Minimal Kick Drum

Audio Soundation · Post by **Audio Soundation** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:28 pm

BoimB son of BoB wrote:
i do it exactly the same way...

btw... i always test a synthesizer by making a kickdrum it's so much more fun using own synthesized kickdrums than samples...

I dont have a synth, or a good plug-in... im debating buying operator or a moog plugin'... i was also thinking of absynth or that other one... zebra or something?

Audio Soundation · Post by **Audio Soundation** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 9:13 pm

BoimB son of BoB wrote: i do it exactly the same way...

btw... i always test a synthesizer by making a kickdrum it's so much more fun using own synthesized kickdrums than samples...

i struggle panning my layerd kicks sometimes... how many layers do you use?

boomklik · Post by **boomklik** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:51 pm

why not take your regular kick and use less of it?

Euklid.fox · Post by **Euklid.fox** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 10:31 am

yeah Use your own made synthesis kicks, that way you sculpt your sound and you can tune it with other soundz, or play live widely more then with a sample...

basicaly take a very low pitch sine wave (around 50Hz) and apply it a pith envelope withe a sublte attack, high peak and search the decay for your taste. tha'ts the 909 type. If you take a square then it will make a monster hardcore bass you can filter. then you can layer with another bass sond to make it's resonant, but then try to make it start later.

I suggest you Operator, it's quite simple but can make a wide range of soundZ, and it's ready to automate.

BoimB son of BoB · Post by **BoimB son of BoB** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 12:52 pm

Euklid.fox wrote:yeah Use your own made synthesis kicks, that way you sculpt your sound and you can tune it with other soundz, or play live widely more then with a sample...

basicaly take a very low pitch sine wave (around 50Hz) and apply it a pith envelope withe a sublte attack, high peak and search the decay for your taste. tha'ts the 909 type. If you take a square then it will make a monster hardcore bass you can filter. then you can layer with another bass sond to make it's resonant, but then try to make it start later.

I suggest you Operator, it's quite simple but can make a wide range of soundZ, and it's ready to automate.

exactly, although 50Hz is already low freq? and i use a rather fast attack envelope... it's a bit noodling around with osc.freq and pitchenvelope...again lots of freedom albeit little tweaks can heve very audible differences.
also on the jp8080 i use +12db to get the (realy kickass) hard punch. on the emx i have to boost the low freq's to get a good result (volume is not a problem withthat one) ...so it depends what synth you're using too..

for layering bassdrumsounds, thats difficult... few years ago i always layered the Rebirth 808 and 909 drums, but i remember it took a lot f fine tuning to get it exactly right. you don't want two heavy attack drumsounds on top for example, one must be a kind of sub bass (the 808 in this example). R.Hawtin did this all the time. then its a matter of taste ow you want the decay of both to relate... eq...etc..so lot of playground, and thus lotsof fun...

Poltergeist · Post by **Poltergeist** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:24 pm

I second or third or whatever MicroTonic. I love it, i just bought it last week and have never been happier. Think of it as a poormans MD I guess. Man it can boom too.

Try the demo if you haven't, you wont be sorry.

Audio Soundation · Post by **Audio Soundation** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:45 pm

Euklid.fox wrote: then you can layer with another bass sond to make it's resonant, but then try to make it start later.

hummm resonated bass is something i struggle with... i heard an INCREDIBLE SET by Steve Lawler @ Space this past WMC in Miami. Alot of the production he played for those many hours of flawless mixes had a very resonated bass to them, not very punchy at all. It gave an extreamly dark progressive backbone to the set.

I'm into techhouse right now so i'm going with a punchier kick but it would be a useful tool to figure out how to control a good res. bass sound

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:23 pm

Euklid.fox wrote: basicaly take a very low pitch sine wave (around 50Hz) and apply it a pith envelope withe a sublte attack, high peak and search the decay for your taste. tha'ts the 909 type. If you take a square then it will make a monster hardcore bass you can filter. then you can layer with another bass sond to make it's resonant, but then try to make it start later.

I actually prefer going the other way - having a strong fundamental, and then adding in the bite and overtones with a Saturator. Gorgeous.

Euklid.fox · Post by **Euklid.fox** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:08 am

Yep make as you like, there is no ultimate way

my technik is related to my kind of sound, wich is tribe techno to psy transe,
where kicks are particular, just discovered that you can really play with your kick when you found the good reZ, cause you can play with notes (subtle),
that "pitch" the kick in a musical way
and you can make either the illusion of there is only one long kick or one kick with answering tuned bass. that effect is very strange to me, it's very noticable in some Psy trance nu skool artist ,like Azax syndrome, you can really her either 1, 2 or 3sound!

eamoon · Post by **eamoon** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 5:42 pm

Something I've been playing with lately: bounce your kicks & bass to tape (cassette, videotape, whatever you've got.) Do it a few times, even. You might want to lowpass-filter the result to get rid of the crackles/hiss -- or don't, if you want it to sound like a basic channel record...

(I also use my space-echo-with-broken-tapeheads for this sometimes, especially with the chorus turned on. That's better for big beefy kicks than it is for minimal thuds, though.)