Ableton Forum

i high pass my kicks at 70hz and boost it around 70-125hz and add compression and reverb, but still i cant get it sound the way i want it, when i listen to some underground hip hop, the kicks sound very bottom, its like the subwoofer is very active all the time, but when i listen to my kicks it aint that bottom, so heres the question how to get that bottom sound? i also put the ableton mono in my track and put see dc button on and width about 30% and gain 3db or so, stil no luck

play us some so we can analyse

forget the high pass, the eq and reverb - none of that will produce a good hip hop kick. High pass 30-40hz (if you really need to). Reverb will just push it back in the mix & lose definition. DOnt think you need to doing that stuff with the Utility either, maybe make the width small if you want it mono but DC offset shouldnt be that much of a problem. i wouldnt boost 70-150hz on the kick, if you need more of that take it out of another instrument or subtract a little of the higher end of the kick - its generally better to make cuts than boosts

if you're using good samples or making them yourself maybe you should look at the rest of the mix. Cut the bassline, can you hear a decent thump then but not with the bassline playing? YOu might need to do some eq work on the other instruments rather than on the kick. Possibly try sidechaining the bass or the conflicting instrument. high pass at 150-200 (starting point) everything except the bass & kick, see if that improves your definition.

or you could use a gate so that the kick triggers a 50hz sine wave so you get a big bottom end. but you cant high pass at 70hz and expect a deep sound.

forget all that EQ'ing at first..
try to layer your kick with for instance a soft attack 808 kick..

I almost layer all my drum sounds..

Fhlouz wrote:i high pass my kicks at 70hz and boost it around 70-125hz and add compression and reverb, but still i cant get it sound the way i want it, when i listen to some underground hip hop, the kicks sound very bottom, its like the subwoofer is very active all the time

High passing the kick at 70 would remove all the frequencies
that are played by the sub. You do mean Low Pass / high cut right ?

To get the low umph - try layering the kick with a sine in
tune with the song. Somewhere between A0 and A1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_key_frequencies

in EQ tutorial movies they say high pass the kick at 50-70hz to get the mud out and then boost it around 80-100hz, especially in drum and bass music, dont know about hip hop tho.

http://www.hobbyprojects.com/general_th ... ilter3.gif

Fhlouz wrote:in EQ tutorial movies they say high pass the kick at 50-70hz to get the mud out and then boost it around 80-100hz, especially in drum and bass music, dont know about hip hop tho.

http://www.hobbyprojects.com/general_th ... ilter3.gif

trust your ears, not the numbers..

it is completely pointless discussing just your kick alone - unless of course you have no other bass at all, but I assume that is not the case

you have to fit them together - a lot of the time if there is no definition in the bottom end it is far more to do with multiple sounds competing or clashing at certain frequencies

Poster wrote:forget all that EQ'ing at first..
try to layer your kick with for instance a soft attack 808 kick..

I almost layer all my drum sounds..

As a longtime hip-hop producer, and A&R for one of the bigger indie hip-hop labels I can def. say that Poster's technique will work.

When I do hip-hop records, I always combined a (sampled) kick with an 808 bass sound (that I sampled from an old Miami bass record). I slightly filter the first kick, and then I heavily filter out the highs of the 808 (to get rid of the attack). Essentially you want to hear the first kick, and just feel the 808.

Maybe your sample sucks?

Moody wrote:Maybe your sample sucks?

mayby so, but thanks to everybody for helping out!!!

Fhlouz wrote:

Moody wrote:Maybe your sample sucks?

mayby so, but thanks to everybody for helping out!!!

Seriously, sample quality works wonders. Not sure if that is your actual problem but, looking at the source is usually the best place to start.

copy that.

Ya gotta have a little of all the frequencies in the kik. If you use a pass filter improperly, you'll completely lose freqs that won't eq down-stream from there. If you have to use a pass filter, just set it at 30hz and forget it. 70 is well too high. If I use a sample, i use one that's done and doesn't need anything. Simple dimple.

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