Thank you, I really really appreciate your time and energy in creating this video.

Dude, this is killer! Great job. And yes the difference is remarkable. I have an old home theater style speaker, the long kind, that I'll be experimenting with real soon. I'm loving the videos.

Man, you're really an inspiration to me. Thanks a lot for your great videos. I love your attention to details and that you cover them in your videos, so there's not so much to ask about in comments! :) Cheers!

I used my Princeton reverb amp today as a sub kick mic. It sounds insanely good in front of old Ludwig kick drum. Thanks Ryan, earlier I didn't realize that I could use my amps so easily as sub kick!

Love your videos. Keep it up. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

It makes sense. The cabinet adds mass and more mass, moves more vibrations into the speaker, which ultimately increases the volume. Plus, guitar cabinets are designed to be somewhat resonant. Guitars players talk endlessly about how cabinet construction and materials influences tone. So it isn't a stretch that using a guitar cabinet will add something good. I'm gonna have to give this a try.

Wow, this is amazing! Thanks man, really helpful.

Hello raian, greetings from argentina, your channel motivated me to experiment and leave a little of the box, I did this test placing the speaker in an old tone and a speaker of an amp and the result is amazing, I keep recording batteries without this , Thank you

Man if you just didn't speak during those 2-3 seconds of transition in which my brain can actually elaborate the A-B comparison... Anyway, kicking when playing is a lot different than kicking when sanding in a uncomfortable position to hold the speaker, so I don't think this is a superfair comparison.

You can use a snare drum stand turned sideways to hold that speaker 🔈 it really works very well .

great video. im having a hell of a time mixing some pre-recorded kick samples & it shows how much ya need that microphone doing work before you fix it after its recorded.

The cabinet holds the speaker more firmly than your hand. More acoustic energy could be translated into signal. Fascinating video. Thank you very much.

Great work Ryan, I've been doing this for a while. You can make it better by putting the guitar cabinet on some firm foam. That way the wood on the cabinet is decoupled from the floor and the kick drum right next to it (which will be vibrating the cabinet and possibly affecting the speaker movement). For me it took things up another level. Very subtle but worth it in my opinion...

Well I love your channel, and just to throw my experience in the comments I have been tracking drums (on and off) for the last couple of weeks and am thrilled to see you are doing the same! What I want to contribute is that i use a 1x12 bass combo in its bass reflex enclosure - di box - sound desk, and i low pass it at 150. It just sounds killer and outputs a ton of signal so beware of clipping!

Mind blown! Thanks!

Thanks Ryan!

THANK U 4 UR EXAMPLES HERE.. EDUCATING MY DRUMMER ON THIS STUFF.. BLESSINGS..

Great video! Can't wait to try it. Any advice on type of speaker? Guitar, bass, other? I know you used an organ speaker... BTW, recent bought a WA76 after seeing you use it and getting curious. I LOVE IT!

I have heard that the material of the speaker cone greatly affects the sound of the sub kick.... The preference, because of the yamaha being a monitor speaker, is a rubber like cone. I have tested it against paper cones and they sound much tighter. Also, I would put the sub kick a littler higher (closer to center of the drum) because that's where most of the vibration is headed from the beater. It makes it more responsive and fat.

Hey! awesome technique!! definitely gonna try it out :D is this the way you tracked your sub-bass track in the audio files? or it's another technique? Thank you! and keep going with this awesome series... this videos are just amazing.

Beautiful

My apologies if I missed it but di you have a list of the parts required (other than the speaker cabinet) and a schematic of the proper way to wire it?

Hello Ryan, I experimented this trick last year when I was thinking of building a Subkick. I tested various small speakers without good results. I tested an old crazy semi closed 12 inch 3,8 ohm speaker from a tube amped film projector a friend gave me. The enclosure is not very tidy closed : you can open it to roll cables inside. I tested it and finally I was happy with the tons of sub I can get out of it. That's why I let it like that without building a new enclosure or a stand with speaker suspention. I didn't tested with a DI but only pluged a guitar cable directly in a line input on my console. There is more than enough juice to drive a line input. Be gentle with the gain pot ! I got a very fat low end sound you can blend with various all purpose mics not designed specifically for kick or bass.

NICE! Thank you very much The best regards Big Hugs from Brazil :)

Definitly I'm gonna try

Outstanding!!!!! Zen master!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Odd that I stumbled upon this without looking because, I have a old NS-10 lying around and was literally thinking of just sitting the cabinet in from of my kick and connecting a cable from its speaker input and using it as a sub kick. I wonder what, if any, effect the crossover and tweeter will have on its signal?

Hey Ryan! Really enjoyed te video and I'm definitely gonna try it soon, but I'm always kinda running short on inputs. So I'm wondering, if it works with a Di box it would also work with an instrument level input right?

Hey, great tips. Whats the name of the song?

Hello Ryan! If I recall correctly, Eric Valentine uses a NS10 monitor, without detaching the speaker as a subkick. I love your videos, keep on going!

