Best method for producing a dance kick?

[MR-EDM]

Should I build a kick in three parts? 1. Transient 2. Punch 3. Sub?

Or should I build it in two parts? 1. Transient 2. Punch/Sub?

A long time ago I watched a tutorial that demonstrated with three parts but all the tutorials I find now suggest only two parts.

I'm using Serum.

[BertKoor]

You should use the method which gives you the most pleasing results.

The best way to find that out, is try both methods. Like do it three times from scratch with each method, and then compare what cane out and how difficult you found applying the method.

Having said that, one proven way to make complex things more simple, is break it apart. Already the realisation that there are different parts in a kick sound which can be made in isolation is helping.

[Ah_Dziz]

It very much depends on the song. One track can be fine (you can get sub/body and Impact/mid and Click/high with a single synth or sample). I usually start with one and then if i need more flexibility I add more layers as I get into mixing.

[CHOOS]

Should I build a kick in three parts? 1. Transient 2. Punch 3. Sub?

Or should I build it in two parts? 1. Transient 2. Punch/Sub?

A long time ago I watched a tutorial that demonstrated with three parts but all the tutorials I find now suggest only two parts.

I'm using Serum.

It really depends on the kick too.
Sometimes 1 Synth kick works just fine (or with some extra processing)

[swilow11]

Should I build a kick in three parts? 1. Transient 2. Punch 3. Sub?

Or should I build it in two parts? 1. Transient 2. Punch/Sub?

A long time ago I watched a tutorial that demonstrated with three parts but all the tutorials I find now suggest only two parts.

I'm using Serum.

The ends justify the means here.

If I'm making a basic psytrance kick, a pitch swept sine is fine- the tonality is largely in the amp envelope. But still throw a closed hat on it if desired.

If it's a more complex 808 or acoustic style, I will usually just make a similar pitch sweep, lots of attack, and throw on what ever click/transient I need. Often add some high frequency sheen, perhaps just white noise, with some gentle stereo width. Kick 2/3 had a nice overdrive which sounds great and can subtly add a bit of glue, additional harmonic content, and a bit more volume.

There is no rule for what you should be doing. I suggest starting with the most basic sine sweep and getting that right before branching into more complicated setups if you feel like you need to.

[HAL76]

Dive deep into kick science and don´t forget to breathe

[slackhead]

[CHOOS]

The best thing to do is show us a song that has exactly the type of Kick you're after and then we can give tips.

There's so many different types of kicks that it has completely different approaches for different kicks.

[lifesubstance36]

I recently got Just4Kicks (currently on sale on musehub) and it's sooo good for kicks!! Takes me like 3 seconds to make a good kick now - don't think I'll ever go back to my previous ways (which also was Serum lol)

[Hipster Bales]

Should I build a kick in three parts? 1. Transient 2. Punch 3. Sub?

Or should I build it in two parts? 1. Transient 2. Punch/Sub?

A long time ago I watched a tutorial that demonstrated with three parts but all the tutorials I find now suggest only two parts.

I'm using Serum.

From my experience (I'm not exactly an expert) usually 3 parts (Transient, Body, Sub), but the best method to use is the one that gives the results you like.

[philcee]

After playing around for a while with Kick 3 (Sonic Academy), i recently came back to Waldorf Attack for kicks. I appreciate the simplicity, it's a breath of fresh air! Too many curves with unlimited nodes in Kick 3 feels like a rabbit hole to me, too many options, too much second guessing. Also, the more layers you add to a kick, the more stuff you have to time adjust so that everything is in phase (this also feels like a rabbit hole to me with endless second-guessing). I tend to just use one pitch sweep kick from Waldorf Attack which functions as both the knock and the low end at the same time, and then add some very short transient (making sure that it's in phase with the bottom, or just filtering out all low end so the both don't interfere) and add some sort of gated verb or delay as a spatial embellishment to the transient part - this gives the kick character and helps it stand out in the mix.

[boomerz]

AUTO-ADMIN: Non-MP3, WAV, OGG, SoundCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook links in this post have been protected automatically. Once the member reaches 5 posts the links will function as normal.

I love kicks. I haven't made a decent one, so I'm not really qualified to answer, so I'm going to the plugin route for now. I think making a techno kick or a hip hop kick is a good start. You can also synthesize your own kick in an analog synth, which is actually pretty easy.
I just used this post to make my own with my lil mother 32.

(https://ibb.co/d0LZq0yt)
Use a sine wave or a triangle wave with a LPF. Set the cutoff to about 20hz and yeah do the stuff in this picture. Main thing is a to use an envelope gen, asdr it with short attack , zero and a short-to-halfway decay. No sustain.

I don't like tones in my kicks unless it's an 808 style. But you can use the mod wheel up to add tones, for more bass, and even start making toms.

This is only the beginning. I've seen crazy ppl make layers with effects. Just don't put any reverb on it.