How to get kick/808 to hit HARD? like soulection crew

Gavenid

New member

I've tried everything to try to get my kicks to sound crisp and hit hard but they never come out the way I want them to. I want to get a hard hip hop kick like the soulection crew (j louis, sango, etc)


Any suggestions to raise my kick game? I'm running Fl studio

I've tried saturation, soft clipping, slight distortion, and sidechain compression already but they don't seem to help

Thanks in advance!
 
FL is probably part your problem, and that the kick drum just doesn't have the punch in it... if you had a 909 kick drum machine you can adjust the parameters in it... side-chain compression wont generally help a kick.. unless you want whatever is driving the sidechain to crush your kick...

I would look for some drum samples... probably help you a bit better than trying to compress or EQ something that just wont pop...
 
FL is probably part your problem, and that the kick drum just doesn't have the punch in it... if you had a 909 kick drum machine you can adjust the parameters in it... side-chain compression wont generally help a kick.. unless you want whatever is driving the sidechain to crush your kick...

I would look for some drum samples... probably help you a bit better than trying to compress or EQ something that just wont pop...

How could a DAW be part of the issue? Also, why spend hours searching the Internet for the "perfect" sample that is going to fit perfectly in your song? I'm asking this because it is an invaluable skill to be able to manipulate audio to your liking.

Also, EQ and compression changes can definitely make a drum sample "pop".
 
I don't know what you're looking for exactly. It actually sounds pretty damn good to me. But I think someone else said it right. Change your Drum samples then. Look for something that is naturally closer to what you want. Eq, Compression, Distortion, Saturation can only go so far. You've heard the saying. Gold in Gold out, Shit in Shit out.
 
Your song isn't mastered yet, it's not gonna hit like a finished mastered song. It shouldn't be as loud anyway.

Finish your mix then get it mastered and see how you like it
 
Another tip: Try working with sample layering.

Layer complete samples or combine parts of 'em e.g. only the (hard hitting) attack phase of one sample with another (boomy) sample.
 
FL is probably part your problem, and that the kick drum just doesn't have the punch in it... if you had a 909 kick drum machine you can adjust the parameters in it... side-chain compression wont generally help a kick.. unless you want whatever is driving the sidechain to crush your kick...

I would look for some drum samples... probably help you a bit better than trying to compress or EQ something that just wont pop...

Are you kidding me dude? Can you not come on here with the "You can't get this sound cause you don't have this DAW" argument? It's so played out. I'm not trying to start anything, but you just need to throw that logic out the window right now, because it's 1) Completely ungrounded, 2) limiting your view of music and 3) showing that you think DAW's color sound, which is a huge red flag for any engineer or producer. I've worked with studios and I've worked on many DAW's, you can make any type of music of any quality on any DAW, I promise you.

Your song isn't mastered yet, it's not gonna hit like a finished mastered song. It shouldn't be as loud anyway.

Finish your mix then get it mastered and see how you like it

This doesn't even warrant a response, but I challenge you to try and master a song you think sounds bad and see if it sounds great to you.


I've tried everything to try to get my kicks to sound crisp and hit hard but they never come out the way I want them to. I want to get a hard hip hop kick like the soulection crew (j louis, sango, etc)


Any suggestions to raise my kick game? I'm running Fl studio

I've tried saturation, soft clipping, slight distortion, and sidechain compression already but they don't seem to help

Thanks in advance!

I listen to Dpat, and a few of the soulection guys before, so I know what you're sort of going for. Your drum isn't weak at all though, but it is missing low end so your bass can take over, which is fine. But depending on what soulection song you are trying to emulate, you may find their bass isn't actually that low, or maybe it is. But it might be the kick that's mostly in the low end. The soulection sound is sort of all over the place. I wouldn't say they all hit hard, they are just smooth as hell. Like Dpat's above us isn't really hard at all, it's just this low rumble. Probably not even a kick. Probably a bass with almost no attack.

I don't actually remember if ATU is on soulection but he's got that same basic sound. This one hits much harder https://soundcloud.com/jvmcmorrow/james-vincent-mcmorrow-glacier-atu-remix

Most people are right about samples, but there is also something to be said about manipulating samples yourself. To be honest, I've been using FL stock drums for the past few months, and while I haven't been posting anything in a while, I've been getting hard hitting songs. I wouldn't even say it's EQ or Compression that does it for me all the time, a lot of times it's what's going on around the kick. If something is hitting with the kick, it's most likely taking something away from the kick. You can try using the envelope settings in FL to take some attack off stuff that's hitting with the kick, or use Alt+arrow to nudge things a little later than the kick, or nudge the kick a little forward. Anything to make that hit come through. Or, sometimes things that hit at the same time as the kick make it all sound like one sound. That ATU remix has a hi hat hit with the kick pretty much every time, and it REALLY compliments the kick. Because that sound is adding more than it is taking away.

