How do I make sure my drums 'pack a punch'?

[halcyon]

beginning producer here, so take it easy.

i made some bass/synth lines and created a beat to go along with it, but the beat doesn't 'pound' as much as i'd like it to. it's not very powerful, just a soft thud for a kick. the sample's 'heavy' enough though, but how do I make it sound like a powerful kick? same goes for the snare drums.

i took the first bar of downlink's 'talk dubby to me' and looped it (basic percussion intro) and it sounds way more powerful, even though it's only an intro drum loop. (due to good use of effects etc i assume ...)

so any tips?
any specific effects to apply to kicks / snares / claps?

thx

[JFK]

You need to read up on:

Layering drum samples together.
Compression.
Enveloping.
Eqing.

There are loads and loads of old threads on these mate, try the search function. Also there is the "production knowledge base" stickied at the top of the page that contains the production bible. That is a good place to start.

[Brisance]

oh, and ... FINDING THE RIGHT SAMPLE is about the most important thing..

[freakah]

1. Layer your drums! Always layer your drums! Stick a punchy snare with a fizzy snare and a mid-range clap etc, Sub kick with a puncy kick.....you get the idea

2. EQ - high pass the kick to around 70hz, high pass the snare to around 250hz

3. Compression - I have no real way to make this easy, but mess around with threshold and ratio on your compressor!

4. Sidechain compression! Read up in the production bible how to do this, but long story short, if you use it like I do sidechain compression means whenever the kick/snare hits, the rest of the track will be quietened by a small amount for a fraction of a second.It's hardly noticeable in a normal listening situation, but it gives the drums they're own space and allows them to really punch through!

Hope this helps , best thing I learnt was just to keep at it, not get disheartened, and experiment with different FX and samples etc (light distortion on a snare is FIRE)


EDIT: When I started this there were no posts, JFK beat me to it

[Lethargik]

haven't heard yout tune so i don't know what the problem is..... but have you tried turning down the bass and turning up the beats? can't punch if it aint loud.

If thats not the case you can do some compression. Slower attack if you want more of a sharp hit, or a fast one for a more meaty sound.

I find alot of people just don't have their beats loud enuff (me included sometimes)

[nowaysj]

1. Layer your drums! Always layer your drums! Stick a punchy snare with a fizzy snare and a mid-range clap etc, Sub kick with a puncy kick.....you get the idea

2. EQ - high pass the kick to around 70hz, high pass the snare to around 250hz

These two things absolutely are not required to make punchy beats.

If you want your beat to punch, it needs to be loud. If the beat is loud, other things need to be quiet. That's a huge part of it right there. When you are mixing your sounds together, you have to remember that you are in a zero sum environment. If one thing gets bigger, another thing must get smaller.

Arrangement - pay special attention to places where two sounds in the same frequency range happen at the same time. The classic example is your kick drum and your bass. Both of these sounds usually occupy a similar range. If they do, don't have the kick and the bass hit at the same time. If they absolutely have to hit at the same time, us a slower envelope on the bass, so the kick punches first then the bass swells in, or use side chain compression.

Search this forum, there are many answers to this question.

[serox]

beginning producer here, so take it easy.

i made some bass/synth lines and created a beat to go along with it, but the beat doesn't 'pound' as much as i'd like it to. it's not very powerful, just a soft thud for a kick. the sample's 'heavy' enough though, but how do I make it sound like a powerful kick? same goes for the snare drums.

i took the first bar of downlink's 'talk dubby to me' and looped it (basic percussion intro) and it sounds way more powerful, even though it's only an intro drum loop. (due to good use of effects etc i assume ...)

so any tips?
any specific effects to apply to kicks / snares / claps?

thx

Not everyone one wants a kick with a punch. I like low passed kicks so I am left with more of a thud:D
Lets hear it!

[alex_l]

There are plenty of techniques to make your drums sound big - the simplest and most important are probably choosing the sounds that need the least processing to sound like you want them to, and getting the levels of everything balanced nicely.

All the other techniques are just extras to add finesse.

Do you have any examples of your work so people can give you specific feedback?

[mmjdw]

Don't highpass the snare at 250, the main frequency is at around 200, so just take out the low end at about 150 instead

[halcyon]

thanks for the advice so far! it really helped.

here's the track i'm talking about:

Soundcloud

3 kicks, 2 snares, 1 clap AND mixed with downlink's intro
does it really take that much layers to get this sound or am i doing something wrong?

[serox]

thanks for the advice so far! it really helped.

here's the track i'm talking about:

Soundcloud

3 kicks, 2 snares, 1 clap AND mixed with downlink's intro
does it really take that much layers to get this sound or am i doing something wrong?

I think it sounds alright. It is the same kind of kick used in most new Dubstep.

I hardly ever layer drums, not everyone does. Good sources and good mixdown/processing will help.

Btw, your bassline needs a switch up because after a couple of bars of the same thing it quickly gets boring.

[Basic A]

am i doing something wrong?

downlink's intro

Dont bite material.

Downlink is using a really well compressed vengence kick and a bit of reverb. Almost always.

Tons of compression, proper mixdown from there.

[serox]

am i doing something wrong?

downlink's intro

Dont bite material.

Everyone is using a vengence kick. Almost always.

Tons of compression, proper mixdown from there.

Corrected:D

[halcyon]

thanks for the advice so far! it really helped.

here's the track i'm talking about:

Soundcloud

3 kicks, 2 snares, 1 clap AND mixed with downlink's intro
does it really take that much layers to get this sound or am i doing something wrong?

I think it sounds alright. It is the same kind of kick used in most new Dubstep.

I hardly ever layer drums, not everyone does. Good sources and good mixdown/processing will help.

Btw, your bassline needs a switch up because after a couple of bars of the same thing it quickly gets boring.

in this track it's mainly about sound design & synthesis ... i'm not planning on releasing this, just trying to get the hang of production ...

thanks for the tips everyone. it'll come in handy for sure.
and i'll have a look into vengeance metrum!

[halcyon]

damn, this vengeance vst sure is expensive. €150 for a kick-vsti? and not even a demo available.

one more question: i need a good:
- bit crusher
- formant filter

suggestions?

[Brisance]

CMT bitcrusher.
Vocalizer.

EDIT: tbh you can make a formant filter with any decent parametric EQ.

[paradigm_x]

damn, this vengeance vst sure is expensive. €150 for a kick-vsti? and not even a demo available.

one more question: i need a good:
- bit crusher
- formant filter

suggestions?

They mean the vengeance sampl packs. Full of meaty kicks and snares. Ubiquitous now tho

Pick any one of the packs, all the same IMO.

Also search 'meanbeats' on here, ive uploaded a sample pack which has a lot of decent drum sounds in it.

[nitz]

Why was not one mentioned parallel compression yet?

very important is getting that "bang" in your drums.

[halcyon]

About the filter & bit crusher ... forgot to mention I'm using a Mac, so these won't work.

and the vengeance sample packs ... any recommendations which one to get? they're rather expensive so i can't afford to buy a bad one

cheers for all the help so far guys!

[marshy]

Depone knows how to get great drum sounds out of so-so samples, search his name on youtube and he has a few tutorials!