How To Layer Kick Drums Like A Pro [Sound Design Sunday]

Learn how to layer kick drums like a pro using two kick drum samples, an EQ and Reason 9. In this tutorial Greg Savage shares a technique used by professional sound designers to sculpt a warm and punchy kick.

Software/Sounds Used In Tutorial

Propellerheads Reason 9

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[QueMusiQ]

Maybe I'm missing something but when you added the fade in for the second kick, it presented as being late, causing a double hit. Personally what I do is I make sure they are lined up by nudging one forward, flip the phase of one to see if it sounds better or worse (it will one way or the other) then complimentary eq on both as you did there, group them, transient shape the buss, analog distortion/saturation however you see fit, eq the buss with a decent but not maximized output, bounce, cut down the start/end positions to remove any delay from the plugs.

[ivanvelez]

Good tutorial. But I have a question. why is the the 2nd kick far ahead of the 1st kick? Shouldn't both kicks be on the same timeline in the sequencer?

[ivanvelez]

Great video, but I do have a question about layering kicks such as this demonstration. What if the kicks were in midi instead of audio file clips, how would you adjust it in the same way you did with these 2 kicks in the audio clips?

[Composer]

What about the phasing of the attacks and dealing with the transients? I have always used a kick for the body and a kick for the attack. I don’t use the attack from both kicks because I can get some real phase issues. No two kicks attack at the same time and have exactly the same frequency content. With the overtone series set up the way it is there will be inherent issues in phase with low end material. I think you are on the right track and get some good sounding drums, but I think if you allowed only one be the attack and blend the body together you will get a better sound. Just carving wholes in the frequencies won’t fix the phase inherent in the attack.

[drBROner]

It would be cool if you had a tutorial breaking down phase alignment as well when it comes to merging samples together.

[skillahire]

Dope tutorial! I use Logic X and or Maschine to build my drums in a similar manner.

[JamieClark]

Once you fade the 2nd kick attack, would you maybe slide it to the left and trim the left edge a bit? Maybe render to a new sample and trim the front so it doesn't flam like that?

[HeyZues]

Next time- can you show it in context of a mix? I've found that layering kicks isn't the hard part.. it's making sure those layers cut through the mix cleanly but still have that body & punch. Just a suggestion.

[Elechouse]

one of the samples is Katy perry -Roar kickdrum, Am I right??

[vicioussuspicious]

Hmm both kicks are fighting now for the same frequencies. You most likely needed to cut way more low end on the second boomy kick since you only needed the tail. Also I wouldn't recommend to touch the faders if you can lower volume by gain staging. The faders are handy for the final mix down of your entire track and touching them already can mess up your mix. Also use a bus for both kicks and 'glue' them together with a compressor so the frequencies don't vary too much. But you don't need to take me serious. Fuck me. Nice short tutorial, though. You didn't needed 10 minutes to explain like most folk out there l.