How to add kickdrum onto a finished song?

Discussion in 'beginners corner' started by sono, Dec 14, 2024.

  1. sono

    sono Member

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    I guess this is possible nowdays but how to do it? I want to make the kickdrum stronger in a finished song (have no access to the project), but due to other instruments in its range I cannot just take its range and EQ it. Spectral editing runs into the same problem.

    Any solutions to overdub with a new kick? Even by removing the old one and adding afterwards?
     
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  3. Stevie Dude

    Stevie Dude Audiosexual

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    Ozone 11 has real time stem separation and editing. Run the mothership Ozone 11 plugin, select "Drum" on the list near top left corner and go to town with multiband processing.
     
  4. sono

    sono Member

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    You mean after I grabbed the original kick with the separator, I start working with it through multiband processing? If I understood it correctly, that does not work. The problem is: the bass was played in a way, that most of the lowest notes are in the kick base note range, are short like the kick, and got kind of merged with the kick. I will try Ozone, but tried lots of other separation software, and all of them grabs those bass notes as well along with the kick. And the end is that you can make the kick stronger, but you will hear those bass notes starting to boom, and make the low end rhapsodic. You can also try the other way: separate the bass, but that takes away so much from the kick it becomes a thin little mouse.

    That's why I thought about tricks like some AI that can detect the place of the kicks, and overdub it on time. Then, I just remove that thin kick after removing bass, add the overdub, and that's it. I am not sure if it is possible though or which software can overdub this way?
     
  5. Stevie Dude

    Stevie Dude Audiosexual

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    If that doesnt work for you, the other way that I could think of is manually layering another Kick on top of the track.

    1. stem separate and only get the kick track, so you can create trigger midi from a clean kick source with proper transient dynamics.
    2. use that midi to trigger a new kick. Tuck that in on top of the track.
     
  6. sono

    sono Member

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    Ahh, this is so obvious I wonder how it did not came to my mind. This can definately work, thanks!
     
  7. ArticStorm

    ArticStorm Moderator Staff Member

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    EQ the Kickdrum frequency a bit? boost it a bit?

    with stronger you mean, more thump, more presence?

    or do you mean more volume?
     
  8. sono

    sono Member

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    More volume.
     
  9. ArticStorm

    ArticStorm Moderator Staff Member

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    you could split it into stems, but then you still have the kickdrum with the drums, meaning everything playing with the Kick together might also get a volume.

    maybe just easier to go back fix that kickdrum volume ...
     
  10. Spartan

    Spartan Kapellmeister

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    I'd use a dynamic EQ to resolve the problem rather than replace or layer it.
     
  11. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    If you just want more bottom end to the kick, you can insert a noise gate on the track and sidechain it to a test oscillator. Might depend on what DAW you are using. If you happen to have the Fiedler plugin Splat, you can get a similar effect. More bottom end.

    Other options above work fine too, but sometimes you are trying to avoid adding anything if you are just mixing it.
     
  12. sono

    sono Member

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    Okay, but as I said I can't go back. This is a song from a factory CD recorded in 1992.

    However the method Stevie suggested will be suitable I assume. I don't need a perfect mix, it is only for testing but as I said taking the base not of the kick alone is not an option as it overlaps with the bass. Would require too precise and time consuming efforts.
     
  13. ArticStorm

    ArticStorm Moderator Staff Member

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    then id say, it was meant to be with a weak kickdrum :):yes:
     
  14. sono

    sono Member

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    Maybe but it is not relevant. I want to do a test and study the coupling of the kick and the low bass notes for tracking back the playing technique, so it doesn't matter how the song was mixed. What matters is I need the song without the bass (that is sorted, Lalalai can remove), but need the strong kick base note. That goes missing when separating. So all I can do is add a new kick base note line that perfectly overlaps the human played kickdrum line. And when I prepared the song like that, it will be ready for me to track back the playing technique that I have my own methods for how to do.
     
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