Hey so I have a PA speaker cab in the practice room, it has banana plugs going in to it from the amp. My question is could I make a banana plug to 1/4 cable and run it in to the di box without having to open up the cabinet?

Ha......November 2015! I love me some "back-issues" of Creative Sound Lab...... So, back when I first heard of the "sub-kick" technique, first it reminded me of when my sister and I managed to kill our second mic. In order to record together, we needed something else to use and had no money (or at least no money that wasn't going directly to drugs), and so we decided to try a set of old headphones. Now, we were using a Tascam 4 track (cassette machine) that only had mono 1/4" inputs, and of course, headphones have a stereo 1/4" jack. This meant only one side worked, I don't remember which side, but either way, we had this really unique sort of "large-diaphragm dynamic mic" that sounded a lot like a ribbon. I would later pull out the element from that one side and solder in a 10 foot mono 1/4" and also experiment with making internally mounted acoustic guitar pickups out of smaller headphones, and then eventually, I would take a specific set of Sony headphones (MDR NC-7's I think) and use one as a permanently attached mic on the grille of my dad's Ampeg Jet, and then the older headphone that I used as a fake ribbon mic would be mounted into a plastic case from one of those dollar-store "echo mic" toys (I took the spring out, in hindsight maybe I should've left it in as like a built in spring reverb for that home-made mic). So anyway, fast-forward several years, I am experimenting again, this time we are recording with a fostex R8 (so we have enough tracks to do live drums and still have bass, double-tracked guitars and vocals), but we do NOT have a kick drum. All we had was a hat and a snare. So I take an old Jensen P-15 and wire it up as if I was going to use it as a sub-kick, intending to stretch a piece of rubber over the front of the frame, but couldn't get it to stay. So instead, I just lightly tapped it with my fingertip and used that sound as the bass drum. It went into a little home-made impedance box thing my dad gave us (not a guitar DI box, but it took an 8 ohm speaker and made it a much higher impedance) and then to an ART compressor (and we squashed it hard) and then to a guitar eq pedal, set with a tight but subtle scoop to it. It came out sounding so cool, I ended up having to let my friend Aaron borrow it to sample it as an alternate bass drum sound for his electronic music. It also sounds DRASTICALLY different depending on what part of the cone you tap, and how hard. I am going to wire up another one (I think I even have a P15-R upstairs) just so I can record it and send it to you. You will be amazed. . . . assuming you haven't already tried tapping the cone while you already had it wired up. I mean, just think of the sound when you tap a mic ("Testing? Is this thing on?"), and then imagine that sound being much bigger and deeper. I think I might also want to start ripping apart older headphones again too, the ones with relatively stiff paper cones actually make a really nice, smooth sounding mic for many different applications. I got smoke coming out my ears right now!!! Holy shit, I just ate up half your wall with this comment. Sorry, been smoking and fixing the dryer all day, so now I am a bit ..... well, you know.

thanks for another great video Ryan. The song sounds great, very very similar to an album called "Hombre Lobo" by the band Eels, my favourite band you and Flint should check them out! I was wondering about the mix contest you mentioned in a few of your earlier videos has it already happened? I'd love to have a crack at mixing one of your uniquely recorded songs.

Difference in sound could be that you're further from the center of the resonant head, but it sounds fine in a cabinet, so might as well do it the easy way. More interested in how this compares to a bass guitar cabinet (1x15 maybe). And if it's a cab and not a combo, just a regular cable should work from the cab to the DI box.

Hey man! I'm new to your channel but from what I've seen so far, this is some really cool stuff you've got going. I gotta ask: how did you get the vocals in the first clip to sound like that?

Today my drummer and I were building a diy subkick out of a 12/2 monitor speaker in its closed cabinet. We soldered the lead directly to the ts-female output and we used a D.I. as you did in your video. And there was a pretty good signal, regarding the volume. But ot sounded and looked virtually like a sine wave at 120Hz. What could possibly the reason for such a behaviour?

I have a very crappy guitar amp speaker. One which you get in a guitar "starters pack". It is 4Ohms, about 8" and right now I have a guitar plug soldered to it. But it doesn't work well since I do not have a re-amp box or whatever that green box in the video does. So my question is, is it worth to pretty much ruin a XLR cable on it or is it better to search for a more capable speaker? Thanks in advance.

Do you need the di box? Could you just use a 1/4” - xlr cable?

First of all, thanks for all this stuff you share. Im really digging your tips. They are totally honest, natural and usefull. Im wondering why you chose an AlNiCo speaker and not a Ceramic speaker. Is there a reason? Did you compare and prefer it? I also have an AlNiCo speaker laying around and looking forward to using a sub-kick for my next recording, as also much of your recording philosophy tips you share ;) Thanks! Mauro from Argentina.

thanks for reading all of these books and interpreting them for us lol, i think im gonna give you money this summer

How did you create the sub kick

Can a blown speaker be used for sub kick? will it pass signal?

