Kicks Fuckin Proper Kicks

[mainst09]

Guys i fuckin need help to do a fuckin proper 90's kick.

I need it so i can improve on my cindy tracks because as you know my goal with cindy is only to do kinda of 90's techno with no goal of doing my own sound or anything is kinda just for fun this alias but i can't improve the quality of my tracks without a good proper kick and i'm always having difficulty to do proper ones i mean,i will show some examples:

youtu.be/iOF6jtWTxx4

youtu.be/Kx24gxWmzRI

youtu.be/YieZuyX4UIA

youtu.be/_gZoT8yC_RU


How this guys achieved kicks like this,i know it's mainly through layers and shit but theres gotta be something more.

I call Steve to comment on this thread because i know he's a master on this things.

[nicknack]

i think layers are key. but some good processing helps a lot. waves has some good plugs specially for kicks. transx helps you construct or manipulate the kick transient. more slap, etc.. i saw that in the resources thread; a post by hello. and compression is major. waves has special easy to use compressors for kicks : jjp-kick, cla-kick. each of them has their own character i'm finding. so find the right compressor. the softube FET vst one is good but very expensive. i haven't even tried hardware compression and my suspicion is that you can get fantastic sounds from that. and then of course there's distortion and i'm almost certain that you get better distortion from hardware. i like that ratz i've heard mentioned around here but the boss ones are good too. i'd love to hear Steve's expertise on this too.

[mainst09]

i think layers are key. but some good processing helps a lot. waves has some good plugs specially for kicks. transx helps you construct or manipulate the kick transient. more slap, etc.. i saw that in the resources thread; a post by hello. and compression is major. waves has special easy to use compressors for kicks : jjp-kick, cla-kick. each of them has their own character i'm finding. so find the right compressor. the softube FET vst one is good but very expensive. i haven't even tried hardware compression and my suspicion is that you can get fantastic sounds from that. and then of course there's distortion and i'm almost certain that you get better distortion from hardware. i like that ratz i've heard mentioned around here but the boss ones are good too. i'd love to hear Steve's expertise on this too.

Yeah true but what kind of processing then? i mean i always use saturation,compression everything but i don't seem to get the results,i might be doing something wrong i guess

[willemb]

I think you can get there with overdriving, eqing and resampling/repitching.

1st track seems straight from the 909, eq'd/overdriven.

In the 2nd, 3rd and 4th track i hear breakbeat loops on top of 909, and the 909 kicks are quite possibly repitched as well.

For the eqing part I'd say try and use a narrow eq cut between 300 and 600 hz to get rid of any mudyness, and careful eq cuts below 300 to only let the parts of the thump push through that you want (and raise the volume after cutting as required).

[nicknack]

i think layers are key. but some good processing helps a lot. waves has some good plugs specially for kicks. transx helps you construct or manipulate the kick transient. more slap, etc.. i saw that in the resources thread; a post by hello. and compression is major. waves has special easy to use compressors for kicks : jjp-kick, cla-kick. each of them has their own character i'm finding. so find the right compressor. the softube FET vst one is good but very expensive. i haven't even tried hardware compression and my suspicion is that you can get fantastic sounds from that. and then of course there's distortion and i'm almost certain that you get better distortion from hardware. i like that ratz i've heard mentioned around here but the boss ones are good too. i'd love to hear Steve's expertise on this too.

Yeah true but what kind of processing then? i mean i always use saturation,compression everything but i don't seem to get the results,i might be doing something wrong i guess

i know what you mean. i'm the same. kick drives me crazy but i think it also has a lot to do with the level in the mix and how it gels with the other things around it. like i think you get a more organic sound when the kick spectrum is meshing nicely with the spectra of neighbouring sounds. for me, an easy mistake to make is to have the kick to loud. with the way that i work -- mostly under compression which may be wrong -- very small adjustments to the levels make a huge difference. but again, i'm yet to satisfy my self with a good kick. one thing is sure : i never get good results just using a single 909 or 808 sample.

[mainst09]

I think you can get there with overdriving, eqing and resampling/repitching.

1st track seems straight from the 909, eq'd/overdriven.

