Inna - No Fire Kick

Hi everyone, I was wondering how can I achieve a very punchy and low-end kick for house or trance , I have a link to youtube. I like the mix its so perfect the kind I'm after.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43bkKzukS5s



Im using the same kind of kick sound also, but I dont get the big sound. I compress I eq to get the tonal color and still no luck!

And does anyone know who did the mixing? Whoever it is they did a excellent job.

thank you

Sounds a lot like a 909 to me but could really be an 808 as well like Jeff said. Load up the Roland GrooveSynth and check out the rythm sets, they contain lots of great classic Roland sounds and should get what you want. Just firing it up and checking fast, both the Plastic BD3 and TR909 kick 4 from the 909set are in the ballpark. The GS really has some great sounds so don't forget about it just because of it's dated GUI and limited tweakability.

Oh, and the punch in that kick is not from the low end but rather the high mids (listening on computer speakers though). It's often a good idea to layer a fat low end kick for thump with a brigther snappier one for punch but always carve the EQ so the don't mask each other as well as check for phase issues.

What is also often done in dance genres is to duck the bass (or entire track) from the kick so each time the kick hits the choosen parts drop a few dB's and then pumps back up. This can be done by setting up a bus with VC64 or the Sonitus comp, routing the tracks you want to pump through that bus and then use a send from the kick to the sidechain input of the compressor. Don't forget to set the release so it pumps in time with the music. 

Cool, didn't know that. Usually use VC64 but might be worth trying something different.

Multi-band compression and EQ.


I use Ozone.... it has multi-band compression and EQ.  

You can dial in the kick and punch to your liking. It's not a cure all but it sure helps me get that punchy sound in the music.

Give it a try.

The most important thing if you don't want to tweak for ages is sound selection. You say you use a similar kick but it might be worth lookin further to find a kick that better fit your mix. As I said also, the punch does not come from the bottom end.

Layering can work great but check for phase issues as you can accidently make your kick weaker instead. Also, most of the time when layering use one sound for the low end and one for the high end of the spectrum cutting everything else to avoid conflicts.

When it comes to compression you really need to be careful when using samples. Samples are very often really compressed and EQ'd to begin with so if you don't really know what you want to get out of using the compressor (more decay, snap etc) it can often be a good idea to leave it alone as you might make the sample weaker otherwise.

Guitarhacker


Multi-band compression and EQ.


I use Ozone.... it has multi-band compression and EQ.  

You can dial in the kick and punch to your liking. It's not a cure all but it sure helps me get that punchy sound in the music.

Give it a try.

If anyone is concerned about CPU cycles, a better solution is Izotope's ALLOY, which is a mini-version of Ozone (though lacking the full array of features of course).  It's MUCH lighter on the CPU but has most of the functionality of Ozone, including multi-band limiting, M/S processing, etc.   It's very easy on the CPU as I mention, and can be used on multiple tracks without much strain on a system.