How to get a Clean, tight Kick

[RonGherkins]

Originally Posted by JaeOne3345

Use a clean, tight, kick.

Serious answer.

brapp this absolutely should be the first answer in the thread and it is

[KRE8A]

Originally Posted by mutabeatz

does mastering a track help to give the kick no distortion

thank you in advance

Distortion Cancellation Techniques in Mastering

[mutabeatz]

Originally Posted by Karloff70

Hell, why not. OP, if you pm me your email address I'll send you the Slappers and Fluffers free of charge.

Sent from my GT-I5800 using Gearslutz.com App

Thank you very much i have received them

[evilpeezy]

start off with a OKAY kick if thats your only option and Eq it. Kicks are all sine waves to begin with with filters and eq. So EQ can turn your kick into alot of different directions.

[natonative]

pinpoint the dirty frequencies and cut them.. you may want to layer something with electronic samples

[evilpeezy]

Originally Posted by natonative

pinpoint the dirty frequencies and cut them.. you may want to layer something with electronic samples

don't say cut them, because he might need to boost also, we don't know what he is starting with. Boost or cut accordingly to taste.

[3rd Degree]

It's all been said but sometimes you can just shorten up the sample slightly. It doesn't work all the time and with some samplers or programs, it's super easy, on others, it's almost impossible. Most of my "dirty" kicks have noise after the attack that can cause issues if I don't want dirty. Just shortening it slightly can clean it up quite a bit. This would not be a go to unless you are obsessing on the sample and nothing else works. I would usually not pick a sample that isn't 90% there without any processing before proceeding any further to begin with but as said, sometimes you obsess and you need "that kick" but it's just not quite right. I always try this and it works, sometimes.

[jessestephens]

Much of how tight and punchy a kick sounds is related on it occupying it's own space in the frequency spectrum of the mix. Make sure you don't have other instruments (bass in particular) stepping on it's toes. Frequency ranges that overlap too much cause muddiness and pull all of the definition out of a kick. I find in many cases that the extreme low frequency ranges are not necessary and are harmful when layered with a bass sound. I frequently roll off the extremely low frequency on the kick's audio track.

Of course it is always dependent on what you're going for. You certainly don't want to roll off the low end of an 808 style kick. Using sidechain compression on a bassline (triggered by the kick drum) is a good technique to keep the kick from losing it's definition and keeping it tight and punchy.