Tip | 808’s & Kicks

Here’s a couple of tips for the engineering side of things. It can be very difficult to get your kick drums and 808’s to sit right and to agree with each other in a mix. It is especially tricky because these are two sounds that occur in the same low-end range of the frequency spectrum. Sounds that are in the same frequency range often clash. To avoid this many things can be done but the ultimate goal is to get everything to breathe and have its own seat. Today I have two tips that will get your kicks to punch through the mix and hit hard without clashing with your 808 or any other type of bass for that matter.The first, and most important, is Equalization. You should cut the low end off of your kick with a high pass filter to allow your bass to come through. Each kick/bass needs different EQ’ing and each track in general needs different mixing, so use your ears and solo these instruments. Typically you can cut anywhere between 50hz and 70hz off your kick. After you do this you can even slightly boost a very specific frequency of your kick for more punch. As for your 808 or bass, you will almost always want to cut off all of the high  range as well as the mid-range with a low-pass filter. Again, each 808 or bass will be different, so this process is relative. The next tip involves sidechain compression. Sidechain compression is a wide and complex concept that is used for many things, however today I will only explain it for this particular situation. Once applied to your bass and kick drum, the bass will duck out of the way of the kick drum for a fraction of a second, allowing the kick to punch through the mix. All you need to do is add a compressor to your 808 or bass. Next, turn on sidechain and select your kick drum to be sidechained. Now, the more you lower your threshold, the more the effect will be heard and the more the bass will duck out of the way. You also want to adjust your attack and release which determines how fast the compressor will act and how long it will take to stop. Hopefully with a bit of practice and repetition, these tips will improve your mixes!