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6. Synthesising a house kick with Sonic Academy Kick 2

1 Let’s use Sonic Academy Kick 2 to synthesise a convincing, customised house kick drum that fits our track perfectly. First, import our Tutorial Files into a fresh 128bpm project, then add Kick 2 to a fresh MIDI track. Create a new MIDI region, then draw in a note on every beat to trigger a 4/4 pattern.

2 The kick sounds too loud compared to the music, so pull the plugin’s Limiter gain down to around -7dB. To synthesise a kick, Kick 2 combines one or more click generators with a sub generator; we’ll look at the click first. Open Click 1’ s dropdown menu, then audition some of the different clicks on offer to get a feel for them.

3 We’ve chosen SP Click, as it has a warmer, slightly lo-fi sound that suits the feel of our drum track. Reducing Click 1’ s Length to around 20% tightens the kick in the mix, while adjusting the Start time to 4% starts the click from a little bit later into the waveform, slightly shaving off the initial attack.

4 Let’s look at the kick’s sub bass content. The preset sub is generated by a sine wave oscillator that we can mix added harmonics into. Set the Sub Control’s Harmonics dial to around 0.1, then use the arrows above to audition the different harmonic waveforms. We go for the Triangle wave, which adds some subtle yet much-needed midrange bite.

5 We tighten the kick up a little by reducing Length to around 500ms. As you reduce the length you’ll hear the bass frequencies of the mix become more focused. A little tube distortion adds warmth to the kick, while around 60% Drive gives a touch more attitude and aggression to the kick as a whole.