Hi guys, for a long time now, I've been trying to achieve a good clean, but deep kick. One that has good low end (but not too much) and a good high end (which doesn't get annoying). I'm using samples and tweaking them to my liking, but didn't get something that I am satisfied with yet. Any tips?

Here is what I got so far, let me know what you think needs some changing:

http://soundcloud.com/itsnano/kick

There is nothing wrong with your kick. It sounds banging.

Go make some music instead of worrying about it.

Peace,
Andy.

Yea, I might just have been overreacting i guess... thanks for the reply zen

Sounds like you are working on a kind psy / prog trance vibe, so check out these tutorials posted on Isratrance / Youtube:

http://forum.isratrance.com/psilocybian-s-tutorials/

One of the videos is about blending samples to create a new kick, using Ableton Live (but the principal obviously applies to any host or plugin). The other videos contain loads of useful tips for creating psychedelic sounds.

Also ... the kick you posted sounds fine on it's own, but other sounds in the mix e.g. bass will change the feel of the kick considerably. But that's another topic: mixing. Choose sounds that complement each other, to minimise the amount of corrective EQing required.

Peace,
Andy.

Yea, I'm just gonna mess with the EQ on my bass and try to move it to another frequency cuz it seems like the kick/bass frequencies are fighting for power in my track. Thanks for the tutorials!

If your bass and kick and fighting each other that's a sign of one or more of the following:

1) the kick drum decay/release is too long so it overlaps with the bass

2) the release on the bass synth is too long, so it overlaps with the kick

3) the bass is too loud

4) the kick and the bass drum are playing at the same time

All of these are easily corrected.

You can also try EQ'ing both the bass and kick drum to remove some frequencies somewhere between 200 and 500 Hz. Obviously it depends on the kick drum & bass used, so it's different every time.

Play the bass + kick together. Place an EQ on the kick channel. High Q setting for a narrow cut. Reduce the gain of this EQ band and sweep around between 200 + 500 Hz. At a specific point the kick will kinda pop out of the speakers a bit more. That's your sweet spot. Do the same for the bass.

Peace,
Andy.

very nice info andy! Do you think it would be a good idea to render the bass as audio and then cut it out when the kick hits? Because I have a slight reverb on my bass which might be going into the kick and make the track seem all muddy.

I don't know - that sounds like a workflow thing rather than a "rule". Depends on what you are trying to do.

But if you have reverb on the bass, you will definitely need to make sure the low frequencies are cut out of the reverb send channel. Put an EQ after the reverb and cut out the frequencies below 150 Hz (at least 150, probably higher but it really depends on the sound).

Peace,
Andy.

I never used to EQ the reverb's or delays on my send channel. That's probably what is causing the "muddy" feel between the sounds i guess. Thanks for the info