Ableton Forum

hey everyone, as the title explains i'm getting stuck on creating from scratch some powerful kicks...after a bit of trying i can now say i'm able to synthesize decent sounds for almost every category-say lead polys pads and so on- but i'm getting crazy at making serious drum hits; not only kicks, but being them so important it looks like a good place to start..so the question is : what are the basic characteristics of those Boom Boom stuff one can hear almost everywhere in dance (in a broad sense) music? i've read tutorials and so on, so i've made an idea, but while they may sound good and can be fine for more melodic electronic music, they always lack that "wow" factor..don't know what i really expect from posting this, but as always help is much appreciated.
thanks in advance..cheers

Ide try this:

- Use pitch envelopes
- Use Compression (but dont overcompress the whole kick)
- Try layering & filtering sounds in a drum or instrument rack


Sampling and re-sampling are excellent ways to get that kick right
then you can use a part of your kick construction bits that arent perfect for tweaking parts of the track.