In the 2nd, 3rd and 4th track i hear breakbeat loops on top of 909, and the 909 kicks are quite possibly repitched as well.

For the eqing part I'd say try and use a narrow eq cut between 300 and 600 hz to get rid of any mudyness, and careful eq cuts below 300 to only let the parts of the thump push through that you want (and raise the volume after cutting as required).

Dude just did what you told me... what a fucking difference that overdrive does man,and pitching the kick down WOW sounds way fucking better

[Mono-xID]

fuck 90's techno. Techno is the future. Don't recycle, be original.

you want a 90's techno kick ??? Oh wait, it's a 909 i think !!!!

[mainst09]

fuck 90's techno. Techno is the future. Don't recycle, be original.

you want a 90's techno kick ??? Oh wait, it's a 909 i think !!!!

Dude as i said,my goal is not to do something new,i just want to recreate the old sound,im doing this alias for fun. for techno future i have other alias hehe

[Mono-xID]

dude, i just put on my Voidloss skin here. All good.

[mainst09]

dude, i just put on my Voidloss skin here. All good.

uhahuauhauhauhhua

[Mslwte]

sample it with a 12 bit akai. pitch it down and then over drive it on an old cr1604 mixer and sample again. NY comp it with all the other drums?

[mainst09]

sample it with a 12 bit akai. pitch it down and then over drive it on an old cr1604 mixer and sample again. NY comp it with all the other drums?

hahah cunt you know i don't have hardware....UNLIKE YOU!

[Mattias]

These kind of kicks appears with the rest of the sound man.
If you recreate the way techno like this was made you get the kicks for free.

It's really basic, its 909 sounds, no layers, no voodoo, no side-chain, just some drive and compression all over.

[Lost to the Void]

Yeah really it`s pretty simple, 909`s and 808`s drive em a little, maybe some compression (occasionally the entire master buss would be compressed, so you will need to learn about doing decent master buss compression without destroying your mixes, if you have ableton then you have one of the best buss compressors on the market already, The Glue compressor is absolutely great for this).

Occasionally a little overdrive was used, but it was all pretty simple stuff.

If you are all in the box I can recommend some plugins that will give you the right sound, but other than that keep it simple.

[Mono-xID]

you really have to think about which options people had back in the days. Not that much (Drummachine,Synth,Mixer, Reverb/Delay effect unit) if you ask me unless you were a really rich cunt.

[Mattias]

Yup.

Think about how and what they used and set up your DAW like that.

[mainst09]

Yeah that's how i do it. Drum Rack,Synth,Percs,and effects nothing else. My biggest challenge was the kicks but ive been working this afternoon and i'm starting to get good results,so thank everyone. i'll post something here tomorrow or something to show you how it sounds

[Críoch]

Dont forget about impulse.. its got the one knob saturation on each channel. I like the way it sounds. Its pretty basic.

[bastos]

willemb, Mattias and Lost to the void used these expressions: "layers". "overdriving, eqing and resampling/repitching", "drive" so could you, if not explain, than give me some directions, or URLs to the text or video tutorals, where I can read and learn about mentioned things? With EQ I'm familiar but with others... Cheers to you all and thanks in advance.

[willemb]

Here are some directions/short explanations:

Overdrive is a form of mild distortion, you get it if you boost volume on an analog mixer going beyond the maximum clean volume. Overdrive is also a what happens when you send a hot signal (loud volume) to a tube amp, driving the signal over the top. Basically clipping on analog systems. There is a Drive knob on the Logic EXS-24 sampler which has a similar effect. You can also use guitar pedals for overdrive, or virtual guitar pedals, VSTs, etc. It is similar to saturation.

Resampling/repitching: in the 90s they used hardware samplers, so I am saying, sample the kick, and play it at different pitches. With resampling i mean taking a sample of your own sound. With repitching I mean playing the sample at different pitches.

Layers/layering is for example putting 2 kick drums in the same sequence, combining the sound of 2 into 1. You can use the click and high end from one kick, and just the bass end of another kick creating a new kick. In this case, combine the kick from a breakbeat loop with the kick of the 909. With limited sample memory in those days, you can then save space on your sampler by resampling the breakbeat loop with the kick on top, or sample 2 kicks on top of each other to be one new sample.