Kick Drum Distortion Technique?

[devontodetroit]

I notice on alot of the harder edge minimal techno tracks there is more often than not a really nice driving warm distortion on the kick, whilst usually the kickdrum will be pitched down with a long decay and will serve as the 'bassline' for the track.

You cant just slap a distortion plugin on the kick drum channel, the effect is too intense and you'll also lose the low end the the important mid-high smack of the skin of the drum..

The only way i've got close to achieving the sound by copying the kick channel and distorting one, cutting the bas, and grouping with the original and then compressing and eq'ing together to taste.

Anyone else got some ideas on getting that subtle heat on the kickdrum?

[devontodetroit]

Another thing I hear in MNML is a ringing on the kick, Bitcrush?

[devontodetroit]

Also what plugs to people use for the kick? D16 plugs are soo great <3

[Phurniture]

After the amazing D16 group buy, more than a few people here probably have those plug-ins. I bought them, and although I didn't really use distortion that much before, I've been using the Devastor on kick drums to add a bit of the edge you're taking about.

They key has been to use the mix control and only dial in a bit of the distorted signal with the dry kick signal. This is a similar (but perhaps simpler) way of doing what you describe above with making a copy of your kick and adding distortion, EQ and compression. I find adding a bit of this type of distortion useful for low 808-type kick drums which otherwise might not have enough higher-end frequencies to be heard as easily. I like to think of it as adding a tape-saturation type sound as opposed to a distorted hardcore kick type sound.

Another plug-in that could be used is the free Camel Crusher unit, which has distortion, compression and a filter. It has a mix knob, making it easy to dial in parallel compression/distortion.

http://www.camelaudio.com/camelcrusher.php

In terms of the higher-frequency ringing, you could use the D16 Decimort unit, or if you use Live, the Redux effect.

[AK]

You cant just slap a distortion plugin on the kick drum channel, the effect is too intense and you'll also lose the low end the the important mid-high smack of the skin of the drum..

The only way i've got close to achieving the sound by copying the kick channel and distorting one, cutting the bas, and grouping with the original and then compressing and eq'ing together to taste.

Anyone else got some ideas on getting that subtle heat on the kickdrum?

I'm not really into distortion ( well not on kicks and stuff anyways ) but I would imagine if I were doing it, I'd perhaps try a distortion on a send followed by a HP filter. Then I'd try and set the filter to leave the low end of the kick 'clean' so it doesn't nasty up any of the low frequencies. Not entirely different to the way you described only a lot less hassle.

[hydrogen]

You cant just slap a distortion plugin on the kick drum channel, the effect is too intense and you'll also lose the low end the the important mid-high smack of the skin of the drum..

The only way i've got close to achieving the sound by copying the kick channel and distorting one, cutting the bas, and grouping with the original and then compressing and eq'ing together to taste.

Anyone else got some ideas on getting that subtle heat on the kickdrum?

I'm not really into distortion ( well not on kicks and stuff anyways ) but I would imagine if I were doing it, I'd perhaps try a distortion on a send followed by a HP filter. Then I'd try and set the filter to leave the low end of the kick 'clean' so it doesn't nasty up any of the low frequencies. Not entirely different to the way you described only a lot less hassle.

Great advice! That's basically what he d16pluggins do with the multiband frequency ones.

[dyte]

I use camelphat al lot on kicks, can get some good results and it's very easy to use/understand

http://www.camelaudio.com/camelphat.php

[jessejames]

I also jumped in the D16 group buy and while I don't use distortion on kicks that much, if I were to do so I would run it parallel as suggested. I've found the wet/dry knob not so good on these vsts. For example if you insert a vst and run it completely dry, it changes the source sound instead of letting it pass through unaltered.