John Callaghan Kicks Sound - TranceAddict Forums

TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Production Studio
-- John Callaghan Kicks Sound

Posted by muzikislife on Aug-19-2006 07:10:

John Callaghan Kicks Sound

Hey guys

I was wondering if anyone knew how this guy makes his kicks sound so big in his mixes. It's got a big feel and the whole track is pumping.
Any tips - royalty free samples - examples - settingts would be apreciated.

Thanks

Posted by Craig Bradley on Aug-19-2006 11:54:

Alot of people don't give there secrets away..it's all about trial and error mate..use compression and eq to make a kick drum sound big and phat...you should check out the vengeance sample cds there are some awesome kick drums on those..that would be your best option.

Craig

Posted by KilldaDJ on Aug-19-2006 12:05:

i heard some rumour about 'sidechaining' the kick/bass for a 'fat' effect?

i havent a clue how to do that so this post was a bit useless sorry

Posted by T-Soma on Aug-19-2006 12:08:

Layer kicks. This already opens up millions of posibilities if you havnt gone this way already.
To get the kick to stand out you can write your bassline with gaps for the kick. Or you can compress the kick and bass together. Have the bass lower to the compressor brings the volume of the bass up between the kicks.
Thats all just very vauge. Good sounds come from sitting there for hours and tweaking untill you come up with something. Not just hours. Sometimes days!

Posted by DeZmA on Aug-19-2006 12:08:

quote:
Originally posted by KilldaDJ
i heard some rumour about 'sidechaining' the kick/bass for a 'fat' effect?

i havent a clue how to do that so this post was a bit useless sorry

Yeah instant fatness, it totally rocks.

Not... only use it for cheesy/crappy/Benassi shit

Posted by T-Soma on Aug-19-2006 12:13:

quote:
Originally posted by DeZmA
Yeah instant fatness, it totally rocks.

Not... only use it for cheesy/crappy/Benassi shit

Thats just one opinion. You telling me sidechaning cant be good? Because if you do then, well... good luck to your creative side.

Posted by KilldaDJ on Aug-19-2006 12:20:

quote:
Originally posted by DJ 00 Tommy
To get the kick to stand out you can write your bassline with gaps for the kick. Or you can compress the kick and bass together. Have the bass lower to the compressor brings the volume of the bass up between the kicks.

thats an interesting concept...im guessing that would lead to a 'clean' sounding tight bassline, my bass sounds are always muddy and kinda rumble a bad speaker system (also gathered with teh fact that im awful at mastering/mixdown)

Posted by T-Soma on Aug-19-2006 12:29:

Ofcourse i didnt come up with it just started noticing it in other tracks and such. Analyzing midis and taking them apart is a good way to learn about structure and putting together different parts of a song.

Posted by thecYrus on Aug-19-2006 13:49:

sidechaining is one of the big tricks to get fat bassdrums and bassline combinations in a very tight and clean production. i use it in every tune.. you don't need to overuse it like in the benassi tunes.

Posted by retiro on Aug-19-2006 15:12:

Layer some kicks, its easy!

Posted by muzikislife on Aug-19-2006 22:08:

Cool. Thanks for the tips. i've tried the layering and using a bit of side chaining.
I think theres probably some industry secrets for using the EQ's and compressors and maybe a little valve.
i'll keep trying but if anyone has any other advice, I'd appreciate it.

Posted by lunamore on Aug-20-2006 06:13:

quote:
Originally posted by thecYrus
sidechaining is one of the big tricks to get fat bassdrums and bassline combinations in a very tight and clean production. i use it in every tune.. you don't need to overuse it like in the benassi tunes.

Silly me... What is this sidechaining? And can I do it with Reason?
I really have no idea...

Posted by lunamore on Aug-20-2006 06:34:

Sorry... I did some googleing and did find these sites about sidechaining:
http://logicfaq.omega-art.com/html/faq22.htm

And I did find this from old tranceaddict posts:
solitude wrote:
Short tutorial on how to 'duck' the kick with the bassline in Reason 2.5 :

1) Connect a Scream to your Kick. Turn 'Damage Control', 'Cut' and 'Body' off (you don't want to affect the sound). Now adjust the 'Master' output control of the Scream to get the kick's level right.

2) Create a Spider CV Merger/Splitter and connect the
'Auto CV Output' on the back of the Scream device to
'Split A Input' on the back of the Spider. Then connect 'Split A Output 4/Inverse' to the 'Level CV' input of the Bassline's channel in the mixer. Finally adjust the knob under the 'Level CV' to set the
"amount of ducking".

Perhaps not as good as a real sidechain, but it makes basslines a bit tighter with the kick

So I will go and try that

Posted by lunamore on Aug-20-2006 06:44:

Aahh... that sounds cool
Thanks Solitude for the hint

Posted by djms on Aug-20-2006 22:39:

defo sidechain your bas with your kick. I use it in every track. i ad a compresor then a limiter then some EQ to my kick to have it pump then EQ the sidechained bass around the kick so it all melts together. Rmeber this takes time. keep on trying diif combos