Making Kick drums stand out

jackieboi · Post by **jackieboi** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:11 pm

What do you guys do to make your kicks more punchy. I'm using pretty good samples (normally use a 909, an 808 and this dub kick i've taken ) when i listen to my kicks as a standard 4 to the floor house beat they sound shit when compared to others.

I know how to eq and i've been learning a bit more about compression and how to use it but i still cant seem to make really stand out whompy kicks. One thing i have been doing is layering like 5 or 6 kicks but its just kick drum overload when i do that as i'm sure you can imagine.

Any tips?

legend4ry · Post by **legend4ry** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:13 pm

high pass at around 100-150 and then EQ to suit... Is my usual first step.

beerz · Post by **beerz** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:15 pm

ye ive bin thinkin about this exact same thing cos been producin a bit of house lately n ma kicks r pretty wack. ne1?

jackieboi · Post by **jackieboi** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:18 pm

bEErz wrote:ye ive bin thinkin about this exact same thing cos been producin a bit of house lately n ma kicks r pretty wack. ne1?

Its when you compare your own with proper tracks innit - house producers really have it nailed, theyre kick drums are a big part of the tune itself!

james fox · Post by **james fox** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:19 pm

for punchy kicks you want to ensure that the kick has a decent amount of upper mid / top end. no need to layer up 819 kicks, i would just LP a nice subby 808 kick down then layer up a different one that has a well defined top end. HP that, then fiddle with the frequency on the HP + LP till it sounds good. would compress it a couple of db with a short attack and shorter release. then bounce it and save it as a wav to be used in future projects.

then it would be a case of ensuring that the sound is not masked by others in your arrangement.

james fox · Post by **james fox** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:20 pm

or, just sample some house records that have nice kick drums on.

jolly wailer · Post by **jolly wailer** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:22 pm

only stack 3 or 4?

in all seriousness tho its really about creating some breathing room not only with eq'ing but also with the individual elements of the track, move some things around, take some things away and sometimes certain parts of the track will start to jump out at you more.

beerz · Post by **beerz** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:23 pm

jackieboi wrote:
bEErz wrote:ye ive bin thinkin about this exact same thing cos been producin a bit of house lately n ma kicks r pretty wack. ne1?
Its when you compare your own with proper tracks innit - house producers really have it nailed, theyre kick drums are a big part of the tune itself!

yer in dubstep its not reli the kick that ur trying to make stand out so u do th eessential eqing and thats it (i do neway), but ye i guess its down to the upper freq's that make it stand out..safe james

james fox · Post by **james fox** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:25 pm

also if you're going to be layering kick drums up then make sure they are tuned to each other, or they will sound muddy and crap no matter what you do.

jolly wailer · Post by **jolly wailer** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:26 pm

dubstep can have big kicks.. there's no rules, no parameters..

legend4ry · Post by **legend4ry** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:29 pm

Big kicks and snares is what got me into dubstep haha, not able to basslines for me..

- Its all about treating the right samples the right way..

for punchy kicks you want to ensure that the kick has a decent amount of upper mid / top end. no need to layer up 819 kicks, i would just LP a nice subby 808 kick down then layer up a different one that has a well defined top end. HP that, then fiddle with the frequency on the HP + LP till it sounds good. would compress it a couple of db with a short attack and shorter release. then bounce it and save it as a wav to be used in future projects.

^ Who said that, thats what I do..

ELLFIVEDEE · Post by **ELLFIVEDEE** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:52 pm

Have you looked into sidechaining if you want them to "stand out" ?

james fox · Post by **james fox** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:57 pm

i would take well EQd and properly compressed samples / good arrangement over sidechaining every time.

ELLFIVEDEE · Post by **ELLFIVEDEE** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:02 pm

james fox wrote:i would take well EQd and properly compressed samples / good arrangement over sidechaining every time.

Surely the two give different results? No?

Please tell me if I am wrong though, I'm not trying to be cocky!!

FSTZ1 · Post by **FSTZ1** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:13 pm

seriously: this is something that took me a while figure out and this is the formula that works for me

1. Layering - use 4... count them 1, 2, 3, 4 snare sounds. there is nothing worse than tunes with thin and hollow snares. use a snare with a bassy sound, a low mid sound, a hi-mid sound and a hi pitched snare. For your kick drums use a low frequency 808 or 909 for a low end subby thickness and then use a mid-rangey acoustic sounding kick to round it out.

2. Mixing - turn down all tracks (levels all the way down!!!) except your kick & snare. then bring your bassline up, and then mix everything around that. (I was taught this technique by one of the most respected producers in US dubstep)

I hope this helps guys...

my noodles are getting cold

jolly wailer · Post by **jolly wailer** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:19 pm

thats a solid solid technique FSTZ.

sidechaining still does my nut in - I've managed to survive without it tho.

ELLFIVEDEE · Post by **ELLFIVEDEE** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:20 pm

Jolly Wailer wrote:sidechaining still does my nut in - I've managed to survive without it tho.

I've read countless articles on it now and just been experimenting with it a little, still a bit of a one to get my head around though, especially being new to all of this

FSTZ1 · Post by **FSTZ1** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:32 pm

sidechaining is nice, but it most certainly isn't necessary at the tempo we write dub at

dnb is a completely different animal

ELLFIVEDEE · Post by **ELLFIVEDEE** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:38 pm

FSTZ wrote:sidechaining is nice, but it most certainly isn't necessary at the tempo we write dub at

dnb is a completely different animal

Perhaps not necessary, but from what I've seen with it's application, it can create some interesting effects and variation.

jolly wailer · Post by **jolly wailer** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:39 pm

I know absolutely fuckall about making dnb.

perhaps thats a good thing?

Making Kick drums stand out

Making Kick drums stand out

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