1. Five easy methods to build punch into your mix

1 Let’s add power, impact and presence using only basic arrangement, level, panning and pitch adjustments. Here’s our starting point, with all our ideas playing in one eight-bar loop. We first identify any obviously conflicting parts – in this case, the three riffs are quite similar in style and frequency content, so they’re fighting for space in the mix, as well as for the listener’s attention.

2 To fix this conflict, we’ve split the riffs up across the arrangement, allowing the full force of each to be felt. This same concept can be applied on a note-by-note basis, too – for example, the second riff features two interplaying samples, a stab and a chord. We can delete or move hits so only one is ever playing simultaneously, which instantly improves the track’s focus and impact.

3 211’s Geek Technique explained how a kick drum’s punch comes from a downwards pitch sweep, around 100-300Hz. Our kick is an 808 sample with great low-end but not much chest-thumping punch. We add a fast pitch envelope using our sampler, and dial in exactly the ‘oomph’ we need. This trick can work on other sounds too, especially snares and subby basses.

4 Our kick and bass play simultaneously in the same frequency range, creating low-end mush that eats up headroom. There are many possible fixes. You can shorten the kick to a 16th-note (as shown) or an eighth-note, and remove bass notes that coincide with the kick. If your kick comprises layers like ours, you only need to shorten the low-end layer.

5 Another common approach to get kick and bass working together is to first set the kick drum to the desired length, then use sidechain compression to make the bassline duck in level whenever the kick drum plays. Alternatively, you can use a dedicated sidechain pumping plugin, or simulate the effect with volume automation, as shown. You don’t need to delete/mute any bass notes with this.

6 Finally, we can use autopanning to make the toms and rave stab riff jump rhythmically left and right. As well as creating an exciting effect, this increases separation with the centre-panned elements like kick and bass. You can use static panning in the same way. Our finished demo arrangement now punches a lot harder than the original loop – check out the video and audio demos!