howto: kicks

AK · Post by AK » Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:33 am

MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE wrote:you need the click....

Indeed, or your kick doesn't cut through the mix.

omnipresence · Post by **omnipresence** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:11 am

There may be situations where you don't want a clicky kick or one that cuts through the other high freq content. Be careful not to generalise and/or create unnecessary rules for yourself.

NoAffiliation · Post by **NoAffiliation** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:41 pm

ableton saturator ----> waveshaper

hydrogen · Post by **hydrogen** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:40 pm

The new ableton overdrive is actually pretty tight. like with all wave shapers, overdrives, tube emulation, its easy to color the sound too much or even make it sound good only on a particular set of speakers.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:11 pm

omnipresence wrote:There may be situations where you don't want a clicky kick or one that cuts through the other high freq content. Be careful not to generalise and/or create unnecessary rules for yourself.

absolutely.

the attack part of the kick is so important to get right, so that it fits with the groove, and the other elements.
you dont really need a clicky kick if you've got lots of top end stuff like hats over it, you can end up with big spikes that need to be dealt with by compression etc.
sometimes you want the kick to cut through the other elements and impose itself, other times that click can distract you from other groove elements, and be too dominant.
sometimes you just cant beat a pounding fat kick without an obvious click.

six_minds · Post by **six_minds** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:55 pm

try doubling the channel- compress or saturate one while leaving the other straight. Sub group them, get levels, then EQ. One strategy at least.