Dubstepforum.com

I usually layer my kicks, using a low subby kick, EQ'd so that only the low frequencies come through, a mid punchy one, and a high clicky one. Then I usually EQ and compress all of them together.

Is this an okay way of going about this? Is it the best way to get a good kick?

itsHAZED wrote:Is this an okay way of going about this? Is it the best way to get a good kick?

Yes. There is no "best" way. If you happen to come across a sample that already has all those components in the perfect balance, then you don't need to do anything to it.

So most of the power comes from EQing, compression, and good placement in the mix?

itsHAZED wrote:So most of the power comes from EQing, compression, and good placement in the mix?

Essentially yeah

and good sample selection

If it sounds good it's good!

dubunked wrote:

itsHAZED wrote:Is this an okay way of going about this? Is it the best way to get a good kick?

Yes. There is no "best" way. If you happen to come across a sample that already has all those components in the perfect balance, then you don't need to do anything to it.

absolute truth. So sick of people saying the only way to get decent sounds is by layering 45603 samples. If a sample has everything you need, stick with it. Don't overlayer. It'll fuck up your base tones (phasing) and mess with the transients. Try looking for samples that have as much desirable content as possible and then see if you can add to it a little.

Thank you guys so much. Someone pointed me in the direction that to get a powerful kick / snare they HAD to be layered multiple times. Glad to hear this is not true.

Make sure to EQ the sounds around the kick so it can breathe. A lot of the time that's the problem getting a kick to shine

Dustwyrm wrote:Make sure to EQ the sounds around the kick so it can breathe. A lot of the time that's the problem getting a kick to shine

Will do! Thank you

Thing to realise is most producers are way less technical than most learners these days - there's so much information out there now you can feel like you never know enough

Good source material is the answer to most things

Everyone raped those Vengeance bassdrums for ages - now everyone's using that SampleCloud Dubstep. No such thing as lazy imo, as long as your ideas are working

I rarely layer kicks. It's about the right sample and a good mix. As stated.

fragments wrote:I rarely layer kicks. It's about the right sample and a good mix. As stated.

This ^

Most of the time if youre kick doesnt sound good its just because its the wrong one. Most of the time it takes me a good 20-30 min of running kicks under an anaylizer to find the right one. Gotta make sure its in the right key, where it hits hardest, ect. Then eq out the bottom, low mids, and highs, shorten (if you want it punchier.). Transient shaper if you have one. Then resample and do it over.

Crimsonghost wrote:

fragments wrote:I rarely layer kicks. It's about the right sample and a good mix. As stated.

This ^

Most of the time if youre kick doesnt sound good its just because its the wrong one. Most of the time it takes me a good 20-30 min of running kicks under an anaylizer to find the right one. Gotta make sure its in the right key, where it hits hardest, ect. Then eq out the bottom, low mids, and highs, shorten (if you want it punchier.). Transient shaper if you have one. Then resample and do it over.

This is going to be a huge nooby question. But when you say eq out the bottom, low mids, and highs. Do you mean take he same sample, eq each one seperately, for example, a low frequency one, one with just the mids, and one with just the highs, then layering them back together?

Also....what exactly would be the use of a transient shaper? Sorry for the complete and utter noobiness.

Again, I apologize for the nooby questions. When I first started out I had people telling me left and right the ONLY way to get fat sounds was to stack tons of layers on top of eachother. I tried doing it a few times and couldn't get good results, and I thought to myself, maybe this ISN'T the right way to do it. I mean. Bands playing live don't get to use 15 different kick drums. Know what I'm saying? So back to the noob questions, I'm just trying to make sure I don't go off on the wrong path again. Thank you guys for all your time and help.

A transient shaper boosts transients. It can give your samples the attack they need. Works for sharp acoustic guitars and stuff too.

I'm talking about using one sample.

Bottom= <80hz (which would clash with sub)
Low mid= 120ish hz (wherever you're snat sits)
Highs= anything over 5k. Don't take it all out, but tame it so it fits the track better.

Crimsonghost wrote:I'm talking about using one sample.

Bottom= <80hz (which would clash with sub)
Low mid= 120ish hz (wherever you're snat sits)
Highs= anything over 5k. Don't take it all out, but tame it so it fits the track better.

Gotcha! Thank you

That's supposed to say snare btw. Not snat.

itsHAZED wrote:Again, I apologize for the nooby questions. When I first started out I had people telling me left and right the ONLY way to get fat sounds was to stack tons of layers on top of eachother. I tried doing it a few times and couldn't get good results, and I thought to myself, maybe this ISN'T the right way to do it. I mean. Bands playing live don't get to use 15 different kick drums. Know what I'm saying? So back to the noob questions, I'm just trying to make sure I don't go off on the wrong path again. Thank you guys for all your time and help.

It's a good question. With layering bass drums the problem is you get low-freq waves cancelling each other out and the sound doesnt really get any bigger. So you'd usually do it with some filtering, so you might take the lowend of a big bassy kick drum and layer it with a smacky highend from another. You might mix a more ambient live bassdrum in behind that to give it some character, then perhaps a transient shaper as mentioned above

Lot of people rave about that Sample Cloud pack for drums
http://www.samplecloud.net/product/samp ... ep-vol-01/

Or check out the Vengeance packs. Either way it's mostly down to good source material