Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

sygr · Post by **sygr** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 2:42 pm

Hey guys,

I am new to producing so please bear with me a little. I am working on a remix and want to remove the kick from the original song in order to lay my own bass. I am using Utility on the track with the original and turning the width to 200% and turning on the left and right phase. This is successful at removing the kick but leaves the remaining track sounding uneven, empty, and grainy. Any advice on how to improve the sound? Thanks for any help!!

lapieuvre · Post by **lapieuvre** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 3:49 pm

You could use an eq and put a low cut (or high pass)

Steve Glen · Post by **Steve Glen** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:35 pm

Eq 8 has a mid/side setting. Turn it on (default is stereo) and highpass on the middle "M" to remove kick/bass

sygr · Post by **sygr** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 5:39 pm

lapieuvre wrote:You could use an eq and put a low cut (or high pass)

I'm already doing that but doesn't really help.

Steve Glen wrote:Eq 8 has a mid/side setting. Turn it on (default is stereo) and highpass on the middle "M" to remove kick/bass

I follow what you're saying until "highpass the middle M", can you explain more?

If there are any other alternative methods to removing the kick please let me know!

Steve Glen · Post by **Steve Glen** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 8:37 am

It's a combination of the two concepts: high pass filtering and removing data from the center channel. The reason being that kick drums and basslines are usually, mostly, always, given 0 width (Mono, Middle) and most of the energy is in the very lowest part of the spectrum.

If you use settings similar to this, you have the best chance of removing the low end content such as kick drums and basslines leaving the other parts of the track closer to original.

You'll see on the right that the mode is M/S (mid/side) and the bands I'm editing is the orange M.

Depending on the original content, you will likely still hear the "click" portion of the kick drum. Hopefully, by the time you layer your new kick drums and maybe hihats, your final mix will cover it up nicely.

Steve Glen · Post by **Steve Glen** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 8:50 am

That's a good starting point. It's nice because you just put in on the channel and it stays the same.

If you are just looking to hunt out the kick, AND the kick pattern is even and predictable on a warped track then you can automate the frequency of that highpass Middle with something like this

But use your ears. If you find that stereo high pass, or middle removal, or automated bell curves work best, then use that.

SuburbanThug · Post by **SuburbanThug** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:46 pm

If you're going to lay your kicks in the same places as the original you could also sidechain the mix to your kick drum and have it duck out a bit where your kicks are. Kind of ghetto but it can have a cool effect.

myxomat0515 · Post by **myxomat0515** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:04 pm

You could also try (with varying levels of success) removing the kick in the original track by dropping another kick on a separate channel and using the Utility plugin to invert the phase. This will work better if the original track is electronic music (especially the drums), inverting an acoustic kick would be challenging. Conversely, It would be relatively easy if the original drum track was, say, an 808 doing a 4/4 pattern. If you can find a similar sounding kick to the one in the original track, this is the method I would recommend.

Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

Re: Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

Re: Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

Re: Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

Re: Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

Re: Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

Re: Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track

Re: Using Utility to Remove Kick Drums from a Track