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I don't really make a lot of house music, but I've been wondering...

Those of you who do, how do you balance your bass drums and snares? I've always avoided using claps 'cause I'm not that confident when it comes do layering a 250hz snare with my bass drum, but then I hear other tracks where people do it, and you can hear both the kick and snare punching without doing any real damage to eachother, the general mix, or a sound system.

Do you guys drop the volume on your bassdrum? Sidechaining frequencies? What do you think works best for your tunes?

care to post an example? house is a very broad term

Why don't you just try a couple of those ideas you came up? Any of those ideas could work. I don't think is likely any magic to it. It might also be as simple as two samples that don't clash.

Layer a bang type snare with a crispy snap snare.

Hasezwei, I mean four by four house tunes with bassdrums on everybeat and snares on every second beat. That being said, interpret it as you wish.

This wasn't directly an advice thread so much as a discussion thread.

zerbaman wrote:Hasezwei, I mean four by four house tunes with bassdrums on everybeat and snares on every second beat. That being said, interpret it as you wish.

This wasn't directly an advice thread so much as a discussion thread.

i swear sometimes it sounds like the kick pitched up instead of a real snare.

claps generally take up more energy than they need to in that 4x4 pattern.

808 snare layered with a hi hat

Try sidechaining your kick wherever on the EQ the snare hits. Seems to work for me

zerbaman wrote:Hasezwei, I mean four by four house tunes with bassdrums on everybeat and snares on every second beat. That being said, interpret it as you wish.

This wasn't directly an advice thread so much as a discussion thread.

Yeah that doesnt really help lol, I think he knows what 4 to the floor is.

But i dont get why you have a problem, unless you are using dubstep kicks and snares, but house doesnt need that, you dont need a real toppy kick and a real phat snare in house music.

Make your snare really loud and limit the two together like there's no tomorrow. Mix them well (leave a gap at in the kick's spectrum for where your snare hits) and don't be afraid to move the snare around a few milliseconds. (before or after, whatever suits you.) i usually have a few claps before and a snare a tiiiiiny bit behind or right on top.

u can definitely use an 808 or 909, maybe layer a thin clap, or use one of those punchy dnb snares but it don't have to bang at 200-250Hz. there are other sweet spots depending on the drum. also u feel like the snare has punch but a lotta times the punch is rly carved almost completely out of the snare and when it hits with a kick it has that impact. just sounds like the snares punching thru when its really the kick with the snare's upper character wrapped around it on the 2 and 4. i mostly like analog clap samples for this beat


^ so he says mix em both loud and i say let the kick deliver the punch and cut the bottom off the snare so its thin. the way shit sounds is all about context. snare will sound weak as fuck but not in the context of the beat

dont worry about fuggin khz numbers & just make it sound good

Turn the snare down, new York compress, and have high ratio compressor on top with threshold just where the snare and kick will hit together and be too loud go for like 6db reduction or less.

Im sure this has been answered before, but what is new york compression? Is it just parallel compression?

Yes, just another name for it. I like to use FabFilter Pro-C for it, it has a preset and you can just adjust the threshhold and output gain levels

souunnddd. I already get parallel compression, i have always been a bit bemused when people say new york compression and stuff hah.