I usually make my kicks mono and use no or very very little reveerb, I'd rather leave that space for other sounds. I'm a believer that kick and bass should sound clear and dry.

I always leave kicks and the lower part of the bass dry. If I have an upper bass I might put a bit of reverb or delay on it.

yeah, good info.
I always keep my kick mono too.

heres a sample.
I don;t know how most producers keep their kick powerful but no too upfront.

http://download.yousendit.com/102E9A2648C3E9ED

Like most other questions that deal with mixing, there's no simple answer here. But there are a few things that you should always keep in mind:

1. Choosing / making a decent kick sample in the first place.

2. Choosing a kick that "goes" with your bass / bass that "goes" with your kick.

3. EQing the bass and kick so that they "fit" together.

4. Compressing the bass and / or kick to make it all smooth and give your mix a good amount of headroom.

If you do all of those things well, you should be able to get a kick and bass combo that at least sounds decent.

maybe you heard the term 'room percussion' and thats what has you confused but your kicks should stay as dry as possible, usually just a touch of EQ to help it sit right with the bass. room percussion is generally used with top loops and only if your loops need to sit behind something else.

It's all about what kind of music you're making and the effect you want to achieve. Personally I like to use a little bit of reverb on kicks to give them a "live" and very dirty feel, but then, the kind of music I make is best described as listening music. Generally you want to keep it to a minimum. Just use your ears.

You also have to consider - where is this track going to be played? If it's going to be played in big room clubs, you want to cut down on reverb because it will add to the already heavy natural reeverb of the room. So big room tracks = more centered, cleaner mix. Loungey tracks = dirty live feel.

___________________
When bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.

I honestly dont think that there should be a rule of thumb here...why not put some reverb on a kick? There should be room to fit it in. I'll tell you what I'm doing in a track I'm working on right now. I have my main kick which is dry. Then I have another kick which is eq'ed so it is not covering any frequencies that my main kick is taking up...and I added some small gated reverb...it gives the track a nice feel and sounds pretty good. The thing is you have to remember that you dont want it taking up the whole track. i also keep it to a level that you can hardly hear it..but it still makes a difference. There are rules but you can work around them to be creative.

quote:

Originally posted by Limit I honestly dont think that there should be a rule of thumb here...why not put some reverb on a kick? There should be room to fit it in. I'll tell you what I'm doing in a track I'm working on right now. I have my main kick which is dry. Then I have another kick which is eq'ed so it is not covering any frequencies that my main kick is taking up...and I added some small gated reverb...it gives the track a nice feel and sounds pretty good. The thing is you have to remember that you dont want it taking up the whole track. i also keep it to a level that you can hardly hear it..but it still makes a difference. There are rules but you can work around them to be creative.

Well said... The same type of thing applies to my bass sounds. There is a (not so common) effect that I got from a few guys which involves smashing a heap of reverb on your bass line but in a weird kind of way. You can set up the reverb so it gets louder as the bass gets quieter and quieter as the bass gets louder. So when your bassline is at full strength (127 on the midi scale) there is no reverb, but in between bass notes however the reverb is at full strength. If you have a lot of attack/release on the AMP Envelope of the bass, the reverb will fade in and out, in sync with the attack and release (but oppsite). When done right you get a cool gated reverb type of effect and can sound massive.

Obviously when you don't have any bass playing, say in a breakdown in your track, you automate the reverb off otherwise you get the reverb playing infinitely even when the bass isn't being heard. It usually sounds better on electro bass formats with few hits or even your standard kick-bass-kick-bass trance bassline. It can get a bit messy with rolling/complicated basslines.

This is the first time I have really explained it to anyone in writing so it may sound all over the place so I apologise. I am still working on perfecting it but getting some cool results to start with. Heck.... this may be more common than I realise but to me it's still a pretty new trick and I've been obsessed by it ever since I heard it.

___________________
We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of dreams....

i dont think that trick is that common. will be trying it tomorrow.

quote:

Originally posted by piku303 i dont think that trick is that common. will be trying it tomorrow.

I can send a video link of a guy doing it in Fruity Loops if you like?? Will have to fish it out for ya....

___________________
We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of dreams....

quote:

Originally posted by Blahzaay I can send a video link of a guy doing it in Fruity Loops if you like?? Will have to fish it out for ya....

Please do. My bass lines generally sound like a cow farting passed through a equalizer. I am so horrible at bass it's ridiculous. I know a few producers and i am the only who cant seem to make a sub bass. I know that it is basically just a sine or triangle wave but mine always are either inaudible or sound like a metal fart. LOL, anyways if you could get that tutorial for me hopefully it could be a great help and also, anytips on a sub bass other than what i stated, :P.