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So my kick drum sounds really weighty on it's own but when it's played along side my sub bass, it just sounds clicky even after I've tried every different attack, releases, ratio's and thresholds on the compressor. I know for house, a lot of producers remove some low end of their sub so that their kick drum can really cut through the low end as it's the main focus of the track however, I'm making drum step and I obviously can't do that.

Anyone got any other neat little tricks that could maybe help me out?

Volume or EQ sidechain?
Alternatively work your bass notes around your kick.

if you want just pure punch in both sub and kick just compose them in a question/answer kind of way?

lowpass?

Did u try different kick samples? And is the sub just a pure sine wave?

Lowpass the sub and highpass the kick so that they don't overlap too much and they should sound a lot better, around 100hz is good

Sidechain that mofo.

Removing low energy from a sub? I'm guessing you meant removing it from the bass as there is only low energy in sub

Tbh I would go with a different kick if you are struggling that much. If you absolutely have to use that sample then a few tricks to get more weight:-

1 Compression - Fast attack, fast release
2 Saturation, distortion etc
3 Parallel compression (although this would be more about keeping the click but just adding a bit more weight)
4 Could layer a more compressed kick sound
5 transient shaping to either bring down the 'click' or bring up the 'body'

Also when auditioning kicks make sure to highpass what you're listening to. I've had kicks which sound great and then when I highpass em to make room for the sub they sound like cack because all the best bit was down there.

Hope that helps!

Don't use a 'weighty' 'subby' kick if you are using a sub!
Drumstep and drum and bass usually have a pretty 'low midrange/high bass' kind of kick! Find a sample that hits above 90hz-120hz or something (Or transpose a kick till it sits above 90hz or something)
If you really want to use a subby kick and a subbassline... Then is sidechain compression the only way to not clutter your low end! Keep in mind sidechain compression is awesome, but it's a pretty obvious! So maybe that's not the thing you're searching for!

But if you're making drumstep, it's best to use more low midrange/high bassrange kind of kick!

societyloser1 wrote:Don't use a 'weighty' 'subby' kick if you are using a sub!
Drumstep and drum and bass usually have a pretty 'low midrange/high bass' kind of kick! Find a sample that hits above 90hz-120hz or something (Or transpose a kick till it sits above 90hz or something)
If you really want to use a subby kick and a subbassline... Then is sidechain compression the only way to not clutter your low end! Keep in mind sidechain compression is awesome, but it's a pretty obvious! So maybe that's not the thing you're searching for!

But if you're making drumstep, it's best to use more low midrange/high bassrange kind of kick!

dnb kick is all about 50 to 80Hz... since it should sound like "kicking the soccer ball".

Icetickle wrote:

societyloser1 wrote:Don't use a 'weighty' 'subby' kick if you are using a sub!
Drumstep and drum and bass usually have a pretty 'low midrange/high bass' kind of kick! Find a sample that hits above 90hz-120hz or something (Or transpose a kick till it sits above 90hz or something)
If you really want to use a subby kick and a subbassline... Then is sidechain compression the only way to not clutter your low end! Keep in mind sidechain compression is awesome, but it's a pretty obvious! So maybe that's not the thing you're searching for!

But if you're making drumstep, it's best to use more low midrange/high bassrange kind of kick!

dnb kick is all about 50 to 80Hz... since it should sound like "kicking the soccer ball".

Agreed, I usually aim to have my kicks sit around 70-80hz for their lowest point. If you are cutting away higher than that then things can start to sound real thin real quick.

Imma try some of this, I done some volume automation and it seems to be cutting through a little more however, when I've went to master it, my kicks distorting a lot, I've got too much going on in the low end and it's taking up too much headroom - think I may just go back to my older kick.

I watched that singularity elite session thing and he put a sine wave at 41hz underneath his kick drum to fill it out (he then went on to explain he'd been analyzing some Knife Party tracks and their kick drums were centered around 41hz). I checked some of zomboys kick drums and his are hitting around the same place, I'm just gonna have to play around with this a little more.

Cheers guys!

CuriousKontrol wrote:Imma try some of this, I done some volume automation and it seems to be cutting through a little more however, when I've went to master it, my kicks distorting a lot, I've got too much going on in the low end and it's taking up too much headroom - think I may just go back to my older kick.

I watched that singularity elite session thing and he put a sine wave at 41hz underneath his kick drum to fill it out (he then went on to explain he'd been analyzing some Knife Party tracks and their kick drums were centered around 41hz). I checked some of zomboys kick drums and his are hitting around the same place, I'm just gonna have to play around with this a little more.

Cheers guys!

The thing is that you shouldn't have a problem like this.
And in the 20Hz to 120Hz range there should be only the kick and the sub (maybe the boyyom of the snare at around 120Hz).
And you should pretty much highpass kick around 50Hz! You should have nothing under 50Hz when it comes to to kick IMO.

You guys really use a kickdrum below 80hz for dnb? shiiiiit
Imo the kick in dnb gives punch and drive... And the (sub)bass is giving the meat!

I do not make drum and bass and it really isn't my cup of tea... Except jungle. I'm a big jungle fan! So probably that's the reason why I wouldn't use a meaty kick! But still... Try it out sometimes! I tend to use a lot of 90hzorabove kicks (especially a pitched up 909) and it's one of the best things I learned this year!

societyloser1 wrote:You guys really use a kickdrum below 80hz for dnb? shiiiiit
Imo the kick in dnb gives punch and drive... And the (sub)bass is giving the meat!

I do not make drum and bass and it really isn't my cup of tea... Except jungle. I'm a big jungle fan! So probably that's the reason why I wouldn't use a meaty kick! But still... Try it out sometimes! I tend to use a lot of 90hzorabove kicks (especially a pitched up 909) and it's one of the best things I learned this year!

I make melodic and really bassy dnb at the moment.
Assuming that you are not having the sub bass through the whole track your kick has to be in the sub zone (usually 70 or 80Hz peak).




Actually it doesn't NEED to be anything..

Icetickle wrote:Assuming that you are not having the sub bass through the whole track your kick has to be in the sub zone.

I don't agree with this quote

societyloser1 wrote:

Icetickle wrote:Assuming that you are not having the sub bass through the whole track your kick has to be in the sub zone.

I don't agree with this quote

That was just "in my opinion". If you don't have any freq. under 100Hz your kick is not gonna be really bassy (as the kick should be IMO).
But like I said, it doesn't NEED to be anything.