Your kick is very clicky. That's the first thing that stands out to me. And Soulection beats are VERY dark. Their kicks are usually dark as hell, and the hi hats have a lot of room to be bright. It's actually not a bad beat though. If the sample were a little darker, I could see Drake on here, and the pitch down change is ****ing awesome.

I just listened to your other stuff too. Like her song hits pretty hard, but it could hit a little harder. It probably would if that piano was highpassed a little more, but I'm not sure. The kick might just need to be turned up. That is very close to a soulection kick to be honest. The only thing I'd say about that and also eyes is the piano is very compressed, and it's a little distracting. I can't tell if it's just sidechain or not, because the kicks hit a lot, but it's a little too jarring.

Then you have something like king of anything, and you have a pretty clicky kick (I think?), but it works in that context. The way it hits with the bass makes it seem like the kick has more low end and it's hitting harder. Psychoacoustically, it sounds like a hard kick to me, but I'm guessing it's a very clicky one. You may even find some people think a clicky kick sounds hard solo, and that's because those people are either hearing it on small speakers, and they're hearing the regular amount of low end they normally hear, OR they know to some degree how psychoacoustics work (even if they can't explain it) and they know what a sample will sound like in what context. Your kick on wtf definitely sounds like it's hitting harder with the bass, and maybe the bass doesn't have enough attention. Maybe if you brought that up a little more, it would seem like it hits harder, but that might be too much. I don't know. You know how people say we need an audio example to help you? Well even that only goes so far. It's always better to have all the ingredients than comment on how to improve the full dish. I think this kick hits pretty hard though.

Maybe look at FPC 2 kick. That one hits pretty hard, and you can eq it to make it sound totally different. If it's too low, you could highpass it, or you could just sidechain it to your bass, as that's really the only other thing taking up low end.

If you don't like how this sounds, you can disregard everything I said above, but I think this experiment I did also hits generally hard. This is a trick with the 808 in FL where I take the attack out and replace it with like 10ms of another kick. You can pitch the 808 up and down. You seemed to be doing something like that anyway, but this is a great way to have a hard hitting kick that doesn't step on the bass. From then on, you don't need to change the 808 sample at all. The initial 10ms of the kick sample you choose RADICALLY changes how we perceive the sound as a whole. This was made in like an hour or two so I'm sure there's issues, but tell me what you think and if you need me to explain what I'm doing more, just ask. Or maybe you'll say "this sounds like shit" and you can disregard everything I said. View attachment 0-100 remix.mp3

I think you're pretty far along actually. Some of these beats have really good instincts on them.
 

I've tried everything to try to get my kicks to sound crisp and hit hard but they never come out the way I want them to. I want to get a hard hip hop kick like the soulection crew (j louis, sango, etc)


Any suggestions to raise my kick game? I'm running Fl studio

I've tried saturation, soft clipping, slight distortion, and sidechain compression already but they don't seem to help

Thanks in advance!


The only thing that I might recommend is increasing the low end on the kick in the EQ, not enough to clip, but try increasing around 50-80hz. This may give it much more, "punch", also try increasing the highs a little bit. I might also try to stereo the kick a little bit, but not enough to phuck up the stereo image.
 
FL is probably part your problem, and that the kick drum just doesn't have the punch in it... if you had a 909 kick drum machine you can adjust the parameters in it... side-chain compression wont generally help a kick.. unless you want whatever is driving the sidechain to crush your kick...

I would look for some drum samples... probably help you a bit better than trying to compress or EQ something that just wont pop...
FL is definitely not the problem lol.

Most huge trap producers use FL studio...if you were gonna pick on a daw you ironically picked the wrong one. And I use Ableton.
 
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Are you kidding me dude? Can you not come on here with the "You can't get this sound cause you don't have this DAW" argument? It's so played out. I'm not trying to start anything, but you just need to throw that logic out the window right now, because it's 1) Completely ungrounded, 2) limiting your view of music and 3) showing that you think DAW's color sound, which is a huge red flag for any engineer or producer. I've worked with studios and I've worked on many DAW's, you can make any type of music of any quality on any DAW, I promise you.



