how to get better with drum kicks?

S

SimpleBeats

New member
this seems to be my biggest problem. i cant seem to make the kicks fit my beats correctly. any way to get better with the kicks?
 
Listen to different songs in the style of music that you make and ask yourself these questions: "Why did they select that kick?" "What is that kick doing to the rest of the beat" "What could I do to make my kicks fit as well as theirs does?"
 
Have a read up on layering as a first step...
My kick is made up of several sounds (which incidentally aren't all 'kicks')

But as Desmond was implying: sound selection is important - every sound has a tone. You might have the right sound but in the wrong key.
 
One thing I use to do is play some songs an try to emulate the drum pattern with my keyboard (the keyboard have a basic drum set).

I just try to fit to the tempo and try to do the same pattern. In my opinion, with this method I learned something about fit in a tempo, some combinations with kicks, and also about basslines. We have to train the ear and the fingers.

Hope this opinion could help you.
 
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All good suggestions above, SimpleBeats, but tbh, your description of your problem doesn't give us much to go on (i.e. what exactly is your issue with kicks?)... If I'm understanding your question correctly, you are not talking about sound selection or layering, but rather understanding bass drum placement within a drum groove itself. Is this correct? If so, there are myriad approaches, but the easiest suggestion would be "listen to a lot of music." Really listen to how drummers, and good programmers, construct their grooves and how they fit together with bass lines and other rhythm parts. Don't have the listening skills to analyze and deconstruct rhythms at that level yet? You'll have to develop them-- practice your basic music theory/reading/counting skills, or better yet, take some drum lessons. If you can learn how a drummer thinks about these things, and the physical approach/limitations to making a drum groove, it can only help your programming, and who knows? You may even have some fun in the process! And again, listen, listen, listen to all types of music that has drums, bass, and percussion in it, until you start to internalize some of the basics.

Hope that helps.

GJ
 
Are you tuning your kicks to your song?

Also...

LAYER
LAYER
LAYER

Although the above may intensify if you aren't tuning your drums.
 
JC Biffro said:
Are you tuning your kicks to your song?

Also...

LAYER
LAYER
LAYER

Although the above may intensify if you aren't tuning your drums.
Click to expand...


This ^^ badly tuned kick drums can subtly take the energy away from your track.

What are you using to make your kicks?
 
My thoughts are that you may be struggling with the sound envelope of the kick - it hangs too long or it stops suddenly

Either of these issues can make it seem like a kick is not sitting in the groove (I agree with rhythmgj about this being a placement issue). And when you think it is not sitting right in the groove you may go off on tangential paths instead of addressing the key element of sound selection and overall sound envelope of that sound choice
 
I also have struggled with a same problem, I layer two or three kicks and eq the parts i want out of each sample. Just be patient with layering and eq'ing.
 
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