Techno/EDM bass-heavy music: how to soften percussion and drums (without kick)

[Sir Hannes]

Hi guys,

just returned from a DJ-Session with my new track. Wasn't surprised which frequencies the DJ changed on his desk being a studied Tonmeister my ear skills are trained for "neutrality". 😄 He damped the highs around -3 to -4dB and the basses +2dB (on the whole track via DJ desk). Then his hear experiences in his genre were satisified. This was done because of too bright hihats, percussions. And that he wanted to feel kick and bass better.

Back in  my session, I'd like to get my drum-bus with all the hihats, percussions, shakers and snares a bit darker. Never did this before, so I am scared that I will loose impacts especially of claps and snares, which are so important in this genre.

I have a whole collection of plugins, e.g. working with lot of PlugIn Alliance tools. So wondering, if there's a nice simple "magic" trick (= tool) to soften the highs and do additional "magic" on my drums? 😄

Thank you!

Johannes

Edited May 2, 2023 by Sir Hannes

[Sir Hannes]

I am experimenting with ying-yang: I put a blackbox MS2 on the bus to bump the kick more into the bass with mix-knob at 30%. I reduced the output a bit, so all together it sounds less bright now. Will see, if this does the trick.