Getting the kick to sound massive

[Europica]

Hi all

So I got into making some Dance and Melodic Trance tunes but have never been happy with the sound of the kick in them. How can I get that sound that I hear in this genre and the many artist that are here.

Is it down to EQ-ing? I've tried that but it still aint happening. The Kick samples I use come from a Trance sample CD that didnt come cheap so I think the quiality of them are fine. Its just that as my songs progress with synths and pads the kick gets lost and sounds weak at those points. I'd be grateful if anyone can give me some tips.

Many thanks,
-pete

[PhineasFreak]

i can go into more detail if necessary, but heres a clue

http://forums.di.fm/showpost.php?p=2...&postcount=237

along with good EQing and careful use of reverb as DG suggests in the post before...

[Deadly Groove]

Adjusting a different frequency in each kick? That sounds interesting to me. I'll have to try that on some of the kicks I've been using. Much experimenting with sounds lately for me! There's a way I got my kicks to bang real hard and punchy at the same time like in hardstyle. It also works well for trance too. I'll elaberate more on the subject when I get home from work.

[PhineasFreak]

i tend to use:

a very synthy 808 style boom kick (sometimes called Boss Drums insome sample sets) - must be tuned to the common key that fits the tune so that it doesn't clash and it adds power to the subs.

a very sharp/punchy trebly acoustic kick with lots of reverb to give that percussive edge as an initial hit, and

a nice electronic 909 style housey/trancey kick. these often need to be tuned too, but you probably need to filter out most of the treble and even some of the sub bass...

[adone]

When tuning my kicks I normally use loads of EQ, a compressor, also a good thing is to layer kicks, but mainly it's all about practise I would say, play around with different things, someday you'll get a sound ya like

But honestly theres a ton of way to achieve a good kick sound, alone some sample sound great with alone the sample and some EQ, where others need ton of work on em before you get a good sounding pro kick.

But I'm just an ametuer but that's all the advice I can give hehe, I almost everytime like the kick sounds I come up with in my productions.

[JustinMead]

I keep layering two kicks till i find a good match, then EQ, Compress ^^

[PhineasFreak]

another sweet trick for more tribal/drum based productions is to take a kick with a long release - the classic 808 boom is perfect. get it all set up as far as tuning etc, then reverse it and sequence so that it sucks right up to a normal forward playing kick. with overdone compression putting a kinda pushpull and the rev kick you get a real throbbing, driving sound.

[Europica]

Hey guys thanks for all the help. Funny how layering has been mentioned cos I did that with a bomb sample and kick together and the bomb sounded much better. I hadn't thought about that with the kicks themselves. Adding reverb is gonna be tricky. I'm gonna be practising. Once again, cheers!

[Helix]

Originally Posted by PhineasFreak

another sweet trick for more tribal/drum based productions is to take a kick with a long release - the classic 808 boom is perfect. get it all set up as far as tuning etc, then reverse it and sequence so that it sucks right up to a normal forward playing kick. with overdone compression putting a kinda pushpull and the rev kick you get a real throbbing, driving sound.

That sounds like a tight effect! I like that idea. My work tends to be more tribal sounding and percussion heavy so I will remember this.


One question though, you mention tuning the sound to match the key of the track. How do you do this? I suspect that might be what is wrong with some of my loops, some of the sounds might be key clashing...

[PhineasFreak]

Originally Posted by Helix

One question though, you mention tuning the sound to match the key of the track. How do you do this? I suspect that might be what is wrong with some of my loops, some of the sounds might be key clashing...

same technique as mixing in key - find the key of the tune you're working on and andjust the tuning of the kick to match (if you use a sampler such as battery then just use the pitch/tuning control to move up or down semitones/cents, if you use a sampled kick then pitchshift it, if you use a drum synth then alter the pitch)

[Deadly Groove]

Originally Posted by Helix

tuning the sound to match the key of the track. How do you do this? I suspect that might be what is wrong with some of my loops, some of the sounds might be key clashing...

I do that all the time with my drum sounds. If the synths are in the key of C, my kicks, snares, hihats and cymbals are tweaked to the same key. It makes them sound more clear and makes the track more pleasing to the ear.

[excercyst]

Make sure you leave room for the Kick,
nearly all your tracks, except for the bass, should have a low-cut filter to prevent any other freqencies from interfereing with the kick.

As well do most kicks have a nice snappy spike in its freqency range at around 1K;
If one was to EQ this out it would leave the kick dull and flat.

[Europica]

Originally Posted by excercyst

Make sure you leave room for the Kick,
nearly all your tracks, except for the bass, should have a low-cut filter to prevent any other freqencies from interfereing with the kick.

As well do most kicks have a nice snappy spike in its freqency range at around 1K;
If one was to EQ this out it would leave the kick dull and flat.

Thanks for the tips excercyst.