How can I make my kicks fatter?

[prabblerabble]

I'm working on a song and I'm happy with how everything sounds so far given that I've done minimal mixing, but I want to thicken my kick sound a little bit. It's got the "clicky" aspect which I like, but I feel like it might be too much, and I'm looking to make it a little thicker/warmer. I'm using Superior 2.0 and a couple other 3rd party plugins to compress and eq my kick and snare. Any feedback is welcome!

https://app.box.com/s/6unqqxd44j2az1mafozm

Thanks!

 

[alex-sonic]

Did you cut your kick?
Seems the drums is over-compressed

 

[HOFX]

Are you using Reaper?

If so, take a look at the JS effect 50 Hz Kicker, it could help.

 

[BrianGrieco]

I'm not a fan of MIDI drums but here 's an idea for you: Duplicate the kickdrum track and process one so that it has ONLY low end on it (no lo mids or mids or highs, just use a lo-pass filter on eq and bring it right down to about 100Hz) and process the second track so that it only uses mid to high frequencies (your "CLICK" aspect). Now all you have to do is balance the levels: if you want more lo end, bring up the low end track, if you want more click, bring up the other track. If you want more of both, bring up both! Now you should have much better control over your kick drum sound. You can even automate the tracks to change levels through the song, so that you can achieve different effects and underline different aspects depending on your taste!

 

[Mago]

saturation/distortion.

 

[prabblerabble]

I'm not a fan of MIDI drums but here 's an idea for you: Duplicate the kickdrum track and process one so that it has ONLY low end on it (no lo mids or mids or highs, just use a lo-pass filter on eq and bring it right down to about 100Hz) and process the second track so that it only uses mid to high frequencies (your "CLICK" aspect). Now all you have to do is balance the levels: if you want more lo end, bring up the low end track, if you want more click, bring up the other track. If you want more of both, bring up both! Now you should have much better control over your kick drum sound. You can even automate the tracks to change levels through the song, so that you can achieve different effects and underline different aspects depending on your taste!

I'll try this out, it seems like the most versatile option. I added a saturator to give little more warmth to the lows and I brought down the highs quite a lot. Your method seems interesting though, thank you!

 

[BrianGrieco]

No worries! You can also try creating a track with an oscillator on it at the frequency you like most (60 hz? 50? Whatever suits) and put a gate on it. Then sidechain the gate to the bass drum track so that it opens only when the bass drum plays. You have to fiddle about a lot to get it to sound right but sometimes it works really well, worth experimenting with!