Hello there,

i'm goin' to speak about an over-discussed stuff: the awsome Ax's mixing and mastering and especially about the drum kicks.

As I said, the mixing is a very important part of Ax's tracks - and as a result every instrument is definited in his space. The kicks are always pumping and loud, especially on the 50-100hz, without being Boomy and I think the Axwell mix of Resurrection is one of the best results.

What I ask to all of you is: how do you improve the prominence of your kicks?

A very good mix is the first step, we all know it.
But what kind of compressor do you usually use? And what is the ratio?
What kind of eq?
Do you usually use other stuff, during the mix on the channel strip or during the master, that can help to reach the goal?

Every information can be helpful for each other - except post like "Cut a kick from an Ax track you like, that's it" or "Vengeance VES2 - Bassdrum 0xx is the right one".

I'm not ASKING about the KIND of bassdrum. I'm DISCUSSING about the "loudness" of whatever kind of BD you wanna use.

Thanks in advance

Fab

P.s.: everything considering Ax's mixing and mastering in DAW.
I'm conscious that an hardware compressor is not fairly comparable to a software emulator - but I'm not sure Ax's using somethig like an hardware SSL.

I don't even think that cutting out Axwell's kick would be the solution for you. I personally think the trick is to give the kick the space it needs. If the kick is prominent around 50Hz, it means that no other instrument is prominent here.

The compressor settings depend very much on the relations you have between instrumental and Bassdrum. If you want more snap, try to play with compressor attack around 5-20ms or something. If you want the bassdrum to sound longer (which can appear to sound "louder") try shorter release.

I'm not sure, but it's also possible that Axwell is mixing with mastering effects on the master channel turned on. This means that you can make the kick really loud in the mix and it still would sound good after the master effect chain because the mastering compressor glues it all together.

Please don't start more than one thread on the same topic. This reply was in the other thread, which I've deleted:

I'm already using the double kick mixing. One is normally eq-ed, the other one has a cutoff on the low end @ about 200 hz, and excited at about 1kh for the punch.

But what kind of comp do u use?
I've always used ssl by waves, but I find it too many "compressing", it subrtact dynamics at the BD

Any other idea?

Yet again someone over analysing something really simple...

The reason most of the kicks in electroninc music sound "powerful,huge" or any other none sensical terms that people tend to use to refer to elements within a track these days is that they're mixed stupidly loud that is it nothing more nothing less, the french kick started the trend and it has continued to this day.

If you listen to the tracks fairly quietly and provided they haven't been raped of dynamics, you should hear the dramatic difference between the kick and the rest of the arrangment. a similar approach is now taken in pubstep to make the snare pop out the mix more,it has naff all to do with compression,saturation or any other dsp processing. it's just good sample selection,good arrangements and loud ass kicks and snares and anything else you want to stick out your mix like a sore thumb (vocals)

You should probably learn how to use a compressor, considering how much money you spent on one.

look for the treshhold knob, dial it down

Here's some tidbits:

Compressors make things quieter.

If you want something louder, turn everything else down or move the other things out of the way.

when you're already talking about compressors:

isn't it weird how people use compressors to accentuate the attack rather than going straight for the expander? expanders are underestimated overall. using compressors to bring out transients just seems counter-intuitive and a work-around to me. no big deal but i think the way you handle production cognitively has a lot to do with how you understand equipment and what it does.

personally I compress rarely and expand lots. when I do compress I usually do it quite heavily (0 attack, ratio near limiting) unless when it's used more as a separate effect - i.e. on occasional vocals and drum buses - in which case I go for mid-heavy settings (10 ms attack, 4:1 or 6:1 or something ratio).

just putting this ramble out there.

Eat this: my compressor has a make-up fader! So you can make things louder too.

I do know where you are shooting at. So i'll be clever (because i am) and i'll say that i tried SSL demo. While you are partly right (he or she should learn it first) i can agree with person saying that waves ssl tend to suck out kick energy. I mean waves SSL channel. It can be done, depending on kick etc. but mostly for beginners i see and can understand why he think that. I really liked it more on the buss not on the kick per se. But overall i never bought it. UAD and cytomic are better imho.

Brand of compressors and eq - forget it! Mastering - forget it! That's not making the sound.

In a dance production you must always priority the kick first. To make it stand out in a mix it always have to play without interference from other bass sounds. Open the piano roll and look at the arrange, delete all low end bass sounds playing at same time as kick full length (not just the attack). If you want bass playing when the kick hits it has to be with a eq low-cut 200-250, bassy part of the kick will take the bass place making the kick always sound powerful. Do this or use side chain and at same time get a pumping effect. Do whatever you want just as long kick play alone!


In Resurrection it's just a standard kick, a sub bass is side chained to it making it sound long and powerful but at same time gives opportunity to change note so bass follows the melody.