All my kick drums are created in different ways but my most common technique is to get 2 or 3 kick drums samples, all from different ends of the spectrum, so one with a nice low end, and others with mid and high end on it. I put them all together, add a little EQ to each one. I don't really boost, I tend to only cut. I then add some UAD compression to the summed kick drums, then maybe some final EQ after that.

What are you techniques?

The usual heel down. That technique you shared was a good one. My brother here tried it and it did produce that kind of sound. Its really useful.

I've experimented more with mixing snares than bass drums, but that's something I'd like to try more.

I'd definitely tend to cut rather than boost frequencies, too. The usual kick drum sounds I start with are part of virtual drum machines that allow some tuning options, so that's also something I experiment with. I've also messed around trying to tighten the sound up with a compressor, or cut some reverb that may have been part of the sound in some cases.

I assume that you keep all the kick samples right down the middle of the pan spectrum?

Yea it's better to cut because then you'll have more room for other sounds. If you boost your just taking away space. But don't get me wrong, there are some situations where boosting is the best thing to do sonically.

Yea I don't pan my kick drum ever, unless i'm recording live drums and have a couple of mics on the drum, but other than that, kick samples are always down the middle.

How long you been producing for Ricardo?

admin wrote:How long you been producing for Ricardo?[/quote]

I guess officially for about six years, but I started MIDI sequencing before that. I also played live with a drum machine, and left-hand bass with my right hand on a rack of keyboards, and I started to get ideas about arranging back then.

At this point most of my tracks are for production music, but I love learning what others are doing to get their sounds, whether it involves beats, loops or whatever.

I TWEAK MY DRUMS WITH EQ'S I JUST LEARNED THAT TECH!!

TroyCole wrote:


Do you usually add or boost at the same frequencies, or do you make the call while listening to the mix?

I'd think most of us use our ears instead of a formula, but we may start with the same tweaking on the same instruments...

Ricardo wrote:



i usually boost the mix up on my drums

wow, i'm on the opposing side here, being a kick booster.

i generally find the point on the snare first, so i can go for a full sounding drum track. once the snare is taken care of, i hit the kick/bass. i may boost the low end between 60-80 hz, then i just about double it on the next band and boost that freq. adjust the bandwidth for each, then lower the faders for both freqs.

most times im nowhere above 2db for each after i find the sound of kick i want. i may have to try the cut solution and adding more samples to see where it takes me.