Making Kick drums stand out

[caeraphym]

Side chain the fuck out of everything man1111

Seriously a little sidechaining never hurt anybody, and when I say a little I really mean just a wee squidge, non of that Eric Prydz whoosh s/c crap.

Still searching for the illusive perfect kick, and it's a journey from which I don't think I'll ever tire.

808/909 kick still do it for me though with minimal layering and scant processing.

[d+]

wow, people really love to over complicate things on this forum sometimes

you don't need to be layering anything ontop of anything else - unless it is the SOUND you want. to beef up a "hollow" sound, don't stack other sounds ontop, that'll just mask it. Instead - why not try adding a little distortion and then compressing the sound, then eq to taste.

with bassdrums, again, no need to layer really. i find the original sample is the most important element. after you've go a good sample, depending on the sound, boost a little at perhaps 85/90 and 120. You'll want to keep some mids in there too, don't cut at 150 just because you can't hear anything above there - theres alot going on, check a spectrum analyzer.

sidechaining is never a replacement for the above in my opinion. as james fox said - its much better to spend time eq'ing and making space for sounds/sourcing good original samples and using your compressor/distortion than to pile sounds upon sounds and then sidechain.

anyway.... i am by no means a professional producer and if anyone on here is please correct me. but some of the best advice i got/lessons i learned was to keep things simple. at the end of the day the groove and feel of your beat is the most important thing about it. don't worry too much about being clinical. that comes naturally, with practice of course.

[Sharmaji]

make everything else smaller. you've got up to 0db and that's it, so the amount of sound in a tune is a very finite #.

start with a big kick sound. maybe limit it, too, to balance out the attack w/ the body.

and then, yep-- across all genres, a tried-and-true way to start mixing is to get your kick and snare banging and then bring everything else in around them.

also, at some point turn your monitors way down-- in pop music, you want the vocal, snare, and kick to be the loudest. w/o a vocal, you want your kick and snare to be the clearest sounds....

(unless, of course, you don't).

[FSTZ1]

wow, people really love to over complicate things on this forum sometimes

you don't need to be layering anything ontop of anything else - unless it is the SOUND you want. to beef up a "hollow" sound, don't stack other sounds ontop, that'll just mask it. Instead - why not try adding a little distortion and then compressing the sound, then eq to taste.

with bassdrums, again, no need to layer really. i find the original sample is the most important element. after you've go a good sample, depending on the sound, boost a little at perhaps 85/90 and 120. You'll want to keep some mids in there too, don't cut at 150 just because you can't hear anything above there - theres alot going on, check a spectrum analyzer.

sidechaining is never a replacement for the above in my opinion. as james fox said - its much better to spend time eq'ing and making space for sounds/sourcing good original samples and using your compressor/distortion than to pile sounds upon sounds and then sidechain.

anyway.... i am by no means a professional producer and if anyone on here is please correct me. but some of the best advice i got/lessons i learned was to keep things simple. at the end of the day the groove and feel of your beat is the most important thing about it. don't worry too much about being clinical. that comes naturally, with practice of course.

Meh

layering identical snares will cause a phasing and a subtractive effect, but that isn't what I was describing

big kick / snare = big tune

dancefloor tested man, I assure you

[d+]

wow, people really love to over complicate things on this forum sometimes

you don't need to be layering anything ontop of anything else - unless it is the SOUND you want. to beef up a "hollow" sound, don't stack other sounds ontop, that'll just mask it. Instead - why not try adding a little distortion and then compressing the sound, then eq to taste.

with bassdrums, again, no need to layer really. i find the original sample is the most important element. after you've go a good sample, depending on the sound, boost a little at perhaps 85/90 and 120. You'll want to keep some mids in there too, don't cut at 150 just because you can't hear anything above there - theres alot going on, check a spectrum analyzer.

sidechaining is never a replacement for the above in my opinion. as james fox said - its much better to spend time eq'ing and making space for sounds/sourcing good original samples and using your compressor/distortion than to pile sounds upon sounds and then sidechain.

anyway.... i am by no means a professional producer and if anyone on here is please correct me. but some of the best advice i got/lessons i learned was to keep things simple. at the end of the day the groove and feel of your beat is the most important thing about it. don't worry too much about being clinical. that comes naturally, with practice of course.

Meh

layering identical snares will cause a phasing and a subtractive effect, but that isn't what I was describing

big kick / snare = big tune

dancefloor tested man, I assure you

i'm not disputing that, i didn't even mention it mate.

no need to assure me of it.

[FSTZ1]

SAFE

[apathesis]

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

That high?

I've never high passed a kick higher than 100

[rickyrich]

anyone know how to LP/HP a kick in reason?

[Disco Nutter]

Use the eq?

[rickyrich]

ah you mean the eq in the mixer? treble and bass

[FSTZ1]

beware the snorks!!

[Disco Nutter]

No, I mean add an EQ after the machine you use to put a drum in your song.

[rickyrich]

ah i "think" i get it

add something like mclass equilizer. I have never even thought about using that before.

Damn i feel so dumb, I just added it and feel like a whole new world has opened up.

Don't really get the whole wave signal thing that looks like a heart rate machine

[Disco Nutter]

Check your Reason manual, probably has stuff nicely covered Never read it, but I don't really use Reason, except for the odd tinkering about with the synths

[rickyrich]

If i had one i would

i think i have figured it out, you can pretty much boost any part of the wave left to right (which appear to be the different frequencies). is 12db a bit overkill?

[caeraphym]

+12db overkill?

Nah mate, just getting warmed up
ffs

[Brisance]

I cut a lot of the high end, anything up to something like 50-70Hz, boost the fuck outta 100 and around. kicks like a mule.

[rickyrich]

+12db overkill?

Nah mate, just getting warmed up
ffs

Would you recommend going higher? i got 78-156hz up to 12db and the rest is at 0.

Sounds better already i think i will add mclass eq to all my sounds.

[jackieboi]

Would you recommend going higher? i got 78-156hz up to 12db and the rest is at 0.

Sounds better already i think i will add mclass eq to all my sounds.

Thats textbook comedy.