Cool :) Do you know what size the speaker should have to get the best result? Would it work with a studio monitor, or do I risk damaging it in any way?

The best way to mount a speaker bare is use one of those short folding guitar stands.

You were playing OUT of the bassdrum when the speaker was in the enclosure and INTO the bassdrum when you were holding it. Obviously when you muffle the drum by burying the beater you kill the low end. I'll definitely check this technique out, finding a subkick that you don't have to hold or build contraptions for is getting difficult. Thanks for the tip!

You can buy a baffle and mount it to a stand. Plus have multiple sized, shaped , open and closed enclosure it could be mounted. Also try it with bass please.

would this do anything to a floortom

I was wondering if you'd ever tried this technique recording another guitar speaker? For example I have a 12 inch Eminence Swamp Thang - if I had 2 of these and set one up exactly facing my guitar cab to record the sound, would it capture the qualities and tonality of my speaker better than a small dynamic mic on a small part of the speaker cone? Could be interesting!

Name of the band and song, please! :)

Have you ever thought of placing a sub kick on other drums? Or maybe even capturing multiple drums at once with it? Or would it be just useless?

I first thought it might be better to use bass cab, but then i remembered pepople often make subkicks from NS10s which intentionally have little bass....So is it working inversely and actually better to have a tiny bass-less speaker for this? I'm considering trying my 6" lunchbox amp speaker vs. a portaflex cab and seeing what is best!

Cool! I'm gonna try a closed back 12" cab when my roomate wakes up...

cool content Ryan ! i'm just curios if you ever tried this: Speaker - Speaker wire - 1/4 TS Plug - DI Box (PAD) - preamp in ( of your guitar amp) - preamp out (if not available the poweramp out should also do it) - preamp in (of your interface). i think it would be a cool way to use the EQ to colorize the sound. Just thought about that while watching your video :) i'm going to try this when my studio is ready.

What Ohm was that speaker? I would like to experiment with some car speakers which are likely 8ohm.

cool trick. I'll need to give this a try. I've been sending my kick to a gated 40hz sine wave.

Thnak you

Hi Ryan, do you know if the speaker size or ohms make any effect or diference on the sound?

How about an enclosed ported and non ported?

Cool, pitch is notably higher outside cab, I guess the cab must be acting as a resonator.

Hi Ryan! tell me please, in which cases do you use subkick mic?

What if your not Bob Vila and can't build a wooden frame for it why can't I put it inside the drum on top of some kind of bass cushioning would it still have the same effect going to try it though

Do you think you get a fuller sound compared to the Yamaha Subkick because of the increase in speaker cone surface area or because of other factors (cabinet mass or accoustics)?

So I used to work with this engineer who took an 8" working combo amp and had a custom wire he said that just plugged into the 1/4" back of the combo and terminated with an XLR to the preamp/interface. But I've no idea if that's right or if he had some other shit happening because I was in training at the time. But I distinctly remember it, because I thought how cool is that."We can try out every cab we got here to see which one sounds the best without ripping out the speakers and having to Sauter everything!" Have you heard of anything like this, or tried it? Asked around Gearlutz and that was a Ghost Town with hundreds of views! I absolutly suck with any hadyman stuff, as I tried it already by crossing the wires and couldn't get the cord to work. Don't really know how to Sauter anyway, and I think I forgot where the wires went to...LOL. I should be ashamed, but I'm not! Too damn old to be now;). Just really want to figure this out, as I've got this great idea and want to try it on this record I've got coming up in a few weeks!

You would get an even richer sound if the cab was completely enclosed, with a back. The 'magic' of a speaker is the counter forces presented by the waves and 3rd harmonics from the enclosure itself. I would get the sound from the speaker, alone AND also, I would mic the cabinet. Mix the 3 together. You will have better lows and mids. Have not tested this on drums. I did test this on guitar enclosures in the early 70's.

clever

hell yea

Your vids are cool and helpful but I wish you'd played examples that weren't constantly hitting the floor tom. Makes it difficult to properly hear the kick characteristics. The isolated stuff was cool though.

Why are you using a DI box? Can I use it without?

If someone can clarify, is the speaker just connected to the JDI and then the T15?

DIY FTW. Personally, I prefer the cab'ed kick mic overall, but that's assuming single kick. For metal or any other double kick I would probably prefer without the enclosure because it would be mud.

Do you need the DI Box?

I'm a huge sub kick fan, I have two DIY versions. I would recommend this project to anyone after a big kick sound.

This is probably more work then it's worth, but it popped in my head and you have been warned! ;) What if you use the coil from a speaker, glue it to the kick skin and mount "rigidly mind you" the magnet to a stand. Line the coil and the magnet where they slide easily making the kick skin the speaker. Or technically the whole kick drum becomes the mic. "True instrument capture!" You said think outside the box! Just saying...

a small company on reverb.com is makin subkicks! anyone try one yet?

Awesome job, dude, but you talk too much sometimes. I know there are a lot things to be covered, but this video could have around 5 minutes.