Drum Frequencies of Kick Bass Drum, Hi Hats, Snare and Crash Cymbals

Hi, I’ve subscribed to your website and it has really been helpful. I am based in Africa and in my country there isn’t any legitimate sound engineering school. I’ve been making beats for about 8 years now. I would like to know the basic standard frequencies for:

The Kick drums (hip hop and RnB)
The Hi-Hats
The snare
The crash cymbal

Thank you
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My reply:

Theory about central frequency of every drum instrument

Thank you for writing and subscribing to www.audiorecording.me. First let give you a theory about central (or fundamental) frequencies which are discussed in the musical instrument frequency range analysis. The frequency response of any drum instrument can be approximated by this graph:

At Emax is where the central frequency of the instrument will be located. This is the strongest and dominant frequency that you should know. The purpose is to have your EQ adjustments to be as accurate and effective as possible. Central frequency is what gives the drum instrument a distinct and identifiable sound in the mix. Kick and bass drum tends to have central frequencies in the bass/subwoofer frequency range. Snare drums tend to have its central frequency in the mid-frequency range. And finally hi-hats and cymbals tend to have its central frequency in the upper frequency range (treble).

However, the central frequency at Emax is DIFFERENT for EVERY DRUM RECORDING SESSION. This is because recording techniques have strong influence on the final/resulting instrument sound. Like how you place the microphone in the bass drum could affect its central frequency response. If you put the microphone nearer to the kick pedal, it tends to have different sound than placing the microphone significantly farther. Another example is the way how you put the microphone on the snare drum. Also the type and skin of the snare drum can also affect the resulting central frequency. And even different brands of drum kit can have different sound. This goes to say that:

“Central frequencies of drum instruments at which you can cut and boost using EQ depends on the recorded material, the type of drum materials used and the manner how they are recorded”

Therefore; there is no fixed and general EQ/frequency rule that applies to all drum recordings. If you attempt to generalize frequencies for all of your drum tracks during mixing, you cannot fix EQ problems effectively. The primary reason is that each of the drum tracks might be recorded using different techniques that results to different resulting sound. So how can you be so sure that you are adjusting the correct central frequency?

First Method: Perform Frequency Spectrum Analysis

The first approach is that you can perform an audio spectrum analysis on your recorded drum tracks to check the central frequency. This is mostly available in most recording software. This will give a plot of frequency vs. amplitude. The highest peaks in the graph are the central frequencies that you can cut and boost using parametric EQ. For example this is the frequency spectrum analysis result of a bass hip hop/RN’B drum:

As you have observed, the highest peaks occur somewhere 30Hz to 50Hz. On the average, the central frequency is somewhat around 40Hz. Also looking at the chart; the effective range of this specific bass drum is somewhere 20Hz to 200Hz as it occupies almost the entire bass frequency spectrum. It seems to be strongest at 40Hz. During audio mixing, you might cut the bass drum frequencies above 100Hz (they are not as important as the central frequency) to make it a hole for the bass guitar or synth to sit in the mix.

If you take another bass drum or kick drum sample from another song or from your friends track, you will notice that it might have different central frequency such as 50Hz or even 70Hz. So it’s good to check using frequency analysis to make sure you are adjusting the correct frequency. Now this is the frequency spectrum analysis of hi hats:

It shows that this specific hi hat recording is strongest at 10000Hz. Like kick drums, the recording approach of hi hats can influence the resulting central frequency. In this case, other hi-hats have central frequency of more than 10000Hz. One way to check is to perform frequency analysis of the recorded hi hat material. To continue, below is the frequency analysis for snare drums:

It seems to be strongest on 200Hz. Again take note that this central frequency depends on how the snare drum is recorded. For other snare drum tracks; you might get an entirely different central frequency such as 500Hz or 2000Hz. Finally this is crash cymbal frequency response:

If you have observed, there are two central frequencies. The first occur at 500Hz while the other 10,000Hz. In actual audio mixing of crash cymbals; the one that is used will be the 10,000Hz while the 500Hz will be cut using EQ. Frequency spectrum analysis helps you decide which frequencies are important to that specific drum instrument and which are the ones that will be cut during mixing. By emphasizing what are important and not important frequencies using EQ techniques, you can have a well sounded drum sound in your mix.

Second Method: Notch Filtering Technique

Sometimes you do not want to use frequency spectrum analysis and decide to use notch filtering technique to find instrument frequencies. This works by sweeping through the entire frequency range using a parametric EQ and using your ear to spot at what frequency the instrument sounds gets severely affected. This is where the central frequency will be found. Feel free to search for more drum recording and mixing information on this blog using the search box.

Content last updated on June 20, 2012