Making that kick really hit hard....

M

mikeacela

New member
I know you must have herd this a thousand times. Question is how to get my Kick and 808 to really stand out and kick hard. I thought I was doing an "ok" job before, some have said that it sounds solid and that their on point.

Right now I layer 2 kicks along with an 808. I utilize ADSR envelopes and all that, balence it out till it sounds right. After adding 7 band eq, compression and other stuff, I still cant get it to hit as hard as I want. Is their a plugin that you recommend or another technique? I find it difficult to get the kicks to hit hard while still sounding clean. I constantly compare myself to other producers.

I look up to Dopant Beats (He's on youtube), his kicks sound so full and hit hard. If you check him out real quick youll know what I mean. Many songs I hear from people dont really hit as hard as I would like, I want to get that quick thud sound.

If you dont know what I mean please ask, Im almost positive that theirs some type of method while mixing or mastering that Im missing here. Also If anyone has any nicely balenced kick samples that they think would be of help plz let me know lol. Maybe its the samples I have but I doubt it. Also do you think that the Battery 4 vst would assist me in hish quality samples and help me find what Im looking for.

What are some of your techniques that you use to get your kicks to hit hard, I only listed some of what I do.

heres a song I did a couple months ago:






Making a new song now and I cant settle, Kicks have be right lol, then again If you dont know what Im talking about, just let me know what your techniques for your kick and low end is... thanks


Never stop making music...:cheers:
 
Last edited:
Why do you put a compressor on your kicks? Why do you add a 7 band EQ on it? Why do you do the other kind of processing you did not mention?
 
I want my kicks to knock too but im getting better and better at mixing the kick imo.

I started using sidechain compression a couple weeks ago and that helps alot.
 
Last edited:
You're allowed to layer more than 2...just make there is no phase cancellation. Lots of the kick being out there has to do with actual audio editing to (Cut, move, fill, crossfade) that I'm not even gonna bother explaining here. Too many different ways and all would make no sense to someone who hasn't done it before.
 
Last edited:
Wallengard said:
Why do you put a compressor on your kicks? Why do you add a 7 band EQ on it? Why do you do the other kind of processing you did not mention?
Click to expand...

.... This makes my kicks sound better bro, y what do u do??

BeatsByD said:
I want my kicks to knock too but im getting better and better at mixing the kick imo.

I started using sidechain compression a couple weeks ago and that helps alot.
Click to expand...

Good idea, i gotta look into that, thanks bro.

Yumid said:
You're allowed to layer more than 2...just make there is no phase cancellation. Lots of the kick being out there has to do with actual audio editing to (Cut, move, fill, crossfade) that I'm not even gonna bother explaining here. Too many different ways and all would make no sense to someone who hasn't done it before.
Click to expand...

I see what your saying, does seem a little tedious, but I get it, thanks.
 
Last edited:
No... but do you actually know why? You might be having this problem because you simply put an EQ, a compressor and what ever not you do just because you think that it's how you're supposed to do.

There's not going to be another plugin out there for you to simply slap on the channel to make the kick sound as hard as you'd want it to. You have to master your tools and develop an ear for how it should sound and what kind of processing it needs. It may just be that you are using all the wrong type of timbres for it.. who knows..
 
Last edited:
Wallengard said:
No... but do you actually know why? You might be having this problem because you simply put an EQ, a compressor and what ever not you do just because you think that it's how you're supposed to do.

There's not going to be another plugin out there for you to simply slap on the channel to make the kick sound as hard as you'd want it to. You have to master your tools and develop an ear for how it should sound and what kind of processing it needs. It may just be that you are using all the wrong type of timbres for it.. who knows..
Click to expand...

I hear you but In my experience when I use the 7 band eq it allows me to cut out some of the higher frequencies and boost the low; this makes my kick sound cleaner and helps me layer it with others. When I said I compress the kick, i really ment use fruity compressor to increase the gain. I only adjust the kicks if I see fit and if they would sound better. I dont just add things for the sake of the mentality or because its what im supposed to do, im not that ignorant. I know theirs not one magical plugin to slap on. I want to know other techniques people of the hip hop/ trap genre are using to accomplish such nice sounding kicks. I wanted to compare a few of my methods to others because it helps me learn.
 
