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Posted this on Fusion forums earlier, so i thought you could use it aswell.. Im only trying to help, heh (: not sayings its right, but it works out for me eheh.

Just some things i find useful myself.

Okay, i see there is quite alot of confusing going on with the kicks.

To be honest with you all...

You make it sounds overcomplicated when it really isnt, the way i make my kicks, is pretty much out of a single kick sound with alot of decay, lets say a 909, or a 'Phat Kick' from Hydra, doesnt really matter, aslong as itsa simple sine wave with pitch modulation at the start, it doesnt really matter.

Okay so what i do is.

1. IMPORTANT, insert a EQ before the distortion, Distort it , now tweak the EQ, distortion reacts with eq, as you take away frquencies you will realise the disotrtion COMPLETELY changes, even with a minimal notch at at frequency.

2. I use ALOT of distortion (15 atleast?), I only use 1 plugin, Camelphat, well sometimes i use iZotope trash for some multiband distortion but , thats rarely. What i also see or realised about Camelphat, it blocks peaks...alot so it acts as a compressor kind of, even after you turn the internal compressor off.

3. When using camelphat..play with the resonance button, and the filter, filtering out low freqs below 20hz leaves alot of valuble space in the mix, which trust me you will NEED, it also leaves space for the distortion to react, makes it seem nice cleaner and adds a nice crunch if done properly.

4.Alot of you seem to be giving up too soon...you think, if you add 1 distortion .. and it doesnt sound good, youre doing something wrong,but hell no, trust me , most of the time my kicks sound horrible at the start.


5. After im happy with the distortion tone, and i think something could work out with this kick, i bounce it. This is where the real process starts to be honest, the cutting and layering part, first i cut the tok(attack), i usally layer it with somer other samples, like a hard 100-200hz punch and eq the tok with warm mids and highs while cuttin the low freqs because it will conflict with the punch, to make life easier, i export it seperate from the tail, JUST THE DRY TOK THO, not the 100-200 subby punch

6. Then comes the tail...i layer it behaind the tok, quite far behaind gives it a better sound hearing the distortion more for some reason, sometimes if i dont like the sub part, i filter out the low freqs, and replace it with another one that i like, what you have to make sure you do is , analyze the kick and check what note its not, THEY MUST MATCH.

7. Cutting the tail, after all the horrible torture youve done to it with the disotrtion haha, what i do is usally automate a filter, so the distortion filters down at the end of the beat, it makes the kick seem shorter and it gives it that typical KRANGGGG sound.

8.Adding reverb to the tok, adding a slight bit of reverb to the tok makes it sound alot nicer, and not as dry and ugly.


9. The big up about exporting the tok speretatly from the punch and tail is, you can pitch it real time in lets say Kontakt or Fl STUDIO if you use it( i use cubase) without ruining the sound of the attack.

10. Very important . Db LEVELS, if your tok or tail is too loud, kick wont sound properly, USE YOUR EARS. Well actually, what i like to do alot too , is use a OSC scope and EARS, if you can look at audio waves forms properly you will know when stuff is coming up wrong, but dont trust it with your heart, if it sounds right, it is right.

Meh all the tips i can think off, fallow this and youll be just fine, i dont use compression while making the kick, no need to, i compress it after abit, if there is a real need but yeah. DONT OVER COMPLICATE IT.

this is what youll end up with- THE 2ND KICK IN THE SNIPPET

Nice to read this, will be helpfull for producer who dont know how kicks work!

I'm just stuck at making the original kick before you start the eq and distortion.

cool Tommeh

nice to share

Do you use a filter with automation inside the vst? Or do you automate it through cubase?

I bounce the kick (: Always cus if i dont, the pitching sounds ugly, and you cant layer it properly. So i cant do it inside the vst, just do it through Cubase filter insert or camelphat filter sounds better sometimes ;o

Nice guide, pretty helpful

Good... very good indeed.

Okay then, listen up guys- as of now I'm putting everyone here on notice. As a result of Tommeh having published the advice above, there are to be no more new topics which begin with "Hai guys I just started producing Hardstyle a few months ago and I'm having trouble with kicks. What I want to know is, *bla bla bla* tok and the bass as well. Also, what VST's do you guys use? And how do I distorted kick?"

Given that in the past the response to this style of question would inevitably come back as some combination of "EQ," "Distort" and "Compress," what you see above is probably the most comprehensive guide ever written on the subject of processing a Hardstyle kick, so kudos to Tommeh for taking the time to explain it.

Having said that though... Tommeh, I really dislike the kick you used in the example, but I know you're capable of much better (based on plenty of others I've heard you make) and since what you've written is designed more as an explanation of process and workflow (rather than as a tutorial) the result obtained in any one instance is irrelevant as it serves only as an example, so this advice still has value even though the result may not have been ideal.
I did like the first kick though.

Nice Tut Tommeh,

I have a question about Drumazon. Whenever I stop playing a song in FL studio the drumazon seems te be playing on. How can I prevent this from happening ?

Turn the internal sequencer off? Should be in the top left corner.