Making the Orchestral Bass Drum sound "sexier"....

Hi all,

I'm working on my Autoload....and am now at the Orchestral Bass Drum (Gran Cassa) ....

Ok........I've got a big ole' plate verb on the Bass Drum (and of course I made sure that the plate does NOT have low-end to avoid mud)

Now ..........let's talk EQing the Gran Cassa.......

Mind you I EQ very little on Orchestra....(usually pull down about 3.0db at 375Hz with a broad q on the Stereo Buss, since mid-buildup gets a bit much and this makes things alot more clear........so subtractive EQing)

However the Gran Cassa is a special case and for modern scoring low-end is a big deal.......

Anyone care to share some Eq curves and Dynamic processing techniques of the Gran Cassa...

I'm thinking along the lines of a hyped low-end....like Howard Shore in "Copland"
It is eluding me....rrrrrrrrr

Here is the curve I have going on the Gran Cassa using the Channel EQ ...

104 Hz +5db Q 4.0
290 Hz -9db Q 2.60
4650 Hz +7db Q 2.0 (hi shelving)

It's there but not quite... I really want the Orhestral Bass Drum sound to be "organic", so I am shying away from stacking it with an electronic sine BOOM.....BUT I am looking for more BOOM.

thoughts anyone ?

SvK

G5 Dual 2Ghz with 8 gig, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on May 27, 2006 10:10 PM

44 replies

xs4is

Level 4

2,800 points

May 29, 2006 4:45 PM in response to Steven von Kampen

ahem...Sorry about the NY...I meant Manhattan...ahem

Thanks for the tips Steven. You have inspired me.

X

May 29, 2006 5:51 PM in response to Steven von Kampen

In truth the actual composition takes about a 10th of the time that making it sound "real" does............the danger always exists that you are polishing a "turd".....so it is imperative to make sure that the chord progression and hook,really satisfies you prior to embarking on the long, tedious journey of "realism".

words out of my own mouth, couldn't have expressed it better myself!

thanks steve.

iSchwartz

Level 5

4,321 points

May 29, 2006 6:10 PM in response to David Robinson9

And then there's this musing-to-self, fresh out of my brain from today...

"The Garritan Solo 1 bassoon speaks well in most registers but low notes are late... hmmm... Do I want to replay it or... OK, maybe I'll try the other Garritan bassoon "players"... (load them up, set up the multi, try them all out)... nope, that first one is still the best. How about EWQLSO? (Load it up, adjust it to get rid of the room). Nope, still sounds too roomy even with all the schmutz taken off... How about...

And on and on it goes...

Still, there can be great joy when it does all come together.

🙂

Well, back to my bassoons...

xs4is

Level 4

2,800 points

May 29, 2006 6:41 PM in response to iSchwartz

Someday, I hope that to be me...

X

May 29, 2006 6:55 PM in response to xs4is

Then,

there is the other MAJOR problem.........about 1/2 way through to the composition starting to resemble, something real sounding..........

.........you get totally sick of it, you can't tell, if it's good bad....."we'll i liked it when I first sarted"

"I'm a horrible composer"

"What was I thinking"

"Why are they paying me to do this? Can't they tell how horrible i truly am?"

"Why can't God just bless me with the right combination of notes that will move EVERYONE just this once!"

SvK

xs4is

Level 4

2,800 points

May 29, 2006 6:53 PM in response to Steven von Kampen

Take out the word composer and add anything that I've ever tried to accomplish (and fumble around with the last sentence...) and you've just explained my life!

LOL!

X

iSchwartz

Level 5

4,321 points

May 29, 2006 7:44 PM in response to xs4is

Ah, yes, SVK, the ol' self-doubt.

I usually feel better as a composer when I (finally) begin to thin out the extraneous BS from my compositions/orchestrations. I call that process decomposing.

🙂

May 29, 2006 9:19 PM in response to iSchwartz

i know what you mean, and you can't edit the individual clips to get the notes to play on time. not a problem if they're EXS24 types.
i reckon these other GUIs slow logic down but give the manufacturer some copy protection. every exs patch i've got, i've gone in a edited the "dead air/start time". improves performance. lot of work, mind you.
good luck with the bassoons.

iSchwartz

Level 5

4,321 points

May 29, 2006 9:50 PM in response to David Robinson9

Hi David,

Thanks! I think I solved the bassoon dilemma. Going with the Garritans after all. I've shifted the worst offender notes early and it's sounding good. Now I'm on to harpsichords, but fortunately I only have the one patch LOL!

Yeah, Garritan... I guess I shouldn't complain for the price tag, but boy oh boy do I wish I could edit those samples...

😉

May 30, 2006 5:12 AM in response to Steven von Kampen

about 1/2 way through to the composition starting to resemble, something real sounding..........

.........you get totally sick of it, you can't tell, if it's good bad....."we'll i liked it when I first sarted"

dear god i relate to that - and the "polishing the turd" theorem (i think it qualifies as that).

i worry that i dwell too much on the production and constantly want to tweak it, when the most important thing is how catchy it is - is it catchy enough? is it absolutely world beating? is it original enough? - i don't want to do the same old thing as everyone else.

lots and lots of hand wringing.

and then some cues other people love, i wince in embarassment. and the deadline looms and you have to let things through you would much rather not. i need a drink....

May 30, 2006 5:14 AM in response to xs4is

thanks man - too kind.

yeah - i particularly like the chapel. i'll have a clip of it up on my heavily revised site soon.

Dr. Chet

Level 1

39 points

May 30, 2006 10:28 AM in response to Steven von Kampen

Steven,

Wow, those clips sound GREAT! What a lesson in how good this stuff can sound.

Geez, I guess I can't keep blaming my gear ... 😉

Chet

Dr. Chet

Level 1

39 points

May 30, 2006 10:47 AM in response to Rohan Stevenson1

Rohan,

What wonderful music. Thank you for posting the URL for your demos. I've just spent way more time than I should have listening to them. I really like Nefertiti Beauty, to name just one.

I really enjoyed your string quartet too. That's a real quartet playing, right?

Great stuff!

Chet

May 30, 2006 10:54 AM in response to Steven von Kampen

the booom aint really living a 104 hz - 104 is more like buhh :-))) u may wanna loog at the octaves between 35 an 80 herz - boost those a little and take out some around 110 -130 - u should not have to do more than about 2 - 2.5 db of booting or cutting.....If so - maybe u ought to look into another samle or reposition your mic next time - also if u want it to sound distant maybe cut alittle of those 1.8 - 3.2 KHZ - maybe 1.5 db. or so....

May 30, 2006 7:57 PM in response to Steven von Kampen

yeah...you compose in one mind, polish the sounds in another, and then evolve into the next day, into a different mind.

But these clips are great, holding and developing great thoughts, keeping us interested. Reminds me of Berlioz driving us forward with his melodies, those long developing ones that keep going past where you begin to think they will stop and keep us interested 'till the end.

Excellent, exciting work.

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Making the Orchestral Bass Drum sound "sexier"....