Make Your Kicks PUNCH!

T
Tom Feb 11, 2019

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Make Your Kicks PUNCH!

This is probably one of the most asked questions I get from other Producers & today Ill show you a quick & simple way to make your kicks PUNCH! This technique was made popular years ago by the "Punk Rock" scene and has since been brought back to life by the "Contemporary Trap" scene. It's 4 simple steps & I will walk you through each below!

Step 1

Find The Right Kick Sample Although this technique will work for just about any kick, its always good to try and start with one that is well rounded from the start. Make sure is it not to hollow & has a nice, dense sound when it kicks!

Step 2

EQing Your Kick The main thing to remember is to only cut off what you REALLY do not want to hear in your Bass, mostly High End Frequencies. Place a Low Pass filter on your EQ and begin trimming off any High End frequencies that you wish to take out of your bass. I tend to cut out quite a bit of High End, especially if Im using 808s & making Trap Style Music. This is a personal preference so be sure to play around with it a little bit!

Step 3

Slamming The Compression It's time to get grimey & slam that compressor! Turn the Ratio all the way up while turning the Attack & Release all the way down. Play your kick while slowing pulling your Threshold down. PUNCHY, right!? Now its time to find the perfect amount of compression to give it the extra bump you want but without making it sound to distorted. Again, this part is a personal preference and should be played around with until you get the perfect sound!

Step 4

Sidechaining To The Bass The 4th and final step to to sidechain you kick with your bass. Sidechaining allows you to choose a specific frequency to "override" the current one. Place a compressor on your bass track. Expand your compressor functions & select the "Sidechain" option. Choose your kick in the Sidechain "Audio From" drop down menu. Also, ensure your compressor EQ is turned on and set to "Band-pass" mode. Here you can also select the Frequency in which you want the effect to take place. By choosing say 150Hz, your bass audio will turn down whenever the kick audio hits at 150Hz! This will allow your kick to punch through your bass and sound even more amazing!