Brian's Bedroom Forum at the our New Home

We have officially started a forum at the new home of Brian’s Bedroom. You can get to the forum by following this link: http://briansbedroom.org/forum/

The aim is to setup a global area where we can all have our say about anything related to home recording and using Linux audio software to enjoy music. I will definitely keep an eye on things, so feel free to ask questions and the answers will come.

I need some suggestions for a good layout of categories, so please tell what you think in the Suggestions and Comments section of the forum.

How to get a Kick out of the Bass Drum using EQ

The bass drum, which many know as the kick drum, plays an important role in music. It stirs emotion in the audience, making them want to dance as it thumps through their bodies. This is of course, what it's supposed to do but if the kick drum is mixed incorrectly, it will leave the audience feeling pretty bored - no matter how good a song might actually be. Don't worry though, because that's why I wrote this post. To help you learn from my bad experiences...

Okay, so it's called the bass drum... So, if you're anything like the younger version of myself, you'll be thinking that the more bass the better, right? Well, I'm afraid not, but I won't just tell you, I'll show you. Below is a picture of the EQ settings for a kick drum. It is evident from the picture that only the bass frequencies (100 - 200 Hz) have been boosted.

EQ for a kick drum, where only the bass has been boosted. Click on Image for full size.

One would think this would make your kick drum more lively. Don't get me wrong, it does give it some thump, however, when added to the rest of the instruments, the bass gets lost and the beat with it. Below is a link to an .MP3 extract from a song where the above EQ has been used.

kick-with-only-bass.mp3 (588 KB)

Okay, you might be thinking that it didn't sound too bad, but if you play around with some of the higher frequencies (3000 - 5000 Hz) you will find what many call "the Click"...

For the rest of this post visit the new home of Brian's Bedroom at the link below:
http://briansbedroom.org/sound-mixing-tips/how-to-get-a-kick-out-of-the-bass-drum-using-eq/

Jazz and Blues Hydrogen Drum Beat Templates

Why do guitarists put drumsticks on the dash of their cars?

… So they can park in the Handicapped spot!

Lame, I know - but I kind of started a theme here with these drum beat templates and I didn’t want to let you down. So seriously now… I’ve working on another beat template which uses Jazz and Blues rhythms. But I tried something new this time - I noticed that in my beat templates a lot of the beats had similar characteristics and it made things really bulky. So with this template, I’ve made patterns for both the right and left hands as well as for the right foot (i.e. the kick drum). This means that you are able to make many different beats by just playing the any R-hand, L-hand and R-foot combination simultaneously...

For more, read the full post at the new home of Brian's Bedroom at: http://briansbedroom.org/