Adding Beef To Kicks With Parallel Processing
Max shows us how to make raw drum machine kick samples heavier with a little parallel compression and filtering
A solid kick is important in practically every genre of Dance music, especially House. But the current vogue for retro-sounding drum machine kits presents a challenge: how can you keep that retro feel without the kicks sounding too thin? Max has a clever answer, which involves parallel ‘New York’ compression and filtering to accentuate his kick’s low-end thump. This effect can be replicated in any DAW using a buss or return track, and any basic compressor or EQ/filter effect. Having this processing occur in parallel means the amount can be dialled in subtly without affecting the original track, so you can get the perfect balance between dynamic punch and booming low-end.
Max uses Ableton Live’s Simpler instrument to play back his kick sample, triggering it with short MIDI notes. He tweaks Simpler’s Release time to control how long the kick lasts. Max wants to beef the kick up with some parallel processing, and opts to use a return track for this. A Compressor is placed on the return track, followed by an EQ Eight. Max sets one of the EQ Eight’s bands to a low-pass filter at around 100Hz, filtering out everything but the compressed kick’s low-end thump. He then turns his attentions to the Compressor.