Sep 02, 2005 11:37 pm
It sounds to me like the actually tuning of the drums might be lacking. If the bass drum is real boomy, try putting some "tone foam" in it. Its like 8 bucks for 10 feet or something like that. It cuts out a lot of the boom without reducing any tone. But anyway, if you have bad sound going into the mics, your most likely going to get bad sound with some EQ and reverb on it coming out.
What mics do you have on what right now? Also for the bass drum (and everything else) mic positioning is key. I find the closer you move the mic to the beater side head, the more pronouced of a click it is without much low end boom. The farther back, less click more boom.
As far as EQ, I like to use the following. Bass drum: Boost 2-3 dB @ 40 up to 80 (if you like deep bass). Cut around 300 about 2-3 and then boost slightly at 2 khz if you want a more pronounced better smack. cut everything about 8khz. Don't forget about compression...use it to taste (this will also help reduce boom if used right). Snare: Cut every under 100hz. cut slightly at 250. Boost at 5khz if u like a crisp snare. Cut everything above about 12khz. I put on some slight reverb. For cymbals, i cut everything below 120hz. Again slight cut around 250-500. Then maybe a boost at 8khz for sizzle. Good luck.
Josh