This doesn't even warrant a response, but I challenge you to try and master a song you think sounds bad and see if it sounds great to you.



I listen to Dpat, and a few of the soulection guys before, so I know what you're sort of going for. Your drum isn't weak at all though, but it is missing low end so your bass can take over, which is fine. But depending on what soulection song you are trying to emulate, you may find their bass isn't actually that low, or maybe it is. But it might be the kick that's mostly in the low end. The soulection sound is sort of all over the place. I wouldn't say they all hit hard, they are just smooth as hell. Like Dpat's above us isn't really hard at all, it's just this low rumble. Probably not even a kick. Probably a bass with almost no attack.

I don't actually remember if ATU is on soulection but he's got that same basic sound. This one hits much harder https://soundcloud.com/jvmcmorrow/james-vincent-mcmorrow-glacier-atu-remix

Most people are right about samples, but there is also something to be said about manipulating samples yourself. To be honest, I've been using FL stock drums for the past few months, and while I haven't been posting anything in a while, I've been getting hard hitting songs. I wouldn't even say it's EQ or Compression that does it for me all the time, a lot of times it's what's going on around the kick. If something is hitting with the kick, it's most likely taking something away from the kick. You can try using the envelope settings in FL to take some attack off stuff that's hitting with the kick, or use Alt+arrow to nudge things a little later than the kick, or nudge the kick a little forward. Anything to make that hit come through. Or, sometimes things that hit at the same time as the kick make it all sound like one sound. That ATU remix has a hi hat hit with the kick pretty much every time, and it REALLY compliments the kick. Because that sound is adding more than it is taking away.

Your kick is very clicky. That's the first thing that stands out to me. And Soulection beats are VERY dark. Their kicks are usually dark as hell, and the hi hats have a lot of room to be bright. It's actually not a bad beat though. If the sample were a little darker, I could see Drake on here, and the pitch down change is ****ing awesome.

I just listened to your other stuff too. Like her song hits pretty hard, but it could hit a little harder. It probably would if that piano was highpassed a little more, but I'm not sure. The kick might just need to be turned up. That is very close to a soulection kick to be honest. The only thing I'd say about that and also eyes is the piano is very compressed, and it's a little distracting. I can't tell if it's just sidechain or not, because the kicks hit a lot, but it's a little too jarring.

Then you have something like king of anything, and you have a pretty clicky kick (I think?), but it works in that context. The way it hits with the bass makes it seem like the kick has more low end and it's hitting harder. Psychoacoustically, it sounds like a hard kick to me, but I'm guessing it's a very clicky one. You may even find some people think a clicky kick sounds hard solo, and that's because those people are either hearing it on small speakers, and they're hearing the regular amount of low end they normally hear, OR they know to some degree how psychoacoustics work (even if they can't explain it) and they know what a sample will sound like in what context. Your kick on wtf definitely sounds like it's hitting harder with the bass, and maybe the bass doesn't have enough attention. Maybe if you brought that up a little more, it would seem like it hits harder, but that might be too much. I don't know. You know how people say we need an audio example to help you? Well even that only goes so far. It's always better to have all the ingredients than comment on how to improve the full dish. I think this kick hits pretty hard though.

Maybe look at FPC 2 kick. That one hits pretty hard, and you can eq it to make it sound totally different. If it's too low, you could highpass it, or you could just sidechain it to your bass, as that's really the only other thing taking up low end.

If you don't like how this sounds, you can disregard everything I said above, but I think this experiment I did also hits generally hard. This is a trick with the 808 in FL where I take the attack out and replace it with like 10ms of another kick. You can pitch the 808 up and down. You seemed to be doing something like that anyway, but this is a great way to have a hard hitting kick that doesn't step on the bass. From then on, you don't need to change the 808 sample at all. The initial 10ms of the kick sample you choose RADICALLY changes how we perceive the sound as a whole. This was made in like an hour or two so I'm sure there's issues, but tell me what you think and if you need me to explain what I'm doing more, just ask. Or maybe you'll say "this sounds like shit" and you can disregard everything I said. View attachment 44550

I think you're pretty far along actually. Some of these beats have really good instincts on them.

Thanks so much for the response man! Super helpful
 
FL is definitely not the problem lol.

Most huge trap producers use FL studio...if you were gonna pick on a daw you ironically picked the wrong one. And I use Ableton.

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure FL has slowly been surpassing a lot of DAWS in terms of wide use, not to say that's a validation of its quality.

Hopsin went gold with FL, and he makes his own beats (not that I like them that much).
 
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