Powerful Psytrance Kick Drums?

S

S>invader

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Hi everyone!

Kick drums used by most psytrance artists are very very powerful. More than any other genre of music. How do they make those extremely clean yet power drum beats?

eg. artists like Bamboo Forest, Alien Project, Astrix, Atomic Pulse etc.

I have tried using diiferent samples, and many diiferent comressors...but doesnt get close to the quality and power that these artists get.

Any suggestions?


thanks!!
 
Yes I know about the infected tutorial. I tried that a year back, it is quite good...

However if you hear some of the new artists and their drums, the sound is just fantastic...

I'll post some links to some samples soon...
 
with the virus?
its easy
i tryed to do it with my virus but it didnt go well and i finaly gave up.... :(
-i need to ask him for the patch
 
I had a similar problem a while back, all i had was a 22KHz 909 bass kick. I created one with the FM synthesys in soundforge that was quite good - create a 1 sec long sine wave at about 60Hz, then apply loads of pitch bend to the start of it so that it starts high, but instantaneously drops down to it's original pitch. It is this pitch bend that gives the sound its initial thump, so the more pitch bend you apply the more noticable it is. Be careful though, as too much pitch bend makes it sound like one of those electro-euro dance drums :). Experiment with applying different amounts of pitch bend on different lengths of sine wave (eg, the first 1/10th of a second, or the first half a second of the wave) until you get the sound you want.
 
any tips and/or tutorials for compressing and eqing??

what compressors do you use?


thanks!!!
 
i prersonaly use vst\dxi compressores like :
the Steinberg VST Mastering Edition,TimeWorks - Mastering -very good!
i use a couple of more but dont remember the exact names :)
 
Well, I use Soundforge...then I EQ the kick in Cubase with presets "Kick Drum" in TC´s EQ...sounds great =)
 
BazzISM

Yo man... check ou BazzISM

it makes the infected tutorial hand easy.

Just play and get your kix..

www ismism de

now the secret is on the lenght, curve of the envelope, the start and end frequencies and on the eq and comp you apply in the end.

Have phun....

Check out our school's website www 2600hz com br
translate in babylon altavista from portuguese to english if necessary

Abraco!!! Regards!!!:cheers:

Eduardo - Alemao @ 2600hz
Musica... Tecnologia... Abra seus ouvidos...
web: www 2600hz com br
mail: infos at 2600hz com br
 
i still use the otium compadre to compress kiks. its supposed to be for drums...
it could just be in my head, but i like it.

if youre not gettin what you want, try throwing something odd into your layering/compressing/eqing mashup. like a *tiny* amount of some other tone.
thats how you get those special kicks.
and of course, starting off with the best possible sources....

:)
 
I have a SH-101 which has always impressed me and is capable of a bit of 'damage in this respect...
If you can borrow one- do it.
Generally the settings involve cutting any waveforms from the source mixer altogether, setting frequency to naught, resonance to max and envelope amount near to max within the vcf section- maybe avoid modulation in this section (keyboard amount is optional). It's then just a matter of envelope settings for curtailing the output. Though simple, this can be somewhat emulated on software-subtractive synths I believe. Let me know if you've come across any other approaches.
I might post some 101 wav 'sessions' up eventually if need be:)
 
Infected Mushroom has a tutorial...

http://www.infected-mushroom.net/Main/Main/Main.htm

found it quite beneficial,,,check the home studio section...

Another trick is to stack/layer drums...and 808/909 backed by a deep throaty tom with a quick decay works great
Here years later...
You are saing infected has a tutorial... is ther any way of getting my hands on it today? Even if you are reading this 2 years later it wold still be helpfull to get an amswer...
 
Some other tips:

1) always study the WAV sample in a standalone audio editor
2) see if you can trim away unneeded parts at the beginning and the end.
3) the more focussed the kick is within a duration of time (not too little, yet not too much), the more powerful it will seem;

Again, if it's tonal and sustained, it's not going to seem like a drum. It's got to have some element of surprise; sustained tones aren't surprising while they're still playing.

4) study the amplitude and utilise "Transient shapers"; a lot of educators didn't even mention these for several decades.
5) EQ and limit, of course.
6) Of a stereo sample, pick whichever side sounds best (L or R) and just use that and delete the other side and downmix to mono.

Supposedly mono can be slightly more powerful per sound than stereo, because both speakers are doing the same thing at 100% at all times. In stereo, even if just for micro-moments, one side is always less than or different than the other. Stereo *IS* difference between channels, kinda like in Mid-Side (MS). I was skeptical at first, but I think it might be true. A lot of bass mixing techniques involve deliberate quantities of subtle crosstalk below certain frequency.

Two of my favorite old school limiters: BuzMaxi Limiter, and Christian Budde's LookAhead Limiter.

You can get VERY tight drums with those.

7) *NEVER* use an acoustic kick drum; they can never compete with a synth kick; don't even try.
 
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