Ableton Forum

can anybody give me a tip to get more oomph out of my kickers? i don't like using loud kicks, but i still want some bump to come out of the speakers. how should i go about getting a 707 or 606 kicker to band a bit harder?

try layering another sample alongside, and eq to taste

lower the volume of everything but the kick by 2 db also is doing wonders sometimes. most of the times. always.

If you don't want to layer with another sample you could try paralell compression.
Clone the channel and add a compressor set on a setting so that it trashes a bit and then blend it in with the original signal to taste.

But layering is almost always the key but be sure to eq properly.

And also, 606/707 kicks aren't that often used, the norm is 808/909, but i do love my 606!

kraze wrote:If you don't want to layer with another sample you could try paralell compression.
Clone the channel and add a compressor set on a setting so that it trashes a bit and then blend it in with the original signal to taste.

But layering is almost always the key but be sure to eq properly.

And also, 606/707 kicks aren't that often used, the norm is 808/909, but i do love my 606!

I'm old school.....is that what they used call 'New York' compression?

Sound advice there too. Layers is the way man:

Think of low bass, mid bass (and also high bass maybe)...same as the way most club sound system's active crossovers work : Mid Bass for the 'smack' in the chest and sub/low bass for the rumble/vibration (with maybe some highs for the 'crack')

I normally cut an eq 'notch' for each of the kick samples best bits to shine thru.

I do try to avoid compression in the early stages in favour of volume envelopes as can sometimes end up muddy and thin.(This and fact that i'm by no means a sound engineer so trust my ears first!!)

kraze wrote:If you don't want to layer with another sample you could try paralell compression.
Clone the channel and add a compressor set on a setting so that it trashes a bit and then blend it in with the original signal to taste.

But layering is almost always the key but be sure to eq properly.

And also, 606/707 kicks aren't that often used, the norm is 808/909, but i do love my 606!

I'm old school.....is that what they used call 'New York' compression?

Sound advice there too. Layers is the way man:

Think of low bass, mid bass (and also high bass maybe)...same as the way most club sound system's active crossovers work : Mid Bass for the 'smack' in the chest and sub/low bass for the rumble/vibration (with maybe some highs for the 'crack')

I normally cut an eq 'notch' for each of the kick samples best bits to shine thru.

I do try to avoid compression in the early stages in favour of volume envelopes as can sometimes end up muddy and thin.(This and fact that i'm by no means a sound engineer so trust my ears first!!)

Yeah, "paralell compression" was the real term though even before it became known as ny/motown-compression though.

Throw on a EQ3 and experiment with the FreqLow and FreqHi parameters. EQ3 is wonderful for dull kicks. It adds more character and thickness to em.

layer and operator under said kick with a fixed sine around 80-100. for bonus, add a pitch envalope.

then, throw a saturator on it, and use soft sine distortion with only a slight increase in gain.


also make sure no instruments are cutting into your kick freqency. if they are, cut your kick freqency out of that instrument, or sidechain it.

Hi!

I think one important thing is missing in this thread. What kind of monitors are you using in your production set up? The tricky thing with with electronic music production is that the monitors are absolutely crucial to your outcome, and I would test all your tracks on other set ups as well (your car stereo, the little hifi set up in the bathroom, your girlfriends stereo, anything really).

I suffered a long time from not being able to buy decent monitors, and learning the character of your monitors is an essential element of working with Live.

Maybe there's nothing wrong with your kicks, after all.

Give it a try!

Cheers, pbanken