Ableton Forum

hey guys, im interested about Kick Drums....

how can i make my own kick drums using Ableton?

do you make them by combinig few kicks, or just one kick + adding some soft noises , or how ?

tnx

Probably it would be best to understand to physical properties of low frequency sounds before trying anything. Frequencies below 150 hz are the first to "mud-up", so you have to be careful. Having two "low-endy" kicks layered on top of each other can cause phase cancellation, or just a low-frequency swamp that will make it hard to hear any definition.
Usually, I'll pick one kick to carry all the booty, and then use other sounds as character. If those other sounds are other kick drums (or they have some lows in them), I'll use an eq to roll off the lows in those sounds.
Really, the low-cut eq is the best-kept secret in audio production. I tend to take 80hz out of everything that isn't a kick drum, and up to 250hz out of anything that is not a bass patch.
Another trick, squeeze the kick with a compressor (4:1 to 8:1 ratio, with the comp hitting around -3 tp -6 db), set a very fast release time, and then open up the attack time until it "pops". Or, run the same comp on a return and send each different kick over to it with the send turned all the way up (I think this comes out at 0bd when the send is cranked).
Of course, your monitoring situation makes a big difference. The bad news is that it is very hard to get the low-end right in a room that wasn't specifically built as a studio control room.
So, at the end of the day, let your ears be your guide, and don't be afraid to take you sounds and play them back on different systems (the living room stereo, the car, the iPod, your friend's studio, etc.).

Have a look here, the method is a good school

http://sonictransfer.com/kick-drum-desi ... rial.shtml

And once you master this technique you can reproduce this by
layering 2 or 3 different kicks, send them to one return channel, add
eq and compression and voilà..... huge Eric Prydz Kick for ya

heh, nice tips

i was experimenting something like this @ my own way, before reading...

but sometimes im just lazy to make these kicks,wish theres some good soundbank of them , lol


cheers...


if you got more tips , dont be shy to mention, if its top secret send it on private

if you have operator, check my youtube page/ No zooms at the moment, it just explains how to use 3 fm oscillators to make a very decent kick in about 5 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/djairwave

Airwave wrote:if you have operator, check my youtube page/ No zooms at the moment, it just explains how to use 3 fm oscillators to make a very decent kick in about 5 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/djairwave

+1

operator or Sampler will do the trick

you could use Simpler but it will be more work - unless you use a kick sample to begin with - I'm really talking about using *any* type of audio input

I clicked my fingers in front of an iMac internal mic and recorded it and made all kinds of sounds out of it using it as a waveform - I got a quite decent kick with Sampler - at first I used simpler and it took alot longer and wasnt as good

sampler is awesome for sound design

but if you want your traditional dance synth kick operator is the bomb and even comes with some good preset kicks

in fact: http://www.alexisforge.co.uk/OperatorDrumsynthRack.adg