How to make Techno Kick ?

author
Neos Sound
Date
March 3, 2022

You probably want to create your own drums but don't know where to start ?

Whether it's to save time or to experiment with new sounds for your tracks.

To create your own kick drums, you have 2 choices :
- Buy a hardware drum machine that costs thousands of dollars.
- Or buy a much cheaper emulation of these machines (a VST)

Each has its advantages and disadvantages that I will not detail in this post but it is of course budgetary.

For this post, we will rather opt for the second option.

What we will see together:
- Which VST to choose to create a Kick?
- The steps to create a Kick ?
- How to mix a kick?

Which VST to choose to create a Kick?

The first question to ask yourself is "What kind of music do I want to produce?

For example, the Techno kicks that can be produced with a TR-909 will not necessarily be the same as the Hi-Hop kicks of an MPC.

Being mainly a Techno producer, I will create my kicks with Modular or Analog Synths from Roland, Moog and elektron.

Since we create our kicks with a VST, I will choose one of Roland Cloud range which is the SH-101

You can use almost any VST because it is possible to create a Kick with the help of basic presets.

Steps to create a Kick

Then, you have the choice between :

- Create your kick starting from 0 with the no settings of the synth.

- Or use a preset present in the VST to save time (Spoiler, this is what we'll choose).

1) Choose a kick preset that is initially present.

For the demonstration I chose to use this preset.

2) Modify the envelope of your Kick.

The kick is currently a bit raw because it is not yet mixed. However, you can play on its elements to adjust the sound of your kick according to your tastes.

The parameters to adjust :

- FREQ

- RESO

- CRUSHER

- ENVELOPE D

- EFFECTS

See photo below for location.

3) How to mix a kick ?

This step is quite free and it's up to you to find interesting effects because that's what will give the power to your kick.

I'm going to present you a list of effects that I use and that only commits me. It's a simple and imperfect chain but it works very well and it's easily reproducible with the basic DAW plugins.

1) An overdrive to boost my kick

2) A compressor to avoid hitting the red and especially to make it more impactful.

3) An Eq to have a sound that suits you

4) A light reverb to create space.

5) A distortion to make your kick powerful and it's very used in Hard Techno.

And here is a quick and efficient mix.

If you want details about the mixing of drums I redirect you to this article where I explain all our mixing chain.

Link : How to mix your music ?

What you need to remember

You are officially a Sound Designer.

Now you know how to create your own kick from a VST. You can also do it with free VST like "VITAL". I'll make a tutorial for you too to create drums on this VST.

It's up to you to create your own kick library.

Don't hesitate to experiment with different effects to add on your drums.

If you have any questions you can contact us directly on Instagram or by email.

Products mentioned in this article.

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