Stereo Kicks, Snares (claps) and Basses for Pop/Rnb now?

Hi,

This is more geared for producers creating modern Pop/RnB

records. I'm listening to the latest stuff from Halsey, Post Malone,

etc...and their kicks, snares and basses sound stereo. Is that

what most producers/beat makers are doing to make these

particular instruments sound bigger? I know they also stack

their samples which contributes to the bigger sound but I'm

wondering if they're using the stereo method too.

stereo? do you mean big? i hear a lot of mono sounds; tight, punchy snares, tight kicks, deep, heavily-compressed basses. you can add (as atlas007 suggested), space around the snare, or do a left-right bass thing, but i'd keep the kick mono, always.

more than stereoizing things, good eq & compression work wonders...

stereo? do you mean big? i hear a lot of mono sounds; tight, punchy snares, tight kicks, deep, heavily-compressed basses. you can add (as atlas007 suggested), space around the snare, or do a left-right bass thing, but i'd keep the kick mono, always.

 

more than stereoizing things, good eq & compression work wonders...

They just sound full of presence. Maybe it's just the way they're being mixed.

A lot of the samples I use are stereo (kicks, snares, claps and basses). So,

you'd still keep the kicks and snares mono but maybe use a stereo bass?

Stereo/mono is not a dualism.

You can make a stereo kick but make it mono under 150hz (or whatever)

You can make a stereo snare but make only the attack mono and keep the release stereo.

one thing tho - whenever i make stereo basses i tend to do it either with my stereo-wired bass guitar, or a synth that allows me to adjust phase and is phase accurate. That way i get a consistent L/R stereo without any funkiness going on and i can "widen" it by adjusting phase offset and without going into cancellation.

if you go into stereo-bass thing be sure you have things under control. it eats a lot of energy and can sound terrible in mono

(I also have stereo subs in my room hehe)

Stereo/mono is not a dualism.

You can make a stereo kick but make it mono under 150hz (or whatever)

You can make a stereo snare but make only the attack mono and keep the release stereo.

 

one thing tho - whenever i make stereo basses i tend to do it either with my stereo-wired bass guitar, or a synth that allows me to adjust phase and is phase accurate. That way i get a consistent L/R stereo without any funkiness going on and i can "widen" it by adjusting phase offset and without going into cancellation.

if you go into stereo-bass thing be sure you have things under control. it eats a lot of energy and can sound terrible in mono

 

(I also have stereo subs in my room hehe)

Ploki!

Thanks for that info. So, what's the process of making a stereo kick mono under a certain hz level?

Same for the snare...making the attack mono and release stereo? Multiple compressors?

I just listen to that kick in Halsey's "Without me" and I want to get that thickness.

I like that song

verse 1 is just a kick. its not extra thick anyway

verse2 (i'll catch you if you fall ...) is kick doubled with a tuned short "kick"-bass (short 808 style i presume) which gives it an extra oomph.

The stabby bass after chorus is actually extremely stereo - it goes out of phase a lot.

the lower frequencies of bass are fairly mono in the chorus and in the verse.

You can make something mono below certain frequencies by loading an EQ in M/S and applying lowcut only to SIDE portion. In logic, that means loading a channel EQ in DUAL MONO instead of stereo, and setting it to Mid/Side instead of stereo, disable coupling and edit only stereo side.

You can also use "direction mixer", enable crossover and only make bottom part mono

The question on how you make such a creamy neat kick? Start with a good source.

I think you can get in the ballpark with Logic's new drum synths, they're good and straightforward. Apply some compression - with a relatively short attack time (0-25 ms, pick a value that has a nice balance of attack/thickness). NO need to overcompress, but don't be shy. 8-14 dB easily. You can also try parallel compression.

If you want it more splashy try applying a non-modulating phaser - it will smear the attacks and make it more slappy

I like that song

 

verse 1 is just a kick. its not extra thick anyway

 

The 1st verse kick still sounds thicker than mine. Maybe it's the eq and compression applied.

 

verse2 (i'll catch you if you fall ...) is kick doubled with a tuned short "kick"-bass (short 808 style i presume) which gives it an extra oomph.

 

You mean during the pre hook right?

 

The stabby bass after chorus is actually extremely stereo - it goes out of phase a lot.

 

the lower frequencies of bass are fairly mono in the chorus and in the verse.

 

You can make something mono below certain frequencies by loading an EQ in M/S and applying lowcut only to SIDE portion. In logic, that means loading a channel EQ in DUAL MONO instead of stereo, and setting it to Mid/Side instead of stereo, disable coupling and edit only stereo side.

 

You can also use "direction mixer", enable crossover and only make bottom part mono

 

The question on how you make such a creamy neat kick? Start with a good source.

 

I Get some samples from Splice and some from sample packs. Anywhere else I should look?

 

I think you can get in the ballpark with Logic's new drum synths, they're good and straightforward. Apply some compression - with a relatively short attack time (0-25 ms, pick a value that has a nice balance of attack/thickness). NO need to overcompress, but don't be shy. 8-14 dB easily. You can also try parallel compression.

 

If you want it more splashy try applying a non-modulating phaser - it will smear the attacks and make it more slappy

Lot's of great info here. I never even knew ppl were applying that kind of eq to samples.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN!?!?!?

For kicks?

I personally D16 PunchBox, AudioSpillage DrumSpillage and Softube Heartbeat. I'm more fan of synthesised kicks than sampled