How to make a kick drum "punch" harder?

[darkvoid26]

Hello everyone,

This is one issue I've been trying to resolve with my mixes. I usually use a distorted kick (and thus has a long, drawn-out bass) going along but every time (regardless of whatever kick I'm using) the punch is kind of lackluster.
The bass itself is fine, but the initial punch doesn't have that same "pow!" feeling that's present in commercial mixes. This is kind of a weird example, but in my car, whenever the kick drum hits, my back windshield reverberates. In a commercial mix, when the kick's punch hits the windshield subsequently moves and I also feel the thump of the bass hitting in my chest. Meanwhile, in my mixes the kick's punch still makes the the windshield move, but I don't feel a very strong thump in my chest.
I think that perhaps the reason behind this is the initial punch in my kicks have a lower frequency than a commercial kick's punch, but I don't know exactly how to fix this. Should I layer the distorted kick with another kick that is very short?
Whenever I've looked online about this issue it seems that every YouTube tutorial involves using a parametric EQ and cranking the lower bass frequencies super high, but that completely muddles the kick drum and the mix... Is there a more subtle way to EQ the kick to accentuate the high frequencies (if they are, after all, the ones which cause the punch I'm talking about)?

Thanks a lot in advance!

TL;DR: How do I make a distorted kick drum "thump" harder without completely destroying my mix?

[NystagmusE]

What I used to do was to burn a CD of several different kick drum samples. I'd go play the disc in my car and take notes on which kicks sounded good and which ones were weak. Then I'd go back inside and go to my computer and delete every single kick sample which was weak. So in the end I was left only with good kicks.

If you have a good variety of kicks you start to notice the differences and then just stick with the good ones.

[risome]

Saturator +Eq+Compression

[Sendy]

If you're using distortion 100% wet you'll lose transients. So try mixing some of the dry signal in, especially at the beginning of the kick.

[pheeleep]

Set the kick to mono in the synth or sampler (no polyphony).

Increase the perceivable attack of the kick by increasing the attack knob on a transient designer.

And/Or

Use a compressor well suited for kicks. The rocket or any other 1176 type emu, Supercharger, Dy-namite, or a dbx emulation.

And/or

Use a dynamic EQ to increase the amplitude of the kick at your chosen frequency when it hits, with some pumping. This adds punch. I use MAutoDynamicEQ. While you are at it, also try using the kick as a side chain on another dynamic EQ on the bass, so the bass ducks down in the same frequencies as the kick, when the kick hits.

And/or

Use a bass enhancer such as the Waves ones, Cosmos, or Clarisonix.

Put a high pass filter on anything and everything you can (other instruments), even the bass. Even the kick (maybe not in this particular case though).

Use EQ's to carve out the low frequencies that are not prevalent in the other instruments, and use spacial placement for your sounds (pan and/or stereo enhancement) while keeping the kick in the center.

There are many things to combine and try.

Have fun!

[pixel85]

Compressor: Attack around 15-20ms, Release: long but short enough to back to 0 before next kick hit. Ratio can be anything from 2:1 up, put threshold way down and then put it slowly back till you get satisfied sound

[TIMT]

Crossfade it with a portion of a kick with more of a pitch envelope (not necessarily a transient e.g most techno) and have the distortion just on the tail.you can fashion a custom curve with envelope shaping so that the distortion is not completely absent from the new more punchy part of the drum (which would sound abit odd)

You could also try envelope following the distortion and adding some bells and whistles with filters doing the same thing to inject some dynamic into the sort of sustained portion of the sound (an option you can gravitate to if you don't want an actual transient or are looking to make the kick "seem" loud)#


Failing all that,you could just teach it how to box,so it can learn to punch with proper form

[zethus909]

punch in a kick from the high end snap not the low end....punch is an auditory illusion.....the low energy of the kick is what you feel...the high energy is what you hear.....it's the snap and can create the illusion of a "
punchier" low end butits not its an illusion

[TIMT]

punch in a kick from the high end snap not the low end....punch is an auditory illusion.....the low energy of the kick is what you feel...the high energy is what you hear.....it's the snap and can create the illusion of a "
punchier" low end butits not its an illusion

A high transient doesn't create the illusion of a kick thumping....(the guy is looking for thump not a transient)the answer to his question is a pitch envelope or an implied one,the degree of thump is determined by whatever portion of the envelope has its pitch modulated,or pseudo pitch (AM) in the case of acoustic drums and the way in which that decays e.g exponential/quick decay=909-ish or a dampened acoustic kick, linear/held/slow decay=808-ish thump.

[zethus909]

punch in a kick from the high end snap not the low end....punch is an auditory illusion.....the low energy of the kick is what you feel...the high energy is what you hear.....it's the snap and can create the illusion of a "
punchier" low end butits not its an illusion

A high transient doesn't create the illusion of a kick thumping....(the guy is looking for thump not a transient)the answer to his question is a pitch envelope or an implied one,the degree of thump is determined by whatever portion of the envelope has its pitch modulated,or pseudo pitch (AM) in the case of acoustic drums and the way in which that decays e.g exponential/quick decay=909-ish or a dampened acoustic kick, linear/held/slow decay=808-ish thump.

oh dang, youre right, i thought the title of this thread was

How to make a kick drum "punch" harder?

....but he's really talking about thump...not punch....

glad you brought this to light. thanks! where would we be without you're abilities to decipher these nebulous threads

[ghettosynth]

This is all that you need.

[TIMT]

punch in a kick from the high end snap not the low end....punch is an auditory illusion.....the low energy of the kick is what you feel...the high energy is what you hear.....it's the snap and can create the illusion of a "
punchier" low end butits not its an illusion

A high transient doesn't create the illusion of a kick thumping....(the guy is looking for thump not a transient)the answer to his question is a pitch envelope or an implied one,the degree of thump is determined by whatever portion of the envelope has its pitch modulated,or pseudo pitch (AM) in the case of acoustic drums and the way in which that decays e.g exponential/quick decay=909-ish or a dampened acoustic kick, linear/held/slow decay=808-ish thump.

oh dang, youre right, i thought the title of this thread was

How to make a kick drum "punch" harder?

....but he's really talking about thump...not punch....

glad you brought this to light. thanks! where would we be without you're abilities to decipher these nebulous threads

Semantics and you'd probably be working on your poorly executed sarcasm (It's not funny when it is this blatant and frankly bitchy)

[zethus909]

well..its a good thing we have experts like you around here to answer the tough questions. good job.

[NystagmusE]

Instead of fiddling around with compressors, load up the kick sample in a standalone audio editor and manually sculpt and trim the ADSR to fit your needs. If it's not a sample yet, then sample it so you can re-use it over and over again and not have to add VST effects. It's also helpful because some issues of sounds can be seen clearly once loaded into an editor.

[The Chase]

In hip hop and DnB, the heavy snares and kicks will have gone through many stages of compression and saturation. The idea is to smash a transient flat with a limiter or tube compression, and then pull it out again with another compressor's attack, rinse and repeat.

I find myself cutting lower frequencies before dynamics processing, and then boosting them after.

If you're using distortion 100% wet you'll lose transients. So try mixing some of the dry signal in, especially at the beginning of the kick.

+1. And the pre and post EQ of this distortion can be very important.