processing the 808 boom?

[j.m]

Hi fellow gearslutz,

I would like to bother you with another question about "sounddesign".


I have all these samples of 808 kicks floatin' around the net.
I have one from my motif synth, etc.

all these samples have in common that those 808 kicks have a rather sharp attack.

I hear on lot productions - where an 808 boom sound is used - that those kicks have rather soft attack transients.

How would you guys go about achieving those results?

Is it through compression?
If so - which compressors are the best for this task?


The only outboard compressor I have - is the FMR RNC.
And I have the 2 channel spl transient designer - but always when I use it - it's either still too much attack - or It takes away too much.

And somehow I always end up - not liking it soundwise - when I bypass and A/B it with and without the TD.


Any suggestions?

[PhonoquO]

There are a few things you can do, depending on what kind of sound ur after.

1. Advance the start time of your sample to a point just after that heavy peak in the signal.

2. Run a Low Pass filter and set to preference, the idea being to get rid of high frequencies that are chewing up headroom.

3. The signal raw is very dynamic, so heavy compression is required. Try ratio settings of 6:1 and up! How u set the compressor up will depend on wether u've ****ed with the start time of the sample. If ur playing with the unadultered sample, u'll need a very fast attack time to grab that hard peak. Set the release time based on the length of the kind of ring you want out of that bass. Threshold u wanna set so u got at least -3 db gain reduction, i usually run it harder between -6 and -10.

4. Limiting, will allow u to get a longer, smoother bass ring out of the sample. Depending on the sound ur after, u will either run a limiter after the compressor, or just simply run a limiter on it's own. The best way to set these up, is by using your ear.

5. After processing, u may have to dial in some eq to get some bass back, but your signal should be much more controlled. I usually run a highpass filter on the 808 as well, set around 25 hz to get rid of some really low transients.

hope this helps

I know there are some cats on this board that have ATLANTA 808's, a kit that's been around for years and is in heavy rotation with south producers. I think it's time that they post up!

[TonyBelmont]

Go to your MPC (I'm guessing you use an MPC by your avatar).

Then go to the sample in the section where you have the attack and decay settings. Adjust your attack and you're there!

[Methlab]

I doubt that ATL kit will get posted...if it does, great, but I bet certain guys will be pissed.

I grab an attack from the 808 and layer it with just the boom and then in the middle ill put different kicks like 606 or whatever. then i put them all in their own channel so i can adjust levels accordingly. i then group them and slap a gated verb on that channel. I usually compress the attack channel of the 808, but the settings are different for each song.

[dirk]

Originally Posted by j.m

Hi fellow gearslutz,

I would like to bother you with another question about "sounddesign".


I have all these samples of 808 kicks floatin' around the net.
I have one from my motif synth, etc.

all these samples have in common that those 808 kicks have a rather sharp attack.

I hear on lot productions - where an 808 boom sound is used - that those kicks have rather soft attack transients.

How would you guys go about achieving those results?

Is it through compression?
If so - which compressors are the best for this task?


The only outboard compressor I have - is the FMR RNC.
And I have the 2 channel spl transient designer - but always when I use it - it's either still too much attack - or It takes away too much.

And somehow I always end up - not liking it soundwise - when I bypass and A/B it with and without the TD.


Any suggestions?

Any noise gate with variable attack.
The Drawmer 201 is the first that springs to mind.
Or a synth with external input.
Just turn up the attack.

I have not worked with the Spl but it should work to.

[con?one]

depends on what's wrong with the sample and what you'd like it to be. if you're using it to layer under something else just filter it in the mp