I've always been impressed with Madeon's drums, specifically his kick sounds. Whenever I process my own kicks, I pretty regularly use some of his own samples I have as a reference. There are a couple different things about his samples that I've noticed but have never been able to reproduce, and so I'm wondering if anyone else has any thoughts as to how I can achieve a similar result.

The first thing is his transients. Compared to other kick samples, his transients are ridiculously fast and snappy, so much so that the sub frequencies of the kick hit almost simultaneously to the top end. Here's a screenshot as an example:


I'm assuming a transient shaper is what's causing the 'snappiness', but whenever I use one (I'm using NI's shaper) on my own samples it ends up changing the tonality of the kick drum in a really undesirable way.

The other thing is the frequency response of the sample. What's different from a lot of kicks I use, is his aren't peaking at any one frequency nearly as much as mine do. Example:


With frequency response, my question is how can I reduce peaks in the low end in the most transparent way possible?

separating your kick into components of sound so that you can dial in the range of frequencies associated with the layers with effects.

Looking into recording drums is also a good avenue to gain a different perspective when designing drums.

if you consider the drum sound as components, you're basically mixing a kick drum to (think of a song, to be mixed, as the kick drum for this example)

You also might need to reevaluate the tool and the approach to the tool's use in context.

http://blog.dubspot.com/mixing-with-transient-shapers/

To sharpen your understanding

Also you need to view your kick drum in the context of the mix just as much as honing in on the sound.

Ott to shape your kick maybe? otherwise EQ and sidechaining lol... I like to use the glue compressor on my kick and snare if you're on ableton it gives a really nice punchiness/loudness without losing too much dynamics

This is some relatively decent advice. The glue compressor on kick and snare adds a different flavor to the sound, but i think it can be left out due to the fact that you're inquiry is about sample creation.

however if the glue compressor is utilized on the drum and snare, individually, your sample could benefit.



some advice for sample creation. You generally want the sound to be set in stone when you use it in a mix. analyzing one shots of the desired  genre context is important if you wish to make your own samples. It'll also give you a good reference point later on down the road, so you can intuitively get the sound you want when you hear it instantly, rather than paying for new shit every time you wanna check something out or w/e.

When ever you do this method, i suggest mixing around the kick and snare. Other genre appropriate considerations apply.