Trigger vs 2-3 mics on bass drum

manderman

Member
I've recently aproached this problem:
I really like the beefy sound of my maple bassdrum with the batter head loosened and minimum muffling inside the bass drum, what causes miss triggering and double triggering.
Yes I play metal and play fast double bass, but it's not the only music I play and I like the sound of an open bass drum, so I don't wan't to extremely muffle my bass drum and tighten the head for "Trigger only" playing, because it sounds like cardboard.

Is it possible to get the same articulated sound of the bass drum by using several mics without the ultra muffling as if by using trigger+microphone?

For example we put a mic inside the bass drum next to the batter head (just to get the click sound), and another mic in the regular position in the port hole. + add a noise gate/compressor for these mics. Or will there still be too much low frequency noise?

I know axis and ekits could solve the problem, but my feet dislike the direct drive feeling, I'm more in to the hard hitting heavy feeling.
 
Why not adjust the trigger input to your playing/setup instead of your setup to the trigger?

I trigger my wide open kicks without any problems...
 
I used to have two kick drums and everything was ok, but I had problems with transportation, so I had to switch to double pedals and triggering became a headache.
 
You mean you play too fast for the trigger to keep up with your playing??
If one mic works for most people, why not for you?

Bram
 
My son faces these issues. He plays Death Metal and Rock bands. Triggers in DM and uses a mic with the Rock band
Several things can cause miss or double triggered hits. Batter head tension, Trigger installation (proximity to head), batter head choice (never directly experienced this myself) and module setup.

Are you doing this for live or recording?
You can get a tone with more click without running so many mics. I use a Beta52(not a typical choice for DM) but sweep the mids to between 4 and 6K then add about 10db to get that definition from fast acoustic dbl bass strikes.

This has been our simplest solution to date. On an older recording we used 4 mics… LOL
Like you one in the drum near the head. Another in the port hole. One again about a foot and a half in front of the reso skin in a makeshift blanket tunnel. And added the forth (phase reversed) from the pedal side of the batter.
It was just ridiculous! Hahaha
 
You mean you play too fast for the trigger to keep up with your playing??
If one mic works for most people, why not for you?

No, not exactly. Without the muffling and the batter head loosened dead the trigger fails even at 170 bpm.

It would be ideal if I could just use the trigger with less muffling and looser tension + 1 regular mic in the porthole, for example an AKG D112 or a e902 Sennheiser.

Numberonefan
Yes, it is mostly for live shows.


By the way, anybody know how the Subkick mic works with fast double bass? Will it do a good job in metal or just make too much ultra low freq noise?
 
Back
Top