Ableton Forum

Hi

I am reading a lot that to make kicks sound better you need to have a punchy top end kick and a low end subby kick mixed together...

I make pop music on ableton and usually im just finding kick samples (on ableton browser or on splice) that i think sound good and dragging them in, do u guys think this method works? or is there another way to create better kick sounds and if so how?

i have no clue how to even go about creating a punchy top end kick and sub low end kick..

(sorry for the noob question)

A lot of kicks in sample packs have already been treated, so if it sounds good to you as is, by all means use it that way.

I often found myself using a low freq. sine wave under the kick for extra oohmphhh. Of course in the right pitch and tempo of the song/part of the song.

But if it allready sounds good, don't change it at all!!!

There are also max for live devices for it, just look around and enjoy!

I also like using Live's Drum Buss device, tuned to the correct frequency and just a quick decay sub amount dialed in, the rest matched to taste/context. Usually sounds great on all sorts of kickdrums that already have the top end pop but could do with some meat.

As mentioned, most kicks in sample packs have been designed to work already. You can then add to it or change its properties through EQ, Attack/Release and tuning.

A kick is typically 2 components, the attack (punch) and the low end. In some EDM music the kick is simply the attack component while the low end is a sub bass line instead of part of the kick. This is where it pays to know a little as it can be the difference between a kick that really punches and one that sounds muddied if you have a strong bassline already.