Removing Kicks from Sampled Bass

[Jamal Malik]

Whassup everybady..

I'm new here, but I've been lurking in the shadows peepin' the site out and you all seemed very knowledgeable compared to some other forums but ANYWAYS

Can anyone give me any good tips and tricks for taking the kicks out of a sampled bassline? I've been layering a nice sample, boosting the lows and getting rid of the unnecessary highs.. but I'm having trouble getting this damn kick out and its distorting the sound enough to annoy me.

I'm not new to makin beats or anything, and I don't usually sample whole basslines, i usually chop them and throw the chops back on the mpd but i figured id give this method a shot, i'm looking for a particular sound and I want that mid 90's grit so chyea...

Anyways, I'm using Logic 8 and some lpf and hpf on the different layers..the sample is sort of a muted almost plucked 80's disco-pop type bass...think like casio keyboard fat/round bass but its definitely a guitar and the kick just won't go away. shit sounds like club or dnb. help!

I know there's no textbook way of doing this, I'm just looking for some homecooked tricks and tips. thanks yall!

 

[SirSedric]

I know there's no textbook way of doing this, I'm just looking for some homecooked tricks and tips. thanks yall!

You should check this thread out;

https://www.illmuzik.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24237

This guy made a program that has a really unique and apparently very precise way of removing just certain elements of a song using oscilloscopes and Photoshop... I know it sounds weird, but it's pretty rad what he did to Funky Worm...you should really peep that out even if it isn't something you would use.

I've done this two way myself. One is in Audacity for simplicity and freeness and one is in Logic for more accurate stuff. Neither work completely, but they often get close enough for me to augment the sample with another element that hides it well enough...Sometimes, doing the Audacity method then the Logic method works really well too.

In Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) you can try the same method for removing vocals as the kick and vocals are often panned near center. Import the stereo track, then convert each of the sides to a mono track. Reverse the phase of one of the tracks and join them back to one stereo track. The vocals and meatiest elements of the kick are usually greatly reduced. Works especially well for tracks ripped from vinyl.

In Logic, I've done something different that has worked in a few situations.. but it alters the feel of the sample and you really have to be augmenting it with other rhythmic elements for it to work properly but here goes;

Make 2 audio tracks for your sample. LP/HP filter one to as close as you can get it to what you want with the kicks. Then filter the other one to accent the kick only. Apply a compressor to the first signal with the bassline and have the sidechain listen to the signal of the kick drum track. To do this you will need to assign the output of the kick drum track to a bus track that is only connected to the compressors sidechain so you don't hear the boosted kick. With some finesse on your compression settings, you can sometimes duck the kicks that hit on times where the bass does not hit. If you get too aggressive with your settings, you will find yourself accidentally ducking bass hits and losing the dynamic of the bass line I think...

Neither one is the best, but sometimes they work and sometimes they work really well... especially when the kick is dead center and you can completely remove it with the phase cancellation in Audacity. If this causes you to lose to much quality in the highs, try blending another track in with a BP boosted section to augment it....

 

[Jamal Malik]

thanks for the reply SirSedric

Those were both new tips to me and they are definitely useful. Thanks.

Here's a good example of smooth sampled bass, I wish I knew the original sample so we could contrast:



Madlib has been doing this a lot lately, I wonder how he filters his samples

 

[SirSedric]

thanks for the reply SirSedric

Madlib has been doing this a lot lately, I wonder how he filters his samples

No worries, it's all sharing and caring here...

...

NO HOMO ahaaahahahahahh!!!!!

Anyway, I'm not sure about that particular Madlib cut, but it sounds really weird in the beginning and then it just sounds like he chopped it really creatively, switched up the filtering and lined up the kicks proper... That bassline has a lot of tiny chops that could be taken... It's also possible that he doubled up with a software bass or live instrument... either way it sounds so damn fluid.. I'm jealous of his skills as a beat surgeon.

 

[Relic]

Good job sedric, I was just racking my brain thinking where was I going to find that thread but you linked him, so its all good.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

another thing you could do is use a transient designer and smoothe out the kick transient so that essentially the kick becomes a part of the bass

 

[SirSedric]

another thing you could do is use a transient designer and smoothe out the kick transient so that essentially the kick becomes a part of the bass

Indeed, there are a lot of ways to do it, none right none wrong...

I would recommend pre-processing with an external application first. Try out a lot of different plugs and dynamics processors... Maybe some multi-band compressors, multi-band noise removers/de-clickers, etc.. There are lots of plugs with free trials that should help you out, but you will most definitely need to remove as much as possible before trying to LP/HP filter in Logic.