Where's the kick drum?

goanlisten

goanlisten

Active Member
Hi, I'm a regular on some of the equipment forums and this is my first attempt here because I feel the question I'm about to ask has better relevance here.

I'm listening to some "pop" music from a "Roy Orbison" CD and notice on some songs the absence of a kick drum - I have decent quality speakers that have no problems reproducing a kick drum (not faithfully I'll bet). So I put on my high quality headphones and....... No kick drum. So my question is this:

Were kick drums masked out of some recordings (perhaps vinyl) on purpose and why? Or did they not use kick drums for a reason?

....And since then, I've also heard other popular music of that era 55's - 60's that has clear double bass (instrument) definition but lack kick drums. That leads me to my next question:

Does the kick drum produce lower frequency tone than a double bass?

Thanks,
 
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From your description it sounds like a production choice.

Close micing bass drums wasn't always a standard practice in that era though.
 
I'll second production, but add that bass frequencys on vinyl take up more of the material, and thus, more space...but i've never had much problem with that:scratch2: maybe look it up and see if that certain release has anything different about it :dunno:
 
goanlisten said:
Does the kick drum produce lower frequency tone than a double bass?
Click to expand...

Not usually. Or better said, not unless the bass drum is a large concert type bass drum. Even then, it still might be higher than the lowest note on a bass. The kick drums you hear as part of a drum kit do not reach down as low as a bass can.
 
Not all bands used bass drums all the time. Some times they were going for the "old, poor band" sound. They would use just a snare drum or sometimes a substitute for the snare drum.
 
Roy Orbison's Monument era recordings didn't have close miked drums let alone kick drums on them. Remember these were 3 track recordings and not very heavily miked or overdubbed. Old school simple Nashville recording done at RCA Studio B in Nashville (Bill Porter or Tommy Strong at the controls). Very heavenly sounding. Just about any old 1960's Monument record is audio heaven. Try some Boots Randolph on Monument especially Yakety Sax for demonstration worthy recordings for cheap.
 
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