# Getting that "wet" kick drum sound?



## AlexWadeWC (May 18, 2011)

How do you get that "wet" slappy yet punchy kick drum sound?

I usually high pass around 55hz, boost at 80, deep and wide cut at 500, and a boost at 6k.

A good example is the new Fit For An Autopsy song.

Fit For An Autopsy - Music | Facebook

Sorry you have to "Like" it to hear it, annoying I know, but the mix is killer.

The kick is very "wet" and "slappy" for the articulation but still packs a huge fucking punch, exactly what i'm looking for.

I generally use Slate Kick 10 as well for the kick sample.


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## Stealthdjentstic (May 18, 2011)

Any other examples? There's no way I'm liking that band


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## Tree (May 18, 2011)

100-120 for "oomph"
Several LARGE cuts of the midrange and higher low end frequencies (200-2kHz)
4-6kHz for "click"
8kHz-12kHz for wet "slap"

Here's an example I did recently http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9233272/Nerve End-Arsonist Rough 01.mp3. 

Obviously it's not great, but that ^ is basically what I did here. 
Also, these don't apply to absolutely all kicks. I just find that to be typical for the "metal" sound.


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## amarshism (May 19, 2011)

Suck out heaps at 200. Click is normally between 4-8k. On slate 10 a low shelf shavin off a couple db will also make it a bit punchier.


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## Winspear (May 19, 2011)

Tree said:


> 100-120 for "oomph"
> Several LARGE cuts of the midrange and higher low end frequencies (200-2kHz)
> 4-6kHz for "click"
> 8kHz-12kHz for wet "slap"
> ...



You did that track too then?  Sounds good!

The slap can actually come a lot higher than that - right up to 20kHz can have a positive effect if that's the sound your looking for.


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## Prydogga (May 19, 2011)

Stealthtastic said:


> Any other examples? There's no way I'm liking that band



What's wrong with Pat's band? And you think liking a facebook page is going to directly affect and annoy your interactions with facebook? 

Also, Tree, that's a good example, I quite like that kick!


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## C2Aye (May 19, 2011)

I think the main thing is killing all your mids because the guitars tend to dominate in that area. Then (thanking Kurkkuiviipale for this info because he told me this ) you have two elements to your kick, the thump and the click (some like it clickier than others, I'm not the biggest fan of super clickly clicks).

What I do is high pass at around 100Hz, just to make sure the kick isn't boomy and then a small boost to 60Hz, for the thump. Then I scoop the fuck out of 500Hz until nobody remembered it existed. Then I add a boost to about 6000Hz for some click and then a general boost to the higher frequencies above there. For more click (or slap I guess) you would just add more to one of the higher frequencies. I wouldn't know which one off the top of my head, but you can easily play around with that.

Some pics now:







Oh, and last and definitely not least is the compression. There are obviously lots of ways of doing it but I go for the high ratio, short attack and release sound. I just like having tonnes of compression 

And I know it seems a bit of a plug to post my song, but I think it's a good example of the kick sound that you may or may not be looking for and you can hear the kick exposed more in the quiet bits. Hope you don't mind me posting this here.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/re...-guitars-sd2-0-legion-sd2-0-strat-cleans.html


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## Kurkkuviipale (May 19, 2011)

Compress much on the higher frequencies and compress less on the low ones.

EQ is 62hz +3db, scoop the fuck out of mids, they drain the wetness of the kick, boost @ 5,5khz.

Also, stillwell 1973 preset "Rock kick" does some cool magic on the kick. Dno what it is, but it's good.


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## AlexWadeWC (May 19, 2011)

Kurkkuviipale said:


> Compress much on the higher frequencies and compress less on the low ones.
> 
> EQ is 62hz +3db, scoop the fuck out of mids, they drain the wetness of the kick, boost @ 5,5khz.
> 
> Also, stillwell 1973 preset "Rock kick" does some cool magic on the kick. Dno what it is, but it's good.



I just got all the Stillwell plugs so I will definitely try that, thanks man!


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## Scar Symmetry (May 19, 2011)

Prydogga said:


> What's wrong with Pat's band? And you think liking a facebook page is going to directly affect and annoy your interactions with facebook?
> 
> Also, Tree, that's a good example, I quite like that kick!





Fit For An Autopsy are among the cream of the Deathcore crop IMO, along with Whitechapel of course 

Any new album plans Alex? Would be killer if you self-produced the next CD.


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## Stealthdjentstic (May 19, 2011)

Scar Symmetry said:


> Fit For An Autopsy are among the cream of the Deathcore crop IMO, along with Whitechapel of course
> 
> Any new album plans Alex? Would be killer if you self-produced the next CD.



The other day I was in chat and he was making fun of someone for liking some deathcore band. Like really digging on em. Seemed like a huge douche. He also refused to admit he plays deathcore which made it all the better 


Anyways, nuff of that off topic.


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## Scar Symmetry (May 19, 2011)

Well, I used to be a huge extreme metal elitist douche and the whole time I've listened to Deathcore so...


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## amarshism (May 20, 2011)

Parallel comp on the kick works sick as well. Keep your attack on the primary like 20-30ms but make the attack super quick on the parallel so you just get a pop kinda transient. Blending the two will get you a real punchy wet kick.


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## amarshism (May 20, 2011)

Ptc will putney from fit for an autopsy is machines engineer and did the last human abstract record and also worked on youngbloods from the amity affliction. Got put onto them by the latter after they got back from recording with him. Definitely agree that they're one of the sicker deathcore bands.


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## Taylor2 (May 21, 2011)

What makes a kick sound 'dry' or 'boxy' in a sense is the cardboard frequencies, which lay usually between 150 and 400, and 700-900.

These areas are usually useless to a kick anyways.
So I scoop those pretty heavily. Up to 6dB at times.


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## newamerikangospel (May 21, 2011)

Just to throw my "hat" in the ring. In my experience, the "watery" slap of a drum has alot to do with how the batter head it tuned  . I never personally go for that sound, so I can't point you in the direction of a sample, or specific kick in ___ program.


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