making your track kick

[dandan]

hello there,
quite new to making music, but one thing i seem to be having trouble with throughout all my productions is making the track really kick when it drops. any advise would be great.

cheerse dan

[iammesol]

Try taking out certain elements before you bring in the big stuff. What's great about an kind of production, is that if you feign like you've reached the peak early, when you actually DO reach the peak, it is THAT much better.

For instance, start out with a light kick in the beginning, then do a filter sweep removing the bass, then slam back in with bass and a harder kick. At least that's just one suggestion.

Have fun playing with that.

[davidsouza]

what software ur using dan?

if you're using reason beware of the redrum sound bank, it's not good or at least i don't like it very much, speacially the kicks sound bank..

You sould have in mind that the original bank sounds of almost every software is not that good and limited.. you need to get sound packs or you can make your own samples (that's what I do).. Speacially for drum beats it's quite important to have extra samples and packs of kicks, snares, hats, etc to make something better..

hope i helped in some way..

[jeanp]

hi dan ..
am i getting u right, when i say that u would like to know about pimping up the "soundquality" of your track or do u need some advice about arranging it ??
if your problem is soundwise, i would ask u to upload a short sample and me (or other people here at the board) could tell u what thinks could be done better ..
but if it's arrangementwise, i would recommend u to analyze an song (you like) from the beginning. than means..
do it, like u where in school ..
take an pen and a letter and write down, at what time witch element changes ..
for example: when do the kick set in, or at what point the filter automation set's in etc. u'll listen the the monumental changes first .. like when drops the kick or when changes the bass etc. but later u should also write down the tiny changes in songs like automationthings .. send (BUS) automation of some delay's or room setting .. etc. etc.

helped me much in the day's back to get into this production-procedure.

sometimes it's like immesol sayed, a little change after the brake that kick the track more forward .. like pushing one sound +2dB in loudness further (for example) .. or playing some additional synth ..

but if u start a track, u need to be shure that the elements u use are top quality.
like kicks or snaredrums, and this essential stuff.. if this is weak from the beginning than u are screwd up.
u can't polish sh**, dont try to eq a weak kickdrum and expect that it would sound awsome in at the and of the day .. if the sound is weak search for an better sound .. or merge some additional bottom from another kick to it ..

otherwise, i'll post an kick-drum tutorial i found on the internet:
www.sonictransfer.com/kick-drum-design-tutorial.shtml
u'll find at this page an tutorial about building a phat kick-drum ..
some other veery nice tut's can be found there ..

cheers

//

[dandan]

thnax alot for the help guys.
im actually using cubase. i did experiment with reason but as you send the sound bank is'nt that great.
It jsut seems when i want my tracks to drop they dont sound 'pumping' i supose for example when axwells let it go remix drops its like an explotion it sounds great and theres so much feel and energy going on. where as my tracks seem to be lacking that and i dont no why. I've expermented with putting more elements in and spicing up the kick which has helped but still sounds flat.

[Arthur]

Dan I would highly suggest picking up the issue of future music that shows steve angello showing how he arranges a break and buildup within a track. He gives a ton of helpful tips and tricks that he uses. It should be issue FM194, the newest one (in the US at least..)

[erick rydz]

yes this good