The kick drum is the foundation on which the majority of rhythm sections are built, so shaping the right kick is crucial.
On this occasion we’re focusing squarely on the mainroom, layering up an 808-style kick with a mid-heavy transient-rich sample and a dirty hi-hat to create a powerful kick with low-end depth and high-end definition to power tech-house, techno and even EDM tracks.
The secret when layering is to ensure: a) the raw sounds complement each other; and b) that they don’t overlap / fight in either the frequency or time domain. This means judicious EQing to sculpt each sound so they gel together and altering the transients / ADSR envelopes of each sample.
To get started, all you need is a selection of high quality (and complementary) drum hits, an EQ, compressor and transient shaper – plus a group bus for parallel compression.
