How To Make A Bass Drum Sound Deeper
How To Make A Bass Drum Pedal

Start with the proper bass drum positioning, and then build the rest of the kit from there. Go for a natural position, do not force your body into angles it doesn’t want to go. PLACE THE BASS DRUM ON A SUITABLE SURFACE. The next step is to make sure that your bass drum is sitting on a surface that won’t allow it move. 2) The B in D&B: Focus on the Bass. Naturally, the bass is a key part of producing Drum & Bass. The clue is in the name. While you might be tempted to use a synth to generate the sound for those bassline, creativity is key to make an impression. One obvious thing is that you can make the lack of something work in your favour, instead of filling all the gaps in the sound spectrum at once. Don't over-layer drums, sometimes less is more. Simpler hits mean more clarity and punch. Use sidechaining to make things appear more powerful than they actually are. Unlike Jones, John Bonham used a 26-inch kick drum that directed Led Zeppelin’s sound. For drummers looking for a sound resembling heavy metal, a double bass drum kit could lead you in the right direction. Though it may take a little time to perfect double-bass rhythms, having the force of two kick drums behind your sound would be a bonus. So using this technique, a drum may look like this: G#500 27f If you want to use a single channel for both musical and percussive parts (such as using the triangle for percussions and bass, for example), it is crucial to make your drum sounds very short, and to restore normal pitch shortly after the drum note is played.

As you may or may not know, as well as writing for this site I also produce electronic music under the name HUMJUNKIE. I haven’t yet found myself slotted into any one genre and tend to draw on my influences from many different styles of music. One big influence, however, is Drum ‘n’ Bass. Especially the drum part.

In order to improve my game in programming and mixing drums for my own tracks I have been doing some research online to find out what advice is out there. My digging revealed a number of very interesting articles, which I’ll link to at the end of this. Here are the big tips I pulled out and will be sure to apply to my ongoing work.

Use Breakbeats

I spent far too long trying to recreate that classic DnB beat by sequencing drum machines and samples, only to finally realise what I kind of knew all along… The good old ‘amen’ style breakbeat sounds awesome and really ties together the hats and percussion element of your beat.

Beg, borrow or buy a few high quality breakbeats. Or even make your own! Which is something I like to do using realistic drum programming software like EZ Drummer. Then slice them, dice them and process them to compliment your main kick, snare and percussion. They will add that organic groove which is synonymous with great DnB.

Use Good Quality Samples

It almost goes without saying but you will not make good quality drums without good quality samples. Check out respected sample suppliers such as Loopmasters and Vengeance for some great quality sounds. Be prepared to invest a little. You will find plenty of free samples out there but they don’t come with a guarantee of quality… that said, if you do know of any good free sample sources let us know in the comments!

Bass Below Kick

In many electronic music genres the kick lives in the lowest frequencies with nothing below it. However, DnB tends to favour the sub-bass which resides below the kick. This means you’ll need to EQ out the low end of your kick and make it hit in the upper-low frequencies, around 90-100Hz for example, leaving room below for the bass.

I’ve also been advised that DnB benefits from extremely hard EQ cuts, allowing each part to sit in a very clearly defined portion of the frequency spectrum.

Use Layers to Fatten Hits

Here’s something I need to do more. The idea being that instead of using just one snare sample, for example, you blend together two or three. But this shouldn’t be done just at random. Each sample should serve a purpose. For example, you may have one with a nice mid range punch, another with a nice snappy top end and a third with some great width. Use EQ on each to avoid any nasty build ups then blend them together to form a big, coherent whole.

Use Distortion

Subtle distortion can add character and depth to your drums. Unsubtle distortion can have it’s place too, used wisely. Maybe to break up any repetition, add movement or as a transition effect. Experiment.

Try both parallel and inline distortion. Msa software downloadnewfamous. Parallel distortion can be great for beefing up drums without destroying the original sound.

Compress the Drum Bus

Compression can glue your drums together into a coherent whole. Ben 10 games to play. Don’t go crazy and crush them to death (or maybe do! but do it in parallel and blend it in to beef them up) but use enough to avoid it all sounding like a series of separate samples that don’t fit together. Most compressors have some decent presets if you’re not sure where to begin. Try looking for a mixbus or drum bus preset and adjusting it to taste.

Tell Me Your Drum Tips

That should be enough to think about for now. Combining these ideas will result in some really great sounding drum parts. I’ve taken these tips from DnB advice but they can be applied to your drums in many other genres.

If you have any other great tips to add, please let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to update the article for other readers.

If you are interested, here’s the last track I produced which has some DNB flavour. Would love to hear your thoughts.

More Resources

I’d like to thank the members of the Heavyweight Bass Producer Forum who also helped with suggestions for this article. They are a very knowledgable bunch!

Please don’t hesitate to find DIY music on Facebook and give us a like. You should also definitely join our awesome community in the DIY Music Group for sharing great articles and ideas as well as discussing all kinds of DIY Music related stuff and helping each other out. See you there!

An issue that I hear a lot is how to properly use your bass drum pedal for effective bass drum technique. If you are a new drummer, the best tip I can provide is to just keep practicing. Most beginner issues usually revolve around muscle memory and simply getting used to using the pedal.

Having said that, there are a few things to keep in mind when working on your bass drum technique, such as the beater bouncing off the head, your leg getting tired, or having the bass drum move away from you.

I’m here to address some of these issues in order to help you get comfortable using your pedal.

If you just want to skip ahead to some a solid and trusted video series, Drumeo has a great course you can check out which is specifically designed to help you improve your bass drum technique.

*Note: We have written another article regarding JoJo Mayer’s excellent DVD, “Secret Weapons for the Modern drummer Part 2“, which is all about the bass drum as well.*

How To Make A Bass Drum Sound Deeper

SET UP YOUR DRUMS PROPERLY

First things first, let’s get the bass drum in the right position. A common mistake that I see a lot of drummers make is setting the bass drum up in the wrong position for the natural angle of your feet.

When setting up your drums, the bass drum should be placed at a slight angle, and NOT directly in front of you. Try sitting down at your throne before setting up any of your drums, and place your feet on the ground where it feels comfortable.

Wherever your right foot lands is the angle where you will place the bass drum and pedal. This allows you to sit much more comfortably, leading to a lot less stress on your body.

This is how you be setting up your drum kick every time. Start with the proper bass drum positioning, and then build the rest of the kit from ther