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14. Layering acoustic and electronic kicks

1 Adding electronic layers to an acoustic drum kit is a great method for combining the lifelike feel of a real kick drum with the power and weight of an electronic kick. Start by importing our Tutorial Files into a fresh 90bpm project. We’re using Ableton Live 10 here, but you can use any DAW and sampler combo.

2 Start by adding a fresh MIDI track with a new Sampler loaded. Import BodyKick.wav – an electronic layer from 217’s Layering Toolkit – into Sampler. Loop the track’s first bar, then insert a new MIDI clip. Now draw in C3 notes to mirror the acoustic kick’s notes, triggering our electronic layer alongside it.

3 The electronic kick layer sounds very quantised next to the acoustic break. Fix this by extracting the break’s groove into a groove template then applying it to our kick – right-click the drum break audio and select Extract Groove(s). Open the body kick MIDI clip and select our template from the Groove menu.

4 We can give our electronic kick space in the mix by applying a low shelf EQ cut below 110Hz to the acoustic drum break. Pull the gain down until you hear the layer cutting through – we go for a -10dB cut. This trick isn’t just for kicks – try merging other percussion layers to create unique, full-frequency hits.