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Ben Eklund
A subkick microphone is simply a woofer (typically 6" to 8") rewired into microphone used to capture the weight, or low end, of a kick drum for a recording. Since a woofer's natural frequency response is usually about 40 Hz to about 1 kHz, a woofer adequately captures the low, rumbling frequencies of a kick drum that cheaper bass drum microphones don't pick up as cleanly. A kick drum recording can certainly be EQ'd to add that low-end thunder that moves the dance floor at your favorite nightclub. However, as I wrote in my previous post, drastic changes in EQ should often be corrected at the source. One could certainly run a kick drum track through his or her favorite EQ plug-in and jack up the lowest frequencies, but unless those frequencies were captured well by a good microphone, the kick may become muddy and unclear. It certainly won't pack that desired chest-thumping weight. That's where a subkick microphone enters the picture.
My friend Matt, an avid and skilled drummer in his own right, brought up the idea of building and experimenting with a subkick. He found the wiring schematic on the internet, and realized it was easy to build; it was also very inexpensive to make (Yamaha's $400 price tag for their subkick microphone is deceiving). He bought a 6” woofer, and we went to work. The most important step we took in wiring the microphone was soldering three resistors into the signal path. Since the input signal of a kick drum is very hot, resistors are necessary to reduce the signal to a safe level for recording. I have posted a few pictures of our quick assembly.
When everything was properly wired and securely connected, we placed a regular bass drum mic in the sound hole of the bass drum. We placed the subkick microphone about six inches away from the front of the bass drum, and fired up Tracktion to prepare to record. We used both microphones with the intention of mixing the two together and using the subkick strictly for the lower frequencies. Because of the difference in placement distance, both recorded tracks had to be lined up in Tracktion to bring everything in phase.
We recorded a live jam with me on guitar. I used just the drum track for the purposes of posting a demo of the subkick. Two clips have been added to the audio section of my blog: one without the subkick, and one with the subkick mixed in.
Now that we have a working subkick, we are going to attach an XLR input jack to the speaker and take other steps to clean up the wiring. We are also going to experiment with a polarity switch and a gain knob to give us more control over our subkick mic.
