tips for my kick?

[Lethaargic]

So my kick drum for my "after party mix" track just isn't punchy enough. It was made in audition, and i'm sure I rendered to loud enough to start. But it's pitch bent, so maybe I didn't leave enough low end in it to start? that's where the problem lies, it's got that pitch bent knock, but the low end sounds distorted. it's gated and just slightly compressed to make it "snappier" and punchier. EQ boosted at 58hz, also multiple processing on the low end like Xbass4000, LF max punch, a warmer. I can't raise the db level / the decay level on the sampler / or the settings on the processing any more without it becoming distorted.

DAW = Ableton live

any tips? thanks

[KillerAmp]

did you by any chance try adding a small reverb to it? it will give it a bit of a punchier and fuller feel to it!

[Lethaargic]

did you by any chance try adding a small reverb to it? it will give it a bit of a punchier and fuller feel to it!

hmmm... you know I've done that on other tracks, but not for this reason. I'll try that out, thanks.

[Sugarholik]

Check your compressor. If you want to use compressor for making it snappier, give it maybe 10-20ms of attack time and really long release. 100 ms or more to be safe. Compressing at high speeds is actually same as smooth clipping = distortion.

[Lethaargic]

Check your compressor. If you want to use compressor for making it snappier, give it maybe 10-20ms of attack time and really long release. 100 ms or more to be safe. Compressing at high speeds is actually same as smooth clipping = distortion.

taking the attack up to 10ms messed with the high end knock, made it inconsistent :/

bringing the release up helped a little bit (I think), such a small difference it's hard to tell, honestly. I appreciate the help anyway though.

did you by any chance try adding a small reverb to it? it will give it a bit of a punchier and fuller feel to it!

huh, I'm genuinely surprised, but that did help a little. cool

[Sugarholik]

taking the attack up to 10ms messed with the high end knock, made it inconsistent :/

You may be compressing too much. At this situation you don't want to compress more than just a decibel or two. The amount of decibels reduced in this case means the difference between transient and rest of the kick. That's because when you have 10 ms of attack time, the first 10ms comes out at original level while the rest is quieter. Just one decibel louder transient is already huge difference.

Xbass4000, LF max punch...

I have no idea what these do... What are they exactly?

[Icky]

Or use a transient shaper, a plugin that reduces or increases the attack of a sound. I couldn't live without SPL Transient Designer myself.

[Lethaargic]

taking the attack up to 10ms messed with the high end knock, made it inconsistent :/

You may be compressing too much. At this situation you don't want to compress more than just a decibel or two. The amount of decibels reduced in this case means the difference between transient and rest of the kick. That's because when you have 10 ms of attack time, the first 10ms comes out at original level while the rest is quieter. Just one decibel louder transient is already huge difference.

Xbass4000, LF max punch...

I have no idea what these do... What are they exactly?

yeah I'm compressing just one db on the kick, and those are saturators

[Artimeus]

I'm not sure why no one has suggested this yet, but, have you tried using another sample?

You can never have enough kick samples! I've discovered that there's always a kick out that that will work perfectly for almost any need and will require little to no effecting. So far my favorites have been found in the Vengeance Essential Club Sounds Vol 3. Actually, I should thank Thorinair for that.

[KillerAmp]

I'm not sure why no one has suggested this yet, but, have you tried using another sample?

You can never have enough kick samples! I've discovered that there's always a kick out that that will work perfectly for almost any need and will require little to no effecting. So far my favorites have been found in the Vengeance Essential Club Sounds Vol 3. Actually, I should thank Thorinair for that.

i feel stupid for not saying this
and while you say it, i recommend that if you are looking for a good kick, i would actually take 2 kicks, one in a higher range, one in a lower range, and then i would either compress them, or do some equalizer tricks to get the punch of the high one, but the bass of the low one, and combine them, id say do this with as many kick samples as you want, its all about making it yours!
and then as i said earlier, small reverb, brightens the whole thing up

[Artimeus]

I'm not sure why no one has suggested this yet, but, have you tried using another sample?

You can never have enough kick samples! I've discovered that there's always a kick out that that will work perfectly for almost any need and will require little to no effecting. So far my favorites have been found in the Vengeance Essential Club Sounds Vol 3. Actually, I should thank Thorinair for that.

i feel stupid for not saying this
and while you say it, i recommend that if you are looking for a good kick, i would actually take 2 kicks, one in a higher range, one in a lower range, and then i would either compress them, or do some equalizer tricks to get the punch of the high one, but the bass of the low one, and combine them, id say do this with as many kick samples as you want, its all about making it yours!
and then as i said earlier, small reverb, brightens the whole thing up

Yup yup, that's a good trick I've learned recently. I've even seen someone go so far as to layer 4 different kick samples with compression/equalization tricks just so he could get the sound he was looking for.

Now that I think about, there are several ways to get a nice, oomphy kick. Heck, a lot of synths have kick presets, I know Sylenth1 has a few that are pretty good. Just mess with the envelopes a bit and instant kick pattern!

[Lethaargic]

thanks for all the suggestions, I think I got it as "knocky" as I can. also I made the kick from scratch and don't want to use someone else's sample or make a new one.