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The Perfect Kick - Here's How
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| Dave West |
I've had one or two PMs lately asking me how to get a good Kick sound. This seems to be as a consequence of my questioning the virility of some kicks that are showing up in tracks for review. The sound of these kicks have varied, from light window-tapping
to puke hitting the pan of a WC.
So here goes. These settings are very, very specific and have taken a lot of time to get right. They work for me, so they might just work for you. If some of the settings seem odd or bizarre, try them first before flaming me saying "That can't be right".
This presumes of course that you have a good quality kick sample to being with, and haven't just recorded granny swatting a fly with a newspaper. Raw 909s are ok, but need layering with another sample which is a bit more sleazy and dirty.
Samples MUST be in mono (as should be the bass), otherwise these settings are screwed.
The input level of the sample should be at 0db or a little less.
EQ
Use the high-pass filter to roll of frequencies less than 40hz.
Use the notch filter at around 800hz.
That will do for now. You can get creative later.
Compression
Here we're looking for gain reduction of 8db.
Threshold: -10db
Attack: 0ms
Release: 50 to 100ms
Ratio: 8:1
Knee: hard
Set the make-up gain so that the level comes back to 0db.
(Using the Logic compressor make sure Peak is selected and you can use
the auto-gain feature)
So far so good.
The Kick and Bass must be compressed together.
So create a stereo Group in Cubase or a stereo Bus object in Logic.
Set the kick channel output to that group or bus.
Insert a compressor here. Gain reduction should be -6db.
Threshold: -8db
Attack: 0ms
Release: 80ms
Ratio: 9:1
Knee: hard to soft
Do NOT adjust the make-up gain. Leave it at 0.
The channel fader should be reading -8db with just the kick playing.
Why -8? well you need to produce a mix with an overall output level of -3 to -4db.
When you add in all of the other elements that's what the mix should be.
Mastering will then bring up the overall level and the final level for the kick
should be -3db mastered.
Now suck and see. |
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| Thois |
| wow i will try this tonight, i am really looking forward to it... thanks for these (hopefully) great tips!!! |
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| JakeC |
cheers dude.....
just what i needed my kicks have been mainly trial and error recently. :o |
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| [Alpha]Dave |
Awesome! Gotta try this later tonight!
Thx mate! |
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| Atlantis-AR |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dave West
The channel fader should be reading -8db with just the kick playing.
Why -8? well you need to produce a mix with an overall output level of -3 to -4db.
When you add in all of the other elements that's what the mix should be.
Mastering will then bring up the overall level and the final level for the kick
should be -3db mastered. |
This is so very true, as is the -3 dB mastered level - good stuff. :)
Personally, I would say use a slightly higher compressor attack time than 0 ms though (somewhere around ~1 ms), at least on the kick compressor alone. But, it all depends on the track in question and whether you're after a smoother or punchier sound of course.
But, why the 800 Hz notch filter, if I may ask? I often consider the ~800 Hz range off limits when EQing a kick, as it both is and isn't a very important range, in that it often is already at a good level and boosting/cutting here doesn't really do anything for the kick. Any reason for it that I might be missing?
Otherwise, your tips are great. Especially the last part, which should hopefully also result in people creating cleaner mixdowns and less heavily limited masters. Some of the parameters (ratio, GR) are getting a bit high for my taste though, and I tend to use a slightly lower release, but these settings will certainly work.
Not to take over your great tutorial though, but if anyone is interested in some EQ settings to try, I posted a similar tutorial to a question on another board here. |
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| Axolotyl |
| quote: | Originally posted by Atlantis-AR
This is so very true, as is the -3 dB mastered level - good stuff. :)
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Why is this? Isnt a kick the loudest part of a track and if so, why should it be at -3dB mastered?
I've read numberous mastering tutorials and threads that state the final master should be close to 0dB or just slightly under this?
??*confused*?? |
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| Atlantis-AR |
| quote: | Originally posted by Axolotyl
Why is this? Isnt a kick the loudest part of a track and if so, why should it be at -3dB mastered?
I've read numberous mastering tutorials and threads that state the final master should be close to 0dB or just slightly under this?
??*confused*?? |
Sure, the master should be close to 0 dB (I recommend -0.3 dB however), but that doesn't mean the kick should be raised to this level as well. There are other instruments in the mix too, and having the kick peak at around -3.0 dB then allows for the waveform height to increase by an additional 2.7 dB for these. |
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| Axolotyl |
OK, so in the final master with everything else bar the kick and bass turned off should read -3dB?
That makes more sense. Thanks for taking the time to explaining it.
=) |
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| Atlantis-AR |
| quote: | Originally posted by Axolotyl
OK, so in the final master with everything else bar the kick and bass turned off should read -3dB?
That makes more sense. Thanks for taking the time to explaining it.
=) |
You can't turn the kick and bass off in the master. ;) (unless of course you mean the scenario described below)
In the mix however, the kick should peak at around -8 dB, as Dave West said too.
When you come to mastering the tune, often the kick will play on its own at the beginning, and this is where you can check to see if it peaks at around -3 dB. |
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| DJREMIDI |
Great post! There is a part that was a little unclear to me though. You said:
| quote: |
The Kick and Bass must be compressed together.
So create a stereo Group in Cubase or a stereo Bus object in Logic.
Set the kick channel output to that group or bus.
Insert a compressor here. Gain reduction should be -6db.
Threshold: -8db
Attack: 0ms
Release: 80ms
Ratio: 9:1
Knee: hard to soft
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I assume the bass should be routed to that buss/group as well? This also means that the kick will be compressed twice then (not including mastering compression), is that desirable?
One more thing, in my experience, when compressing the bass and the kick together the volumes of both have to be adjusted very carefully, otherwise, if for instance the bass volume is set too high it will drown out the kick. Or am I doing something wrong?
-REMIDI |
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| Dave West |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJREMIDI
I assume the bass should be routed to that buss/group as well? This also means that the kick will be compressed twice then (not including mastering compression), is that desirable?
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Yes
| quote: |
One more thing, in my experience, when compressing the bass and the kick together the volumes of both have to be adjusted very carefully, otherwise, if for instance the bass volume is set too high it will drown out the kick. Or am I doing something wrong?
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Good point.
Typical settings I use for a mono bass are...
Fader Volume: -6db to -10db depending on the bass source
EQ: High-Pass at 50hz and a notch at 400hz, low-pass at 4khz
The bass needs to be compressed also prior to being routed to the Kick/Bass bus.
Threshold: -12db
Attack: .5 to 1ms
Release: 50ms
Ratio: 4:1
Makeup-gain: +4db
To get the kick/bass combination flowing well, use the level fader on the bass - leave the kick alone. |
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