Kick drums in a mix

[The_G]

Hi Everyone,

This is not *just* a Reason question, but rather a mixing question that applies to Reason. So here it is: when I mix kick drums (I make techno, house and synth wave), they always seem to either be too weak or boom too much (i.e. shake speakers)--even after mastering. Yet when I hear recordings, including a lot of self-released stuff, the kick drums always seem big without that boom.

What are your favored techniques for getting kick drum size and emphasis without growing the rest of the mix or overloading speakers?

Thanks!

[normen]

Boosting around 60Hz and 5kHz, cutting around 200Hz and working on the attack

[selig]

OK, slap me for being captain obvious here, but the most important technique is in choosing the initial sample(s). Once you've found a few kicks that float your boat and don't exhibit the negatives you've described, things get much easier.

One of the simplest approaches for me has been to choose a boom kick(s) and an attack kick(s), and by blending the two of these I can usually get what I want in short order.

Beyond that, careful EQ and saturation are my best friend in this department.

Also, find a great track that has all the qualities you desire, and work your butt off to try to match it (even if it's just an exercise that you never release - you will learn something for sure!). Lately my fave is Boss Mode by Knife Party - damn, those are some kick ass drum sounds (and an overall enjoyable track) IMO.

[Ostermilk]

OK, slap me for being captain obvious here, but the most important technique is in choosing the initial sample(s). Once you've found a few kicks that float your boat and don't exhibit the negatives you've described, things get much easier.

It does sound obvious but it is sage advice nonetheless. I've spent far too much time trying to get punch out of a slap.

I have a good, but more importantly, not too big collection of goto's now which makes things far easier still.

For me not getting that sound right was partly a symptom of me not hearing my mix correctly, mixing on cans for example, as there is a tendency to burn up lots of low frequency energy and then having to increase other elements to compete. The solution was to hear the effects of what I was trying to do on different systems and it became clear that I was setting up a battle for myself by over-compensating for the lows I ccouldn't hear and turning everything else up to compete rather than carefully marshalling the bandwidth I was using across the whole frequency spectrum.

Does that sound like something that could be happening to you?