Q: How to create a deep thumping kick drum?

djd_oz · Post by **djd_oz** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:37 am

I would like some tips on how to create this?

I've tried using a compressor and saturator ... but the low end thumpness I can't produce.

help plz.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:49 am

add an EQ8 with some of the mids scooped out using a broad Q + bit of compression after.. if that doesnt work ur source sample sucks.

naph · Post by **naph** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:41 pm

waves rbass is good for this kind of thumpness. Maxbass aswell.
but they cost a lot of money..

I'm finding myself really comfortable in making kickdrums with operator, just needing a bit of compression after.

try a combination of short decay sinewaves, with some adjustments on the phase to get the initial smack

blank · Post by **blank** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:43 pm

I second using operator, it's a nice drum sounds synth in general and it's a beast for making fat kick.

bytheriver · Post by **bytheriver** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:49 pm

This is probably really bad technique, but I find sticking an auto filter over a kick drum can really bring it to life.

You just have to watch your peaks and keep it subtle yet effective.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:03 am

try layering samples, and then EQ and compressing them as a group.

tequila slammer · Post by **tequila slammer** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:07 am

The Vengeance Essential Club Sounds CDs have good kicks. Get them from Mutekki Media. As opposed to most other CDs I've encountered, they actually sound like club kicks out-of-the-box.

They have the bottom end you require, but some may need a little top-end tweaking. Kicks in dance music are getting harder-sounding over time... It's a natural consequence of competing producers.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, the hardness is mostly in the top end.

Take a more 'punchy' sounding kick and layer it with your main kick. I use an instrument rack for this, inside a drum rack, these days. I love racks!

Use an hp filter (preferably on your sampler) to remove the new kick's bottom end. Play with the volume, cut-off and resonance until you match the feel of your reference track. (You are using a reference track, right?)

If you have CPU to burn, add a touch of short, tight reverb to help blend in the new kick top and give it presence.

If you like, play with distortion (before the reverb. Hell, after the reverb if it sounds nice.)

If you can't get the sample CDs in question (they're not cheap, but they're less than a Waves plug-in) you can construct kicks from ripped vinyl or dance downloads.

Find some tracks with relatively clean-sounding kicks. Preferably just kicks by themselves, or kicks with only high-end sounds playig. Sample (or cut out) a few.

Put three samplers in a rack. Set one to lp, one to bp and one to hp filters. Set a long release time and high sustain for the lp layer, a medium decay and no release or sustain for the bp layer and a really short decay and no sustain or release for the top layer.

Put a bassy kick in the lp layer. Put a thumpy (mid-rangey) kick in the bp layer and put a toppy kick in the hp layer.

Now go play. You should be able to remove most of any high-hat artifacts from the kicks with the short decay times of the upper layers. You can also use the short decays to shape the top-end of the kick.

Add a short, tight reverb to the top layer if you like.

You can have fun here - you can add stereo modulation effects to the top two layers without fear of losing the integrity of the bass layer. If that floats your boat.

Have some reference material to hand. Keep referring back to it, so you don't go super-bassy, middy and congested or super-hard by accident.

You won't duplicate an existing kick exactly, so don't try. You can waste days.

Good engineering fun.

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:54 am

MicroTonic and a sampled kick sounds nice and big

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:48 am

I haven't done tis in years,,
but, you could try sampling a couple of cycles of a nice clean sine wave from a soft synth that is in the key of the track you are working on then load it into simpler/sampler and loop it,,
From here you have a couple of choices,,
You can either have it sustain indefinitely but have the out put controlled by a side chain triggered by another kick,, can you even do this in Live???
Or,,
Play with the ADSR of simpler/sampler and add single shots when and where you want them using midi clips,,,

chuenjin · Post by **chuenjin** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:23 am

http://www.generate-music.com/QT/L8_Sin ... torial.mov

Basically what homebelly said. Logic is being used in this video, but no doubt you can rig it up the same way in Live.

Or just double up the kick with a sample of the sine kick.

krank · Post by **krank** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:57 pm

There was a guy on this forum who posted a set of kick samples a while ago (I think his words were along the line of 'giving back to the community'). Sorry, don't have the link on hand.

tequila slammer · Post by **tequila slammer** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:14 am

Oh yeah, sample some doors slamming.

jamief · Post by **jamief** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:21 am

sample someone elses .
there are loads

v00d00ppl · Post by **v00d00ppl** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:21 am

leedsquietman wrote:try layering samples, and then EQ and compressing them as a group.

+1 thats my trick too. also use overdrive in impulse you can make that kick nasty like a craigslist prostitute nasty.

Macrostructure · Post by **Macrostructure** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:31 pm

leedsquietman wrote:try layering samples, and then EQ and compressing them as a group.

+1

also try to find some old Waldorf Attack samples, they are quite good.