Fuckin Kicks...

[bodom418]

Hey all,

So I have a visceral hatred for making kicks, and I really want/need to make just one I can live with, so I can move on with life and other production aspects. Below are two examples of the style I'm shooting for. I've no shortage of quality samples, so that's covered. I'm typically either using one sample with a fair bit of processing and such, or using two samples; one highpassed, and vive-versa, to grab the low and high character's of each, respectively. I've been playing around with the sample's starting point (making these minor adjustments actually opens up a whole new aspect of tone control, i found) but I find that almost lands me lost with too many possibilities. Anyway, any help is appreciated!





Edit: I know this is one of the most repetitive questions, sorta, so I apologize for that. Just at my wits end. I assure you I've looked through the forum extensively, absorbing all that I can.

[Benji]

Have you tried parallel compression? It gives drums a really nice boost. Also I like to use 3 or 4 different kick samples, sometimes with one as the main structure and some elements from the other samples

[bodom418]

I have, but good call. Parallel trickery always aids the situation, but the problem still seems to lie in the organic tone... Which bring us back to "sample selection". But it seems that there's a consistency to the type of kick I'm looking for, so there must be some aspect of the equation that lies in the processing... if that makes sense

[Huts]

Just sample the kick and save yourself the trouble. You already know the answer is just proper sample choice, no amount of compression and EQ is going to alter a shit sample into what you're looking for. Either take some time to dig around and layer up your perfect kick, or just knick it from a tune

[Crimsonghost]

I have/had the same problem. I've always been looking for a very specific kick sound and have never been able to get it. I've been forcing myself to use kicks (and other samples) that arnt my ideal sound that happen to work well in the song I'm working on. I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but might be worth looking into

[mthrfnk]

Aside from picking the right kick or processing it correctly, fitting it in the mix well will make it stand out - perhaps focus on that.

I know Far Too Loud sometimes does what I do (at least he did for 600 Years) - make the low end of the kick with BazzISM, it's a bass drum synth that pretty much lets you nail exactly the sound you want, then layer on a high passed sample to get some top end click. I also like to layer hats or rides (I know xKore does this too) to add some real high end, that sometimes makes you think that the kick is really punching in the mix but it's actually just because the top end is so apparent.

[Genevieve]

Low kick + high kick. layer/saturate/EQ

I try to keep them simple.

[Augment]

I've gotten asked a few times about my drums, they're in the style you're after, so I'll just quote one of my replies. Beware of soundcloud totally ruining the sound of the drums tho, transients got fucked up bigtime

Aiit. Here's how the kick and snare sounds soloe'd. Soundcloud kinda ruined the quality tho
Soundcloud

I like to have my kicks and snares be really short and punchy, so f ex, here's a kickdrum I sampled from somewhere.

I'll open them in edison, and fade out the tail, so the kick is about this lenght.


That's one of the things about them.
The other thing is that they all have pretty powerful transients, now if the original samples don't have strong transients, I sometimes sample them from other drums I have, compress and export. If they have a transient, but it's not that powerful, I use a transient shaper, boost the attack and take the drive a bit up.
Pretty standard drum processing.

Here's the original clip the drums are from, was a showcase for a growl
Soundcloud
there's not really much done mixing wise in the clip, but they still punch through a bit
Transients will be what I focus most on, since most of the initial punch will come from a strong transient, then just add a nice and short tail

[Tekk]

Aside from picking the right kick or processing it correctly, fitting it in the mix well will make it stand out - perhaps focus on that.

Yeah I feel like you shouldn't judge your kick too hard until your mix rests nicely. Your kick might sound like its suffering because its having a lot of interference (which is extremely likely because this is bass music) If you can form a mix around that kick then when you go into the mastering process it should speak for itself. If the kick sounds great all by itself but loses all punch in the mix, then that's just a matter of mixing. If you're just having trouble getting a redick massive kick by itself then this is kind of irrelevant but whatever for your health.

[FAARE FACED]

blinkesko is the man once again