https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/track/5nKVY8ddr3VWhuuNn71SvN?si=7a19d5a06e5d4364
https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/track/0TiioLKAkXHhnERCRJit2R?si=a112906784904969
https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/track/3SmFwdSHgEP3UuMvNdT403?si=6db1857184544d16
https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/track/2zG8L9QM7FnlKkLQYirIxh?si=cb93709ea326476a
(Some song examples above)

What clipper should I use, how to layer the Drums + 808, what to take a look out for? I cant get the sound to work how I want it. It looks like a fat sausage in the songs and also the songs I make but mine sounds ass and not as clean on different speakers. It only sounds nice on my headphones. If someone could take a video with a live example and explanation I'd love to see it. Or a youtube video that already exists, I couldnt find what I wanted. Thanks a lot and happy mixing / happy new years <3

 

I think there's more going on than just soft clipping, especially the last three examples, which I think have parallel distortion and soft clipping.

 

There are a million different types of distortion and amps and tubes etc...best bet is to just play around with what you have until you find one that resonates with the bass nicely, you never know what might work...for instance I had a 606 and the best way to overload the kick was to run it out the headphone jack and turn the volume up all the way, boom, creamy overloading distortion. An 808 kick is essentially just a tap and a sine wave though, so it really does not take much to make it distort in a usable way.

 

another good example, but this one is more soft, I'd just like to see, I already experimented a lot, just wanna see what people use to get that "sound" https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/track/5F7Tywb6G47ooULUmLv9au?si=574e20177ae7498b

 

1) Stack harmonically/overtone-rich synth on top of your "808" (shitty word for a saturated single sine, as the original TR-808 kick was just a single sine wave) to create more harmonically rich basses (which could also have more width to them). Control the harmonics with filter/EQ after the synth.
2) Also parallel distortion. Likewise, control harmonics with filter/EQ.

Also play around with a very fast square tremolo (square LFO modulating the amplitude/volume) to create that tremolo-ish aggressive stutter sound.

 

Last edited: Jan 1, 2026 at 10:52 PM

Ask them lol
You know, i´m kinda tired of everyone saying "just use standard clip and uad tape" or whatever. If you try for several months and cant have it feel like this even tho you´ve paralleled the shit out of it, there is always possibility of something being on the masterbus.

Also i wont tell you what i think it is, but for sure i´m not going to tell you to go use some clipper and paralell it and bust your head against the wall.

Either something is eating his digital sound via analog chain or he uses top of the line samples which basically means he knows how to do it, but i would not be surprised if he has Neve Portico or something similar, but it could be "Southed" and "SplitEqd/Gulfossed" via parallel too.

This is a bit too "cohesive" to be straight up plugin..

 

Last edited: Jan 1, 2026 at 11:21 PM

well for one thing I ain't making a spewtify account just to hear a couple of tracks. kicked spot to the curb a few years ago because of shitty sounding mp3 resolution formats - not going back there...

 

Thanks for the feedback already, here are 3 songs on YouTube as reference.

 

What headphones are you using? Are you using them to produce and mix your sound as well?
If you do, they might just not be linear enough to give you the result you want. You could try correction software like Sonarworks or anything like that.
If you can't afford expensive headphones, you might still get better results if you get another pair that is somewhat different to the ones you already have and make it sound good on both of them. Chances are high, that you will be a lot closer to a good result doing that.