XR18 / X Air Kick starting point
Beginner Skill level for the five steps below.
Dial these in, then adjust by ear in the full mix. Solo it briefly, then judge it in the full mix. If the kick and bass are fighting, decide which one owns 50-70 Hz and cut that range slightly on the other. Headroom: drum hits peak much higher than they look, so keep the loudest peaks on the main LR a few dB below clipping.
1High-pass filter
30-50 Hz (start at 40)
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) low cut / HPF, not a screenshot. Drawn at 12 dB/oct; the shaded area is what gets cut. Drawn at 40 Hz, the middle of the card's 30-50 Hz.
Clears sub-rumble and stage thump below what the PA usefully reproduces, without touching the 50-80 Hz 'weight'.
On the XR18 / X Air: No surface: in X Air Edit (or Mixing Station), open the channel and use the Low Cut switch/frequency in the Config / Preamp area.
2Gate
Attack Fastest (0-1 ms, back off if it clicks) · Hold ~50 ms · Release 150-400 ms (shorter for a tighter kick)
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) gate screen, not a screenshot. The gate is optional here; the graph shows it in case you use it. Range drawn at 15 dB, the middle of the card's 10-20 dB. The threshold is an example only; set it by ear.
- Use
- Optional
- Threshold
- Just above the bleed from snare/toms
- Attack
- Fastest (0-1 ms, back off if it clicks)
- Hold
- ~50 ms
- Release
- 150-400 ms (shorter for a tighter kick)
- Range
- 10-20 dB (don't fully close)
A partial-range gate tightens the kick and cuts bleed without the unnatural 'chopped' sound of a full close.
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > Gate tab: enable, then Threshold, Range, Attack, Hold, Release. A key filter is available for frequency-conscious triggering.
3EQ
- LC 40 Hz, 12 dB/oct
- 1 Bell 60 Hz, +2.5 dB, Q 1.0
- 2 Bell 325 Hz, -6.0 dB, Q 1.8
- 3 Bell 3.75 kHz, +2.0 dB, Q 1.5
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) EQ screen, not a screenshot. Curve shows the midpoint of the suggested ranges; HPF drawn at 12 dB/oct.
| Frequency | Gain | Q / width | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50-70 Hz | +2 to +3 dB | Wide (~1) | Body/weight. Small boost; the PA and room usually supply plenty. |
| 250-400 Hz | -4 to -8 dB | Medium (~1.5-2) | The 'boxy', cardboard tone lives here. Cutting is usually more effective than boosting lows. |
| 2.5-5 kHz | +1 to +3 dB | Medium | Beater click so the kick reads in a dense mix and on small speakers. |
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > EQ tab: 4 parametric bands per input channel (shelf/peq modes on the outer bands).
4Compression
Attack 10-20 ms · Release ~100 ms (timing, not shown on graph)
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) compressor screen, not a screenshot. The card gives a ratio range (3:1 (go to 4:1 if needed)); the graph shows the first value, 3:1. The threshold is an example only: it is set so a −6 dB peak gets about 4.5 dB of gain reduction, the middle of the card's target. Set yours by ear while watching the gain reduction (GR) meter. Drawn hard-knee with no makeup gain. Attack and release shape timing and don't change this curve.
- Ratio
- 3:1 (go to 4:1 if needed)
- Attack
- 10-20 ms
- Release
- ~100 ms
- Gain reduction
- 3-6 dB
A slower attack lets the beater transient through, then evens out hit-to-hit level.
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > Dynamics tab: Threshold, Ratio, Knee, Attack, Hold, Release, makeup Gain and Mix (parallel).
5FX send
None / dry
Keep dry: no FX send.
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) sends view, not a screenshot. Bus numbering depends on how the venue file is patched; set the level by ear.
Kick reverb muddies the low end in most clubs.
On the XR18 / X Air: X Air has 4 internal FX slots fed by dedicated FX sends (FX1-4) on every channel; set the send level on the channel's Sends tab and bring FX returns up on the FX return faders.
🎧 What to listen for
Solo it briefly, then judge it in the full mix. If the kick and bass are fighting, decide which one owns 50-70 Hz and cut that range slightly on the other. Headroom: drum hits peak much higher than they look, so keep the loudest peaks on the main LR a few dB below clipping.
Common gear for Kick
- Shure Beta 52A · Kick mic
- AKG D112 MKII · Kick mic
- Audix D6 · Kick mic
Scene / preset file
Coming later: downloadable XR18 / X Air channel preset for this card.
Sources
- Sweetwater InSync: Making your kick drum and bass line sit nicely together in the mix
- Sweetwater InSync: How to EQ (Almost) Anything
- Sweetwater InSync: EQ Frequencies of Musical Instruments Explained (Music Instrument Frequency Cheatsheet)
- Shure: Microphone Techniques for Live Sound Reinforcement (PDF)
- Behringer X Air (XR18) User Manual (PDF, Config/Gate/EQ/Dynamics tabs)
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