Dance Music. One Kick or Kick layers?

HarHar

New member
Hi,
In dance music, would I always need to layer kicks to get a nice one or one great kick could already be good enough to generate a good powerful sound?

I'm a bit confused about this, I heard other producers saying that usually a kick in a dance song is the combination of other kicks, is this always the case?

Is one kick enough to generate enough power or is the layering only sound and melody related?

Also how do Logic Pro X drum kits sound compare to professional kit samples? I think they sound really pro but wonder what you think and if anyone has ever used them for professional purposes.
 
Sorry not sure how to delete or move this thread to the Mixing one. So i Made a new one there. Sorry
 
Hi HarHar. Ideally, using one good powerful kick is far better than layering different kicks. It takes a lot of time to find and tweak the right sample, but it pays off when you're in the mixing stage. The problem that happens in layering is that though it might sound big in the beginning, many frequencies start clashing up once you're in the mix and mastering stage, and you will be forced to end up cutting a lot of frequencies to make it sound half decent. That might end up making you kick sound thinner than using one single kick. No harm trying though, you could always end up with something that sounds unique. If you must layer, I'd recommend splitting the kicks into 2-3 bands. One for the bass, one for the thump and one for the snap. Try different combinations of different samples. I'd recommend following Amon Tobin's music, he follows a similar approach.

As for Logic Pro X's kits, they are actually quite good. You can easily sneak them into any song, based on the soundscape and the context. Just make sure that it doesn't clutter up everything else. Cheers!
 
there's many answers for this and it will probably always depend, unless you always want a kick that holds that constant. probably depends on genre, but I wouldnt limit it to that.

im sure theres times where you want a kick with more harmonics and frequency content, as well as there are times where you might want a kick that only has limited harmonics, depending on the rest of the instrumentation and where you want to go with the song/project. layering is a technique that allows a different approach, that is just as worthy as any other. Even a subtle layer of noise can enrich drums by a great degree.

I would just say try different things and whatever sounds good is how it should be.
 
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