The kick drum big three: boom, smack, click

These are three key elements that can be used to describe the sound of a kick drum.
Boom is where the low end thud of the kick drum comes from. You can find a cleaner,
modern sound boosting around the 50-60Hz area. A more traditional, ringing boom will be
found a bit higher, perhaps in the 100Hz range.
Smack is the primary attack of the kick drum. This is the frequency range that helps the
ear identify individual kick drum hits. You can search for smack in the 3-5kHz range,
whilst using a peaking band for the smack and keep the Q parameter in the 1 to 1.5
range.
Click is exactly what you think it is. At first thought you might not attribute click as a
quality desired in a kick drum sound. Click works in conjunction with smack to help bring
a kick drum through a dense mix. This is the sound of the beater actually hitting the drum
head. You can find the click up around the 6-8kHz range. A peaking band works well on
the click (Q around 1.5).
Mud is not one of the big three because it is a bad thing! We want the opposite of mud in
our mix, especially on the kick drum. You remove some of the mud and clean up your
kick drum sound by cutting a thin band in the 250-300Hz range, with use a peaking band
with the Q set to around 3.

Kick drum big three eq quick chart

More boom (modern) +6dB at 50Hz
More boom (solid, classic) +6dB at 100Hz
More smack (attack) +7dB at 3.5kHz
More click (beater) +6dB at 6.0kHz

Kick drum eq recipes

Start here to get a solid, full kick drum sound with plenty of click

Band 1: +6dB at 55Hz

Band 2: -9dB at 275Hz (narrow)

Band 3: +7dB at 3.7kHz

Band 4: +8dB at 6.2kHz shelf

Start here to get a more traditional kick drum sound

Band 1: +6dB at 100Hz

Band 2: -10dB at 800Hz (narrow)

Band 3: +6dB at 1.5kHz

Band 4: +6dB at 7.0kHz shelf

Start here to get a ringy bottom end with less attack

Band 1: +6dB at 100Hz

Band 2: -5dB at 250Hz (narrow)

Band 3: +3dB at 4.0kHz

Band 4: +3dB at 10.0kHz shelf