How to process a kick drum?
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- KVRer
- 5 posts since 9 Sep, 2004
I wanted to know what do you guys do to your original kick drum samples. If you guys compress it, EQ it, and other types of effects?
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- KVRAF
- 3944 posts since 7 May, 2004 from behind his workbench
For me personally, filtering unwanted frequencies (like very low ones <30 Hz) and adding some mid/high boost often gives the best result .... but that depends on what kick you use! 
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- KVRist
- 89 posts since 12 Nov, 2002
this is a very tricky thing
really depends on what kind of music you are producing.
i make progressive house and for me its most often a sine wave put through an envelope...put through a bandpass filter...
make sure u tune it to a specific frequency...
i usually opt for 131 hz
adjustingresonance can really beef it up.|.THUD.|.THUD.|.
really depends on what kind of music you are producing.
i make progressive house and for me its most often a sine wave put through an envelope...put through a bandpass filter...
make sure u tune it to a specific frequency...
i usually opt for 131 hz
adjustingresonance can really beef it up.|.THUD.|.THUD.|.
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
I think you just need to experiment mate. By finding your own methods you gain essential experience. However, i think it does help to hear how others work (as long as its taken with a wee pinch of salt):
I like to think of electronic drums as i would any other synthetic sound - that is to consider each element of the sound seperately in order to create a single composite sound. I mean, this of the FM bell sound for example - various operators and modulators are used to create the specific part of the sound, such as the tinny 'tink' at the start and the long draw out decay. This is how i like to work with drums. For a kick i may use three or more layers - the is the bottom end thunk, the hi end click or pop, then the mid section. Each of these parts can be created using the same sample, or different one. When the same sample is used, process with EQ and compression to centre in on the specific frequencies. For example, i made a nice dance kick the other day by compressing and EQing a snappy 909 kick so that it was just a real nice pop, then i layered this on top of a nice fat kick synthesised in Ersdrum. I then lined the two up perfectly in the sequencer and sent to a buss. On this buss i removed some sub bass and compressed with a super squish type setting. The resulting sound had some nice punch but was also totally fat (with a capital 'PH'
). At this point you can become creative too, and use pretty much any effect you like! Distortions and reverbs are great for creating those hard trance drums. Warm fuzz can bring out some powerful mid frequencies in 909 kick type sounds.
Give this method a try, it never fails to work for me. I have literally hundreds of personal kick samples that Iv made using variations on this. Just dont forget my name when you make it big
I like to think of electronic drums as i would any other synthetic sound - that is to consider each element of the sound seperately in order to create a single composite sound. I mean, this of the FM bell sound for example - various operators and modulators are used to create the specific part of the sound, such as the tinny 'tink' at the start and the long draw out decay. This is how i like to work with drums. For a kick i may use three or more layers - the is the bottom end thunk, the hi end click or pop, then the mid section. Each of these parts can be created using the same sample, or different one. When the same sample is used, process with EQ and compression to centre in on the specific frequencies. For example, i made a nice dance kick the other day by compressing and EQing a snappy 909 kick so that it was just a real nice pop, then i layered this on top of a nice fat kick synthesised in Ersdrum. I then lined the two up perfectly in the sequencer and sent to a buss. On this buss i removed some sub bass and compressed with a super squish type setting. The resulting sound had some nice punch but was also totally fat (with a capital 'PH'
). At this point you can become creative too, and use pretty much any effect you like! Distortions and reverbs are great for creating those hard trance drums. Warm fuzz can bring out some powerful mid frequencies in 909 kick type sounds.Give this method a try, it never fails to work for me. I have literally hundreds of personal kick samples that Iv made using variations on this. Just dont forget my name when you make it big