making the kick drum KICK

thablakester · Post by **thablakester** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:37 am

alrightee... SO... my first go around with ableton live 6 and bfd was this week and i'm wanting to make sure i'm understanding this correctly...

in order to EQ the kick drum to my liking should i export it to its own channel (if this is possible that is...) and then drop in the compressors and EQ's and such?

it's just a bit off to me that I can't change mic's in bfd and make an album quality kick drum PUNCH ya know?

so are there any answers about this? i've searched everywhere thru the forum and read the ENTIRE manual and supplemental materials today on it but i wanna make sure that there's no way inside the VST plugin itself to EQ the bass drum to get the kick like u hear on a rock album...

suggestions? helps? hinders...puns... or maybe welcomes....

all is appreciated!

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:08 am

thablakester wrote: in order to EQ the kick drum to my liking should i export it to its own channel (if this is possible that is...) and then drop in the compressors and EQ's and such?

That certainly should be possible. Assign the kick it's own output in BFD (check manual), then take an audio track in Live, enable monitoring and set that track's input to the BFD midi track and choose the right output in the drop down just below.

Then you can use the audio track to compress, EQ etc only the kick all you want.

method · Post by **method** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:23 am

oops nm - misread your question

bodo · Post by **bodo** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:38 am

If you want a really powerful kick, I suggest layering it with a low-pass-filtered electronic (909) kick. Could be a bit tricky in terms of timing, but it can do wonders for tame sounding acoustic kits. So get the 'click' from BFD and the oomph from another sample. Sometimes it helps if you compress them together lightly in a seperate buss.

thablakester · Post by **thablakester** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:54 pm

alright... anybody that get INCREDIBLY bored can check out this thread from the fXpansion forum...

i'm still stuck on getting the individual drums out to their own specific channels... i figure somebody on here has done it already so please assist and be happy to be doing your good deed for the day......

http://www.fxpansion.com/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:05 pm

rtfm

Drop impulse to midi track 1
Make an audio track, set its input to track 1, in the box below that select the individual drum sound.

Don't master things into sounding good, find kicks that sound good without FX. Mastering is polishing, not forging.

thablakester · Post by **thablakester** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:16 pm

i've read thru the BFD manual more times than i can count. i am more familiar with it now than anything else. so where does using impulse tie into using BFD?

the goal is to get 100% real sound from drums. i'm recording rock tunes, not rap and r&b or electronica. i want real genuine sound...

but seriously though, where does impulse tie into BFD. the sounds in BFD are recorded raw and obviously this is so that tweaking can be done. problem is i'm trying to get to the point where i can tweak each individual kit piece, preferably the Kick Drum... the others can just wait...

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:24 pm

Oh, ok, I was thinking you were using the BFD samples in Impulse. Sorry, it's Monday and all...

I don't know BFD, I've only seen demo videos. If you can rewire into Live you should be able to select one hit.

It'll come down to the method I described, you'd select a BFD instrument via rewire as an input and then select a specific part of that input.

If you do end up using BFD in Live, use Simpler rather than Impulse, Impulse by nature colors the sound.

Hope that helps.

Looking at the FXpansion site, they advise running the AU version as a plug in inside Live. Use a rack to make the kits.

spookyrockstar · Post by **spookyrockstar** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:44 am

First things first, Make sure you;re using the ALL version of the plugin. (BFD)

If you're using the stereo version, then you won't be able to process individual hits.

All set? Good.

Drag said 'ALL' BFD onto Live's Clips view.

Set up another audio track for EVERY single output from BFD.

In the in/out section of live, route the audio from your first dragged BFD track, and then you should then also be able to select the individual outs from each BFD output.

Activate 'monitor in' for all the tracks. You do this at the part that usually defaults to 'auto'.

EQ and effect to taste.

Doing this from memory, so good luck. (I'm on a work comp. at the moment.)

thablakester · Post by **thablakester** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:20 am

only 1 thing spookyr, r u referring to running ALL BFD as a re-wire or as a VST? i've been playing w/ it a little bit and it seems like if u run it as a re-wire, u get more flexability...

only thing is i'm trying to understand the BFD manual on how the mic outputs r routed so i know which outputs to select inside the Input Channel options. I know it's different depending on which version of BFD you're running, but i've got the BFD re-wire options set up to where it runs the re-wire application as BFD all.

SO... as long as i can get these channel lineups done right, the i'll be able to select them for each audio channel...

and i'm guessing that i should re-name each audio channel as to which kit piece the audio is coming from right? such as AUDIO CHANNEL 1 > KICK DRUM... AUDIO CHANNEL 2 > SNARE...and so on...

spookyrockstar · Post by **spookyrockstar** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:39 am

Ahh, I assumed you were running it as a VST.

I've never used it myself as a rewire client. But you ARE on the right mind of thinking when you are picking the input sources.

Here's how they're routed: (From memory)

Overhead

Ambient

PZM

Kick In

Kick Out

Snare Top

Snare Btm

Hi hat

tom 3

tom 2

tom 1

cym 1

cym 2

cym 3

.

Was that the part you're figuring out? Or am I missing the question...(sorry!)

thablakester · Post by **thablakester** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:43 am

nonono you're fine man! good info there. i'm just trying to make sure of the best way to go about separating the tracks for individual EQing... and i figure that using it as a re-wire would be the best way because when i do it as a VST, i don't really get the separate tracks (kit pieces) like i'm needing to. that is unless i'm doing something wrong.

either way, i'm definately on the right track here. when i do finally get each kit piece (or groups or pieces, whatever the case may be...) mapped out, then comes the fun of manipulating the sound to be just like i need/want.

i just figure there's some magic solution to all this, but it doesn't seem easy for someone whose learned almost everything from scratch and rtfm's...

spookyrockstar · Post by **spookyrockstar** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:10 am

You can get the separate pieces in a similar process from the way I described above. That's how I do it for VST use.

Although it *is* a PITA, maybe *I* should try the rewire route!

thablakester · Post by **thablakester** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:27 pm

PITA!?! that's hilarious. sorry, first time i've seen that used online. lol

right on right on

pabloaugustus · Post by **pabloaugustus** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:31 pm

this is an interesting thread, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has had trouble making BFD sound FAT. I personally feel like I wasted money and bought the wrong product when the sweetwater sales guy sold me on BFD. You get just a couple of drum kits and you have to spend a ton of time to get things to sound right. I start by boosting the overhead mic in BFD's mixer, makes everything sound more full. Thanks Spooky for the laying it down...I've read the manual a million times as well and haven't figured that stuff out yet.

....I just wish I would have bought battery! Spooky..do you feel like you're getting good sounds out of bfd? Are any of the expansions worth it? Should I sink any more money into this pit????

-Pablo

making the kick drum KICK

making the kick drum KICK

Re: making the kick drum KICK

kick drum part DUH