Hello everybody..i want some simple answers.I'm a newcomer in producin dnb...and checkin' the forum.I was wondering how do i cut frequencies and stuff like that?I'm workin in ableton..checked the FAQ topic but didn't understand very well the ideea.Lookin to make the kick punchy...wanna sound like audio/current value type of drums.How do i make my sound like that?
Lookin to view your answers..Thank you
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by NoGood: 27-08-2009 03:11.
Can't say I'm familiar with CV, though some general pointers would be to layer up different kick samples that each contain elements that you want, ie:
-1 with low end thump
-1 with more spank at the start to make it sound less flabby
-1....maybe acoustic kick for a roomy feel, or to give it a little bit of grime from the rattlling drum skin.
you can use more or fewer samples depending on how many you need to get your sound.
Take out anything from the samples that you don't need.
For example:
- Take most or all of the bass end out of all the samples that arent the one that has the nice low thump
- Chop off everything but the spank at the beginning of your punchier kick so you don't have much of a tail, yet leave the 'KA!' at the beginning
Some of the samples can be compressed to bring out their required characteristics, for example, an acoustic kick could have all the bass filtered out, and then be compressed to bring the rattling decay up to a nice level you can play around with.
Quite a lot of DnB artists use Roland TR-909 or 808 style kicks as a basis for a kick sound, they pack plenty of low end, but often need plenty of work to get them sounding unique.
You could also bounce everything down to one sample and then further compress or filter or EQ to gel it all together
Once you add a bassline into the mix you might lose the bass in the kick, or have the attack muddied up. You could sidechain compress to duck the bass whenever the kick hits (not usually recommended), put a notch in the EQ of the bassline to give the kick some room, or re EQ the kick to bring it back to life.
Try putting a high pass filter on the kick and play it alongside the bass, then shift the frequency of the filter until you have a nice compromise.
A sub bassline will usually have content much lower in the bass end than the kick does
If you're still stuck I'm sure someone else can help, I usually work with old school breaks making Jungle style stuff so I don't often make drum n bass style drums :p
Quite a lot of DnB artists use Roland TR-909 or 808 style kicks as a basis for a kick sound, they pack plenty of low end, but often need plenty of work to get them sounding unique.
veryn nice tip,
I personally almost always use these drumkits in combination(layering+processing) with other drumkits.
particularly 808 kick = always phat / can't go wrong
and very nice to "play" with; perfect sound IMO
Give it some distortion, EQ it a bit and...(basic dnb stuff...) ,experiment man.
1 other thing i sometimes do is to create a bassdrum with a synth. This is very convenient for surgically tweaking your kick when mixing. Once u got a good mix, bounce it and process further if needed...(or don't)
Also 1 thing: when layering, ensure dynamics are corresponding; so you don't get a muffled doubled/tripled/wotever attack in your kick or other annoyances...
And it's not the kick sound alone which is important, it's how it sounds in your mix. But make sure it still stands out when solo'ing the kick.
1 more tip: don't crank up (to much)
Most of the time, the easiest is the raw dynamics+essential harmonics of yer sound. Keep the rest of the sound minimized enough to still sound outstanding in the mix. (my holy grail is DISTORTION+EQ+some secret stuff
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So your kick sounds "Doo", even on very low relative volume, (and even when high-passed; this ensures you got the right harmonics) and almost doesn't interfere with anything. (off course, if the other elements are decent mixed and don't take to much bassdrum-'space'
)(sometimes it sounds cool when higher frequencies clip a bit on the drums (tip-tip-tip!!!
)
1 last
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Let the kick dynamically evolve in terms of the dynamics of your tune; this gives a real drummer/analog feeling. Like: Layer it once with a hat, then a tom, then a cymbal, then... (in terms of structure)
Working with layered processed drums is very nice, but before you can do this you need a very good basic sound. In fact, it should sound perfect, so when you start processing (your break*S*; not just 1 bar, cause exactly the 'evolving' gives you nice dynamics (and more workspace)...) u can fully focus on structure/finalizing/fx/...
I bounce my drums/bass in one of teh last stages of the pre-production, and I benefit very well from it...
1 to remember: (but not really relevant to your question
Apply syncopation, this technique is a bless for all dnb/jungle/breaks, and all mainly rhythm based music.
super-last-one:
Creating sound is HARD if u have no experience (and sometimes also when u do..). So don't panic
Learning curve is very steep. Musical talent is also 'advisable'. I learned practically everything by playing instruments, mixing, 'producing' and of course LISTENING. (i'm talking about 10 years)
The more you train your ears/brain/musical thinking, and learn to understand waveforms/sound/music in general, the easier it's gonna get. (with the relevant corresponding technologies off course)
This post has been edited 12 time(s), it was last edited by Saikonutta: 27-08-2009 14:30.
For pretty much any sound you're processing, I HIGHLY recommend a bunch of small notches. These shape your sound very dramatically, even though the range of these notches are really just like 20-30hz
For kicks, of course, you'll be looking for notches in the 100-200hz area, and the important 500-1000hz area (muddiness area).
Notches in those areas will make a big difference, especially if you will be using the holy grail like Saikonutta: Distortion + EQ, and that EQ can be before, after, or before AND after the distortion. That will MASSIVELY shape the sound, this way you can make pretty much all of the hardcore kicks you know of :p
wow great responses here from some masters themselves. Must admit I am finally beginning to really tear it up on my tunes and am ready to post one that I would consider really professional. The key is to never give up... it's been a few years and I have considered giving up a bunch of times cause I just couldn't get it to sound good and couldn't figure out why but its coming together for me now and it feels GREAT so keep trucking.
Inspired from this discussion, I decided to try to make my perfect kick today. And I've done it.
I've used 4 kick samples. EQ, filters, compression, a bit of distortion, and it sounds really, really the best. Similar as some more aggressive kicks Sub Focus uses.
I did some variations of it, so I don't become boring using it
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and very nice to "play" with; perfect sound IMO
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