Eric Valentine creates a punchy and clear kick drum sound using a combination of gating, EQ, compression, and multiband distortion.
He starts by gating the inside kick mic with FabFilter Pro-G to ensure tightness and prevent bleed from other drum elements. He then uses the Massenburg MDW5B EQ to high-pass at 270Hz, focusing the inside mic solely on the attack.
Valentine adds multiband distortion with FabFilter Saturn, targeting the mids and high mids to enhance the kick's click and presence. Having no distortion in the low-end avoids intermodulation distortion, resulting in a crisp and exciting high-end. The multiband distortion is followed by a Soundtoys Decapitator for additional subtle distortion.
For the outside kick mic, he applies similar gating and EQ techniques, scooping out 278Hz and boosting at 40Hz to add weight. By using the same multiband distortion settings on both mics, he maintains phase consistency, ensuring they sum correctly without unwanted cancellations.