KVR Audio

Igro · Post by **Igro** » Fri Jul 22, 2016 8:59 pm

There are many techno artists that create very well rounded kicks (obviously compressed) without attack clicks. Are there any special compressors that do so fast compression during the attack time or it is some sort of technique using the mix of limiters and compressors. I know that some "look-ahead" compressors can do something very close to it (112db Blue Compressor, for instance). Or it is just a very narrow notch filter that removes the click. Here are some random examples I've just found in Youtube. Any suggestions? Thanx.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zbEp-t1gUw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBkxT_2ALzA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfTKzu3Ltgs

Sim.Sky · Post by **Sim.Sky** » Fri Jul 22, 2016 9:05 pm

Are you talking about the actual kick drum sound (i.e. of the kick drum sample)? So you've got a kick drum with click sound and want to get rid of that?

EDIT: To go ahead in the meantime: if the kick drum already has got a click sound in it then I think it's not worth trying to remove it with a compressor. I actually doubt that that would be possible, in fact. An EQ would probably be the better choice, search for the main frequencies of the click sound and try to remove it with a notch or something. But the most reasonable thing would probably be to create your own kick drums which don't include a click from the outset. You could practically use every of those kick drum synths (Kick 2, RP Punch-BD, Big Kick, whatever) and only use the sine wave generator. If you've got some experience with synth programming you could achieve a very similar result with most VA synths.

Igro · Post by **Igro** » Fri Jul 22, 2016 9:26 pm

Sim.Sky wrote:Are you talking about the actual kick drum sound (i.e. of the kick drum sample)? So you've got a kick drum with click sound and want to get rid of that?

Hi Sim.Sky. No, the original source (VSTi) doesn't have any clicks. But after compression they usually appear, as you know. To get a nice rounded kick the source has to be gained at low frequencies, compressed and saturated a bit. But then the click starts ruining the warmth and roundness of the body.

Sim.Sky · Post by **Sim.Sky** » Fri Jul 22, 2016 9:38 pm

Igro wrote:
Sim.Sky wrote:Are you talking about the actual kick drum sound (i.e. of the kick drum sample)? So you've got a kick drum with click sound and want to get rid of that?

Hi Sim.Sky. No, the original source (VSTi) doesn't have any clicks. But after compression they usually appear, as you know. To get a nice rounded kick the source has to be gained at low frequencies, compressed and saturated a bit. But then the click starts ruining the warmth and roundness of the body.

Hm, interesting... I'm not sure what kind of click you're referring to, because when I've got a kick without click, a compressor usually wouldn't introduce such a thing... Could you maybe post some sound examples, one with and one without compressor/click? Btw, what compressor are you using with which settings, and what DAW do you use?

FWIW one of fastest compressors available is the FET 1176 (e.g. Waves CLA-76).

Sim.Sky · Post by **Sim.Sky** » Fri Jul 22, 2016 9:39 pm

Just to make sure: you're not talking about clipping/audible distortion, are you?

Zexila · Post by **Zexila** » Fri Jul 22, 2016 9:48 pm

kokotte · Post by **kokotte** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 4:01 am

click in the kick attack ?

Ah_Dziz · Post by **Ah_Dziz** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 4:09 am

It sounds like you are using far too much compression or too slow an attack. A low pass filter can tone that kind of thing down quite easily though.

kokotte · Post by **kokotte** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 4:12 am

or a fade in, or a nudge(editing the wav)

JerGoertz · Post by **JerGoertz** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 5:17 am

Try Stillwell audio's The Rocket, I've heard it's good for such things

Igro · Post by **Igro** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 7:42 am

Maybe these were not the best examples, i found them in 5 minutes. There are tunes that have no clicks at all. What I'm trying to say, how thise folks compress kicks so heavily without klicks. There is nothing ambiguous in this question. I've got Rocket by Stilwell. It fast but clicky. If you are coming from live music or trance or something, then, of course, you don't understand what I'm talking about.

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 8:08 am

I always heard you are not supposed to compress kicks, but to each his/her own.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 8:14 am

ATS wrote:I always heard you are not supposed to compress kicks, but to each his/her own.

Lolwut?

I hate clicking kicks, both in commercial releases and in synth presets. But there's always way around it with a compressor, my kicks don't click anymore. Not sure if it's actually any difficult

kurodo · Post by **kurodo** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 8:51 am

ATS wrote:I always heard you are not supposed to compress kicks, but to each his/her own.

Not quite sure where you heard that? true some Kick drums from commercial Drum Libraries or lifted Kicks that have already been compressed probably don't need further compression but some Kicks most certainly benefit from compression.
Some producers like to compress in order to further shape and add their own personal touch even if a Kick has already been heavily processed.

Clicks that aren't a deliberate part of the sound design process can be sorted with a quick edit (zero crossing)

The usual I guess, the are no rules.

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 9:23 am

kurodo wrote:
ATS wrote:I always heard you are not supposed to compress kicks, but to each his/her own.
Not quite sure where you heard that? true some Kick drums from commercial Drum Libraries or lifted Kicks that have already been compressed probably don't need further compression but some Kicks most certainly benefit from compression.
Some producers like to compress in order to further shape and add their own personal touch even if a Kick has already been heavily processed.

Clicks that aren't a deliberate part of the sound design process can be sorted with a quick edit (zero crossing)

The usual I guess, the are no rules.

heard it in tutorials I watched many years ago, maybe it's the cool thing to do now? I don't know, it makes sense to me not to compress them, but like you said, no rules.

Compressing kicks without clicks.