im an up and coming producer out of west texas and i do alot of r&b/southern hip hop. im developing my own sound so i was wondering what yall think about this scenario...

ok so i have a 808 kick drum with a tail on it, i'd like to "hear" the rumbling in the sub as well as feel it so i eq'd it like this

7.0db @ 50hz
6.0db @ 44hz
4.5db @ 88hz with a sharp point---
and rolled off freq above 3khz

compressed it like crazy, then set my limiter to -8.0

now i hear the rumbling and feel the bass but its not peaking...is this ok? kinda new at engineering as well

IMO you're OK to do as you please but keep in mind what you're using to listen to it. If your speakers or headphones have irregularities in the response and you 'fix' if to sound right on that system, it may be not be so good on a different system. Your boost seems a bit 'aggressive' to me in that you're using a fair amount of boost at a rapid slope meaning you've increased 1dB between 44 and 50 Hz. Does it shelve at 7dB or does it continue rising? At what maximum boost? And _does_ it shelve at some frequency? Does your listening system reproduce the low bass you want to hear when using other commercial recordings?

Lots of questions above my pay grade but you might help us out by posting some samples of your work. Lots of folks here could give excellent advice.

G²

However it is probably obligatory to link to gearslutz and REP too. You'll probably get advice from far more mixing/mastering engineers there than here

Somewhere I saw a list of "recommended" EQ/compressor settings for various instruments. But I couldn't find it just now... (I think it was mostly for "real" instruments.)

Even though engineers and producers might have some default starting-point settings, in the end, it's all done by ear.

If the drum track is the first track you're working on, I wouldn't worry about getting it "perfect" just yet. You want a good sound... you don't want to start-off with a bad sound... but you will probably need to tweak the EQ and compression "in context" with the other tracks... A track that sounds perfect solo may not sound perfect in the mix.

You need good monitors in a good room. If you have (or can get your hands on) a Real Time Analyzer to adjust the EQ of your monitors/room, that would be a bonus. Since you're focusing on bass, you probably need a good subwoofer, matched & calibrated to your monitors... A good "smooth" sub, not a "boomy" sub.

Most producers/engineers keep a "reference CD" handy. Its' just a good sounding CD that they are familiar with that has music similar to what they are working on. The main purpose of the reference CD is to "calibrate your ears". After listening for awhile, you become accustom to whatever you're listening to and it's easy to misadjust something or over-do an effect. Comparing with your reference once in a while helps to re-calibrate your ears and keep things sounding "reasonable".

Another thing most producers/engineers do is listen on several different systems. When everything sounds good in the studio, they will make a CD and/or MP3 and listen in their car, on their home system, on a boom box, an iPod, etc. Again, they will compare to their reference music.

You might consider a subscription to Recording Magazine. It's mainly for musicians & producers with "home studios". They have articles about recording live vocals & instruments, and about producing with MIDI & loops.

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I agree, it's very easy to get used to the sounds you're working with and lose context. DVDdoug's reference CD is very good advice, IMO.

C.