EZdrummer "punch"

Interesting since I usually high pass at 70hz. I can see there are many JS plugs and I guess I know what one more does. Thanks I'll try that. Anyone else have any suggestions?

There are several things you can do to increase the apparent punchiness of your kick. Without an example of the mix you are working on we can only suggest general techniques to increase the punch. For the kick sample, you can add low end punch either through equalizing or compression. For the mix, you can reduce the low end in the bass guitar and other instruments that might have significant low frequency information so that kick transients jump out more. Adjust your levels to suit. If still not punchy enough, try layering an 808 sample (the quick ones with least sustain), eq everything about but whatever is below 80hz and that should significantly add to the low frequency information. Blend to taste. If still not thinking kick is "punchy enough" (again these terms are open to interpretation and without specific audio examples of your mix nobody can really help you all that effectively) then perhaps switch to a different kick sample altogether (one of the EZpacks maybe) or check the arrangement of the song. Is the kick really not punchy enough? Is it possible you don't have a good arrangement and you are trying to make it more artificially exciting by throwing an overpowering kick drum in it? Is the bass guitar playing in the pocket? If the arrangement is not "punchy" the sound will not be.

Terry West has an effect that comes to mind: Twelve EQ. There's a few versions and they're all free. Just use the "kick" preset and tweak to taste.

I never EQ'ed or did anything to the original EZdrummer track except do a CH1 highpass at 70HZ and a CH2 +2db boost at about 120Hz... I'll try all that this week. Its not lame, it could just use a bit more. That's all... Thanks guys.

Then I am going to have to venture a guess that your monitoring is not great? Either than or the kick is tuned to a pretty high note?

To get a kick sounding punchy using compression, here's the 'recipe' I have been following to get good results: - Choose a ratio of 4:1 to begin with (adjust to taste from 3:1 to 5:1 later if desired). - Set the threshold low so you can hear what the attack and release are doing, maybe at a 20 dB gain reduction or so. - Set a fast attack (5 - 15 ms) so that you hear the initial strike of the mallet and then the compression kicks in quickly. You need to adjust this by ear for your particular song to find what sounds right. - Set the release so that you are back up to full gain by the time your next significant note is played. Again this depends on the song (i.e. 1/4 note, 1/8 note, etc). - Return the threshold to 0 and bring it down until you hear the punch you are looking for. You may need to adjust the makeup gain as you go. I normally end up with 6 - 10 dB gain reduction and get the effect I am looking for. Don't do this last part in isolation. Have the full mix playing while you adjust the threshold.

Yeah, I was gonna mention kick pitch but forgot. Re-pitch? I've done that on parallel track. BTW, anyone ever use xcomp in this area? I found it worked quite well to patch an acoustic drum track I botched. You can do a lot with the bottom-end with it. Jim P. .

If your not already doing so its best to use multi out routing from drum vsti / samplers that way you have a lot more control over each kit piece. A quick forum search should find a multi out template for EZdrummer or you can build multi out routing from the FX window. Now that you can work on the kick by itself you can use EQ & compression to shape the sound of the kick for more punch and to fit in with the other low freq instruments/sounds in your mix. Its not easy to give boost/cut this freq sort of advice as this is all dependant on whats going on in your song. Another thing you could do is use the kick track (via a send to another track ) to trigger another kick sample using one of the js drumtrigger plugins and Reasamplomatic, and blend the two together to get the sound you need. Just some ideas to consider. :) Cheers

The EZ series is already pretty damn processed and punchy right off the presets...a bit of fiddling with the internal mixer (including the technique Burnt mentions above) can give you all the punch you'd ever want, unless of course you are looking for something extremely unusual and stylized. But far more likely: if you're not hearing that classic kick punch already, it could be a monitoring issue. I personally have found that tinkering with additional FX on top of the EZ kits should be kept VERY light-handed, or you will wind up with something that will ruin your final mix.