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Yeah a little trick is to take a rather boomy kick sound (so not much attack) and running a sine wave along it that gradually goes down in frequency. A little effect (reverb, delay, etc) to mask it's a sine wave, and you'll have a convincing thunder effect.
The thing to avoid is not really the amount of bass for vinyl (of course, you shouldn't exagerate), but more about the stereo spacing/phase.
In real accoustics bass is mostly omnidirectional (you don't have a sense of direction from where it's coming), but for pressing on vinyl, wide stereo on bass frequencies (and it doesn't need much) gives problems at the cutting. So keep it reasonable. As a matter of fact, it's very natural to use mono reverb in your mix (alongside stereo one of course) as the mono one will not compromise mono compatibility (that you need if you want to be able to hear your tune normally on say the "average housewife radio", and for vinyl).
For "uneducated" people, if it sounds that it's coming outside of the speakers (ultra wide) you've already gone too far.
So to answer your question, mono "thunders" are absolutely ok. Just remember those things take quite a lot of space in the mix, so their effect will be most dramatic (in a good way) when they sound alone (or at least you left them some room to give their effect). For most emotional and dramatic effects, dynamics are the key (and I'm not talking about compressors here, well, overusing compressors might aggravate the problem indeed). Your tune must have ups and downs.
Just think about a movie. You ever noticed that before a big explosion, it gradually works it way down to silence (or calm), and then, BOOM! Imagine what that boom will sound like when you've been listening to gunshots and loud helicopters flying over for two minutes. I guarantee that boom will sound like a fart (yeah ok, some people can make loud farts, but to the point  ).
Using ups and downs is the way to go. Don't be tempted to have everything going on loud all the time.
Last edited by Dj Thy on Feb-28-2004 at 18:49
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