The kick drum big three: boom, smack, click

These are three key elements that can be used to describe the sound of a kick drum.

Boom is where the low end thud of the kick drum comes from. You can find a cleaner, modern sound boosting around the 50-60Hz area. A more traditional, ringing boom will be found a bit higher, perhaps in the 100Hz range. I typically use a normal, peaking band for the boom but you can experiment with a low shelving band here if your kick drum is lacking girth. Be careful not to overdo it with the shelf though, things can get blurry fast in the sub frequency ranges.

Smack is the primary attack of the kick drum. This is the frequency range that helps the ear identify individual kick drum hits. I like to start my search for smack in the 3-5kHz range. Microphones specifically tailored to kick drums will often have a bit of a presence bump somewhere in this range. I always use a peaking band for the smack and keep the Q parameter in the 1 to 1.5 range.

Click is exactly what you think it is. At first thought you might not attribute click as a quality desired in a kick drum sound. Click works in conjunction with smack to help bring a kick drum through a dense mix. This is the sound of the beater actually hitting the drum head. You can find the click up around the 6-8kHz range. A peaking band works well on the click (Q around 1.5) but a high shelf can be used to enhance the bleed of the snare wires in the kick drum mic.

Mud is not one of the big three because it is a bad thing! We want the opposite of mud in our mix, especially on the kick drum. You remove some of the mud and clean up your kick drum sound by cutting a thin band in the 250-300Hz range. I will often use a peaking band with the Q set to around 3.

Kick drum big three eq quick chart

More boom (modern) +6dB at 50Hz
More boom (solid, classic) +6dB at 100Hz
More smack (attack) +7dB at 3.5kHz
More click (beater) +6dB at 6.0kHz

Kick drum eq recipes

Start here to get a solid, full kick drum sound with plenty of click
• Band 1: +6dB at 55Hz
• Band 2: -9dB at 275Hz (narrow)
• Band 3: +7dB at 3.7kHz
• Band 4: +8dB at 6.2kHz shelf

Start here to get a more traditional kick drum sound
• Band 1: +6dB at 100Hz
• Band 2: -10dB at 800Hz (narrow)
• Band 3: +6dB at 1.5kHz
• Band 4: +6dB at 7.0kHz shelf

Start here to get a ringy bottom end with less attack
• Band 1: +6dB at 100Hz
• Band 2: -5dB at 250Hz (narrow)
• Band 3: +3dB at 4.0kHz
• Band 4: +3dB at 10.0kHz shelf

Kick drum compression recipes

If I have a very consistent drummer with great dynamics then I often will skip compressing the kick drum at all. Sometimes you need to bring up the sustain or level out an uneven performance or you might be looking for the ultra compressed modern sound.

Reduction level is the amount your kick drum is being compressed. All good compressors have some kind of meter or way to gauge your signal reduction. This will sometimes be labeled gain reduction or will just be a meter that seems to work backwards, going down or showing negative values on each kick drum hit. You should be able to see the reduction increase (more into the negative range) as you lower the threshold of the compressor. I like to get about -3dB of gain reduction for subtle kick drum compression. I’m not afraid to get the gain reduction up to -10dB or higher when necessary though. You don’t have a reduction level control on your compressor. You adjust the threshold control until you are getting your desired reduction level.

Kick drum compression recipes

Subtle kick drum compression
• Ratio: 3:1 or 4:1
• Attack: 4ms
• Release: 200ms
• Threshold: adjust for about 3-6dB gain reduction

More “in your face” kick drum compression
• Ratio: 6:1
• Attack: 3ms
• Release: 200ms
• Threshold: adjust for about 8-10dB gain reduction

Drum processing plugins for your DAW

When it comes to plugins I am a big fan of Waves processors. If you are using moderately capable DAW software it probably came with some eq and a compressor. Using those will get you fine results. If you want to step up to what a lot of pros are using and take your home studio recording to the next level then Waves processors will make a good investment. Their software plugins are top notch, stable, sound great, and the company stands by its products and customers.