymore volume boost to it, just slap.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Interesting process explained

I see. I guess I was figuring they needed less tweaking, somehow. Sounds good in the end, though. It's all uphill for me: Cheap kit, poor "drumming", slow learner for EQ and compression stuff. Fun though, and inching forward at a glacial pace.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Interesting process explained

I see. I guess I was figuring they needed less tweaking, somehow. Sounds good in the end, though. It's all uphill for me: Cheap kit, poor "drumming", slow learner for EQ and compression stuff. Fun though, and inching forward at a glacial pace.

I just notice something I said. To remove confusion, I only use compression on a drum piece if I'm doing something tricky. It's not normally used on a drum track, but I do use compression on the master. Also, one can use the EQd room sounds that come with BFD drums, as I'm sure the other drum programs use as well, and not have to touch an EQ. I'm just anal. If you want an example of their EQd sounds, go listen to my Pink Ribbon song that you did a Lead Solo on. That's what their pre mixed sound is like. Very wet and sloppy, in my opinion. I like it snappy and dirty like on All We Could See At The Window.
Some may like that wet sound, so I'm not knocking it, I just don't care for it.