Last edited:
What if the kick doesn't need a cut in the highs? Or a boost in the low? What if the kicks you are compressing doesn't really need it in the first place? I don't think there are any particular "tricks" going on other than EQing, compressing, saturation etc etc.. It's all about how you use it and if you don't understand why it's very difficult to understand when to use it.
 
Last edited:
mikeacela said:
werd brah
Click to expand...
I wouldn't just brush off the advice in this thread with "werd brah"...

As Wallengard said, it still sounds like you aren't understanding why you are using these tools.

1) Yes, better samples are going to help you. If you want a hard hitting kick, a hard hitting kick sample is going to hit hard. I don't remember if battery specifically has hard hip hop kicks because my kick library on Maschine is compiled into one library from different vst's. I would not be surprised if it did though. I would research where you can get harder samples though.

2) If you are layering two kicks together, you shouldn't really be eqing so they fit together as that defeats the purpose of layering. Layering is for getting the best, balanced sound without doing too much processing.

3) Compression can actually take away a kick's power if used wrong, especially since most samples are already compressed. Be careful with this. If the kicks are sounding like they aren't one kick, it's probably a levels issue.

4) Better tools for making kicks stand out, in order of importance: Composition, Levels, Panning, Transient Alterations, Saturation/distortion, gated reverb/side-chain compression.
 
I always see people say compression helps a lot but nowhere did I see how to use it to get this sou d.

In order to get hard hitting drums using compression, would I want to compress everything but the peak transient or squash the whole thing (in a more subtle manner ) then bring up the makeup gain?
 
Last edited:
^^^No one will answer that because they're just repeating what they've heard somewhere else. Only thing that stays consitant is the use of a 2:1 Ratio(sure they heard that somewhere too because that's BS dependant on the functionality of the compressor in question I wouldn't use the exact same settings from Pro Tool's Comp as I would on Bomb Factory's "Slightly Rude Comp" or on an SSL emulation).

Compression for drums was more of a practice used for live drums and drum loop samples taken from vinyl in the early days of hip hop. It served purposes like leveling, meshing sounds together well, thickening, ect. that you don't need done to most drums you find in kits these days. 9/10 all your kicks need is everything else in the song turned down and effects commonly used when processing drums(EQ, Filters, ASDHR Values, Pitch). It won't need all of these everytime. Especially when we're talking about these "808 kicks" packaged today.
 
Last edited:
Something to keep in mind is the volume of your other sounds in relation to your kick. Doesn't matter if they're high, mid or low, if they're too loud, they may drown out the sound of your kick. The first thing I always work with, before messing with any other effects or EQ, are the levels.

Also something to keep in mind is that making your kicks Louder don't always make them Stronger. This is why layering is so effective. Like someone already said, feel free to layer more than 2 kicks.
 
start with good samples. that's the most important thing. get it good from the start. depending on what exactly you're needing though, there's so many things you can do to a kick to get it to hit harder. an example would be helpful though to explain what you need to be doing to achieve what you're wanting. a couple plugins to try out though would be a transient shaper plugin. my favorite one it from native instruments, it's their Transient Master. some saturation on kicks works wonders as well. the psp vintage warmer is excellent for kick drums. but if you post an example of what yours sounds like and what you want it to sound like, i can give you more advice on how to achieve that. but without an example it's really hard to tell you what you need to be doing. it could be one a million different things to try...... and this is just me personally, i would stay away from compressing your kick. try parallel compression instead. you should pick a good enough sample to start with to where you won't need compression though. sample based music shouldn't need compression very often. live recordings, totally. but that's just me. 808's specifically do really well with the psp vintage warmer. you can push them pretty hard and because it limits it as well, you get a super loud, hard hitting 808 without it peaking any louder on the volume fader. you get perceived loudness, but not actually volume difference. if you set your kick to peak at -10db it will only be -10db when you push it hard through the psp vintage warmer, but it sounds way louder. great plugin for kicks.

listening to your track though, that kicks hits hard. what don't you like about it? sounds good to me.

here's a pack of 808's i made:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/n5elpio16l796mr/808+kicks.zip
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top