Kickdrum Bass Tips

I use strictly vinyl to sample and sometimes the kick's subs don't bang hard enough. I remedied this by adding 808 kick in sync with OG kick patterns with good results

However, I later challenged my self to start using nothing but vinyl based sounds no matter the cons (I also felt the 808 sound made all my beats sound too similar)

I still wanted that 808 sound so what I did was whenever I sampled a drum loop, I'd take a prominent kick from that loop and EQ it using Cool Edit via a nice Cake EQ and aim to peak frequencies at 55 Hz by 20+ dB then sequence it to mach the other kick hits (somes I fadeout the wav as well for a more natural sound) Now my loops get to keep some of their OG individuality

This works well and is no 808 but gives my weak drums extra kick
At times some drums are recorded sans suffecient subs so I just peak 70 to 90 Hz. Still pretty good. It's much better than EQing the whole loop and focuses on those deep subs without promoting noisy rumble thru the vinyl based loop

Just a little exchange of idea

thanks man. i never knew how to send a sample or sound i wanna use to cool edit, edit it, then SEND IT BACK to the mpc. can someone explain how to do this? im sure it was explained before, but i missed out on the lesson. im sure it dosnt take much. i would love to start doin this....thanks

Check out some stuff I posted today in the MPC 2000XL section entitled SCSi Gear - What Works Best

I basically understand that you can't interface it with computers directly but can transfer files using disks: either ZIPS, floppies, or CDRs

I've used floppies successfully (from MPC to PC and Cool Edit) for years but is too limited

I hope to discover a means of quickly transerring more files and larger files between my machines

i guess the best thing you could do is just make a folder on your pc/mac for drums. record every kick, hat, snare, whatever seperately and put them into distinguished folders. keep doing so with every beat that you make.
eq some, leave some dry and specify.

then after your collection gets up, make up your own sample cd.

then for every new drum you find in your searches, you can layer it with your old ones for origional sounds.

The 808 Kik is basically a 40Hz tone, if you have a variable osc. you could sample that freq. and get a similar effect.

Pe@ce

40 Hz huh?

You know, I never even thought to ever ask about the 808's frequency

When I started caring about Hz and stuff I just did some basic tests on my own and I felt that 50 Hz for me was close enough around that 808 sound or actually that rumbling boom it's famous for

Thx for the funfact!

I'm just starting to really learn my frequencies (I knew how to EQ but now I'm learnin frequencies to the point where I can call on my knowledge when doin a mixdown session)... Basically I see you guys seem to knwo ur sh*t... I started boomin some of my breaks in the 40 Hz area and then applying the Waves L1-Ultramaximizer to it... It definitely gets breaks Boomin... One question though... Does anyone know some good frequencies to boost at, or cut, to get a nice snap to the snare while still maintaining it's sound in the mix... If I'm bein too vague let me know, but what I mean is... How can I EQ a snare to get it to cut through the mix without sounding like it doesn't belong in the mix... Right now I just do a lot of layering on my snares and it creates a nice fat sound that works for the time being... But I wanna learn some other techniques... Any help would be greatly appreciated...


O yea and if anyone here doesn't have Waves Plug-Ins you're sleepin on soime great stuff... That L1-Ultramaximizer will get you kick drums boomin without any EQing... Waves is unsurpassed as far as mastering Plug-Ins go...

I found that if you boost around 1k-3k it adds some Snap too the Snares.

Another funfact is the wavelength of a 40Hz tone is 1130 feet, that's how long it takes for the wave to mature. (one full positive and negative cycle)

There is a line in an outcast song that says "one thousand, one thirty" and he's talking about that 808 Boom.

Mixing is all Subjective, what ever sounds good go for it.

Pe@Ce

enotide wrote:I found that if you boost around 1k-3k it adds some Snap too the Snares.

Another funfact is the wavelength of a 40Hz tone is 1130 feet, that's how long it takes for the wave to mature. (one full positive and negative cycle)

There is a line in an outcast song that says "one thousand, one thirty" and he's talking about that 808 Boom.

Mixing is all Subjective, what ever sounds good go for it.

Pe@Ce

for extra bass in my kicks I usually put the same kick on two seperate pads, link em together and turn ones freq. down to around 20...thats what does it for me

real good advice speek.

Yea I do the sme thing sometimes... I'll double up a kick, but put one at around a 15 or even sometimes 0 Frequency... It brings out the bass in the kick... Helps you feel the kick, but not hear it as much...

This works for snares too... From my experience, You need to layer your snares with some bass... It helps everything mix better... Thats why I try to get a snap to my one snare with some high end in it or just an actual hi-hat layer on it... And then layer another snare in the midrange to giv ethe snare presence. Then I'll top it off with a snare detuned (sometimes a full octave and toher times not detuned at all) with the frequency on zero... The snare by itself sounds weird cause it has bass to it which makes it sound odd... But when you lay it on top of a sample, or just a drum track, it blends in real nice and you don't even hear the bass... Yet with out that bass you notice the difference... You'll see that mixing your drums is a lot easier if you do this little trick I picked up.

MattMatiks PG wrote:Yea I do the sme thing sometimes... I'll double up a kick, but put one at around a 15 or even sometimes 0 Frequency... It brings out the bass in the kick... Helps you feel the kick, but not hear it as much...

This works for snares too... From my experience, You need to layer your snares with some bass... It helps everything mix better... Thats why I try to get a snap to my one snare with some high end in it or just an actual hi-hat layer on it... And then layer another snare in the midrange to giv ethe snare presence. Then I'll top it off with a snare detuned (sometimes a full octave and toher times not detuned at all) with the frequency on zero... The snare by itself sounds weird cause it has bass to it which makes it sound odd... But when you lay it on top of a sample, or just a drum track, it blends in real nice and you don't even hear the bass... Yet with out that bass you notice the difference... You'll see that mixing your drums is a lot easier if you do this little trick I picked up.

When you say detuned, what exactly do you mean?

enotide wrote:I found that if you boost around 1k-3k it adds some Snap too the Snares.

Another funfact is the wavelength of a 40Hz tone is 1130 feet, that's how long it takes for the wave to mature. (one full positive and negative cycle)

There is a line in an outcast song that says "one thousand, one thirty" and he's talking about that 808 Boom.

Mixing is all Subjective, what ever sounds good go for it.

Pe@Ce

Ok, so if I wanted to create my own 808 (in, let's say, Soundforge), I would create a sine wave at 40 hz? What's the normal length of an 808 kick? Also, do I need to filter it or mix it with some noise?

speek wrote:for extra bass in my kicks I usually put the same kick on two seperate pads, link em together and turn ones freq. down to around 20...thats what does it for me

thanks!!