Mixing Trap Kicks To Sound HUGE

  • Thread starter Thread starter proz9c
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Lower all the other sounds, that'll make your bass drum sound HUGE :-)
 
Maybe some saturation on the lower end? And sidechain as well.
 
doesn't take rocket science. start by using the right sample that blend with the bass or 808 then mix everything to the kick. use a drum buss too.
 
That doesn't even sound that big to me.

Gotta agree with Wallengard and Krys$hun.

One thing I did that I really liked on a beat was I used a big reverb and I automated an eq to take the lows out as the the tail rings out (and probably turned it down at the same time). This made the kick really big but the tail didn't muddy anything up.

Edit: Keep in mind on that song all I really had going on was that kick, a synth, hats, snares, and a few brass instruments. Very minimal beat, so the kick became the main theme.
 
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You can start off with EQ and compression. You can make room for the drums by reducing the frequencies that the drums occupy from other sounds. You want to do this with feel and intuition though. You can also Compress the drums so that they stay in the volume range you put them at.

Pensado has some really good tutorials on youtube to get you going. check them out. (search Pensados Place)
 
There are basically 2 things that determine how whether or not the kick drum will sound huge.

1) The balance of your mix - mix everything around your kick. That's the way electronic music works. The kick and the bass drive the energy of the track, so they have to be the most prominent. And that doesn't mean boosting the low frequencies with an eq. It means that all other elements should be mixed in relation to the kick and bass, the kick to be more specific. One trick I always use is to start with the kick peaking at -9dB, and then mixing everything so that the kick is 3dB than everything else.

2) Top end (attack) - this is so extremely important. If you take a listen to most modern EDM tracks, you'll notice the kicks don't have very much bottom end at all. It's all about that top end attack. That's what helps make the kick blast through the rest of the mix. Low frequencies take up so much headroom and can muddy up your mix really fast. So if you find that your kick is getting buried and not sound as huge as you want it to, try step 1 first, then try layering it with a hat sound or something that has a strong top end transient to it. Trust me it will take your kick to another level and up the energy a lot.
 
I didn't say anything about not mixing in mono. If you think your bass drum is going to sound huge by simply putting it in mono then good luck to you.
 
Obviously you have minimal knowledge of mixing. If you mix ONLY your low end in mono, it makes your low end stronger and heavier. Leave your other sounds in stereo and you will see the difference. And of course you can't just SIMPLY put your low end in mono and call it a day, you have to EQ it and add some compression. Lol do your homework man.
 
Meh.. I have little to no interest in defending myself against that. I originally thought that I might know a thing or two about mixing, but now you set me straight. So we all just put our bass drums in mono, eq it a little bit and compress it for no apparent reason and we all get to have enormously huge sounding in your face 808 super swag bass drums.

At least now my day has not been a complete waste since I learned something new.
 
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BrightLen said:
Obviously you have minimal knowledge of mixing. If you mix ONLY your low end in mono, it makes your low end stronger and heavier. Leave your other sounds in stereo and you will see the difference. And of course you can't just SIMPLY put your low end in mono and call it a day, you have to EQ it and add some compression. Lol do your homework man.
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I'm sorry, but I couldn't force myself to not comment on this...

It seems that your main point is to put the low end in mono to make it sound larger and more in-your-face... There's absolutely nothing wrong with putting your low end in mono. I actually do it a lot.

But it literally does absolutely nothing to make things sound "bigger".
 
Lol "808 super swag bass drums". Yep, basically, just throw your 808's in mono w/ EQ and compression (because compression is used for no reason). You are good to go. You got it now. Lol!
 
There is no end all be all when it comes to mixing. You can't just open one plugin and then boom you have "huge" bass. By mixing your low end in mono you are at a great start to achieving the sound you're looking for. That allows you to begin shaping the sound. It's a good place to start from. You will need to do other things as well to achieve what you are trying to do.
 
BrightLen said:
There is no end all be all when it comes to mixing. You can't just open one plugin and then boom you have "huge" bass. By mixing your low end in mono you are at a great start to achieving the sound you're looking for. That allows you to begin shaping the sound. It's a good place to start from. You will need to do other things as well to achieve what you are trying to do.
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I appreciate the explanation, and I'll say I 100% agree with that. There def isn't an end all be all; I don't really mix that way, but I do tend to put my low end in mono when it comes time to start mastering. I do think doing that usually does make a mix as a whole sound tighter.

To answer the OP's original question, it also depends on the genre you're in. A huge kick in hip hop might mean a heavy one with lot of subs (and hittin hard at 50hz), while a huge house kick might hit a lot higher (100hz+, with a lot of mids and highs).

Anyway, I was mislead before because your first post seemed to suggest just putting it in mono was the solution, which was why I commented. With that said, I guess I don't really understand your comments toward Wallengard because you're both technically saying the same thing.
 
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