How can i make a Subkick? [Archive] - DRUMMERWORLD OFFICIAL DISCUSSION FORUM

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CBlanton

02-24-2008, 05:11 AM

If anyone has the know how or the whereabouts of this precious info, i would be in your debt. thanks.

hungrypo

02-24-2008, 06:51 AM

a 'sub-kick' is really just a speaker wired in reverse.
to make one you can take a 6 or 8" speaker cone, mount it somehow (which may be the real tricky part), and rig the speaker wire to a 1/4" male input jack. that'll plug into your soundboard and voila, sub-kick.

gusty

02-24-2008, 08:02 AM

Does a sub kick just make a kit kick drum more 'bassier'?

drumdruid

02-24-2008, 11:23 AM

Yes its like a microphone that only reacts to low end so everything around 50Hz will be up front in the bass drum mix , best is to use a normal kick mic too becuase you dont get much punch out of such a thing

MykeyInChains

02-24-2008, 04:59 PM

It seems to me that its much more economical to make your own, considering the ungodly price that they charge you for it.

http://www.music123.com/Yamaha-SubKick-Low-Frequency-Capture-Device-444623-i1138129.Music123

It seems simple enough. Stand-alone speakers aren't expensive. I suppose the high price is for the shell and housing..? Your best guess is as good as mine.
Good luck if you try to tackle it. Hope it works out well.

hungrypo

02-24-2008, 06:56 PM

Does a sub kick just make a kit kick drum more 'bassier'?

sort of....the frequencies that a 'sub-kick' picks up are super low and in a sense, felt and not heard. if you're going to use a sub-kick, it will only be effective if you're using a sound system that can reproduce ultra-low frequencies. there's no real definition or tone coming from that type of input source. so in a large venue concert setting a sub-kick is there to really 'shake' the room with the beat.

hawk9290

02-24-2008, 07:32 PM

as said above, the sub-kick is for improving sound, not capturing it. Using it live or recording in combination with at least 1 other decent kick mic will produce an amazing sound.
Of course, I have found (for recording, at least) that the cheapest way to get that low frequency sound is to send the kick track to an aux track with a frequency generator set at about 50hz on it. That way, it sort of acts like a trigger and responds to the volume just like a subkick. Doing it this way is free (if you have the software).
As for building a subkick knockoff, its not very hard- making it look pretty is the hardest part. Here's an earlier thread on it : http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=342385#post342385

mikeg

11-03-2008, 03:00 AM

I have seen these for sale by Yamaha, and I've also seen a few that were DIY. I didn't want to spend almost $400 just to see if I like it, so I took the DIY route. I already had an 8" drum that came with my kit, but I never use, so I decided to use it for this project.

http://www.outawhack.net/subkick1.jpg

I found a cheap 8 1/2" driver and an XLR Mic cable and put it all together. This was surprisingly simple to do.

http://www.outawhack.net/subkick2.jpg

http://www.outawhack.net/subkick3.jpg

I'm very happy with the results as well. The added low end is noticeable and it doesn't take much gain to get nice fat signal. I made a recording last night using two Mics. I used a Mic on the snare, and one on the kick, and my DIY Subkick about an inch from the front head.

http://www.outawhack.net/without-sub-kick.mp3
http://www.outawhack.net/with-sub-kick.mp3
http://www.outawhack.net/sub-kick-only.mp3

If you listen to the tracks through small computer speakers, you may not hear much difference.

If you make one, remember to reverse the polarity of the wires going to the speaker. I wired it out of phase the first time and was disappointed with the sound. After reversing the leads, the results were great.

-Mike

Ironcobra

11-03-2008, 03:07 AM

Now that, is a sexy sub kick. Fantastic job man.

mikeg

11-03-2008, 04:46 AM

Now that, is a sexy sub kick. Fantastic job man.

Thanks! This project didn't hurt the drum either. It could go right back to being a drum in minutes.

tbmills

11-03-2008, 05:58 AM

Thanks! This project didn't hurt the drum either. It could go right back to being a drum in minutes.

how did you mount the speaker to the shell? i can see those silver clips... what are they?

dkerwood

11-03-2008, 06:15 AM

mikeg

11-03-2008, 06:47 AM

how did you mount the speaker to the shell? i can see those silver clips... what are they?

The speaker is mounted using the the drum hoop and some old spacers I had left over from when single headed toms were popular. The spacers allowed you to keep the bottom hoop and lug screws on the drum without a bottom head. If you can't find them, they wouldn't be that hard to make.

mikeg

11-03-2008, 07:05 AM

I've done it for recordings using a wedge monitor speaker flipped up onto its end. Works pretty well, even when it's technically too big of a speaker (15"). Provides a nice low end boost to mix in with the regular kick mic- but only with a badly tuned kick that doesn't provide the low end on its own. I don't think it would be very necessary live, though.

I think my kick is tuned fairly low, with tension just enough to take the wrinkle out of the batter. The front head is slightly tighter. Our band has a pretty good board, 18" subs, but our sound guy hasn't been able to push the lower end of the kick without bringing in other low-mid frequencies. I haven't had a chance to use this live, but that's what it's for.

MusiQmaN

11-03-2008, 11:22 AM

The inside of a real Yamaha Sub-Kick:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1281/4353153/9184002/278117003.jpg

It looks like its a special speaker and not just a standard speaker.

And it works perfect as standalone (im using it to record home recordings)

tbmills

11-03-2008, 11:52 AM

it looks like an 8" car subwoofer...

dkerwood

11-03-2008, 03:14 PM

I think my kick is tuned fairly low, with tension just enough to take the wrinkle out of the batter. The front head is slightly tighter. Our band has a pretty good board, 18" subs, but our sound guy hasn't been able to push the lower end of the kick without bringing in other low-mid frequencies. I haven't had a chance to use this live, but that's what it's for.

That's an EQ issue, not mic hardware (assuming that you have a quality kick mic). He's probably trying to EQ you with just the channel EQ knobs. A better solution is to run your kick mic through an outboard parametric or even a 15- or 31-band EQ.

Of course, in your case, you had stuff lying around, and you made it work. Super cool for you. I just don't want people to think that a subkick is the *only* way to achieve a low end boost. Personally, it's an aesthetic thing- I just don't like anything blocking my reso head visually.

SoCalMike

11-09-2008, 08:10 AM