There are a few big things I have learned over time that helped me to get my kick and bass to sound "big":

A: Make sure your kick is in key (the frequency of the kick drum should ~usually~ be the 3rd or 5th note in the given key your song was written in.
B: ***Pick the right kick sample*** This will take you eons farther than trying to compress and EQ the shit out of a sample that doesn't even belong in the first place.
C: Make sure your sub bass and kick are ~usually~ never playing simultaneously. I'll usually use some form of sidechain compression for the rest of the elements to duck them out of the way of the kick but as for the bass, I'll have the note start something like 1/8th note after the transient of the kick. If the kick is in key with your bass, it'll just sound like really clean side chain compression.

Another thing that helps a ton is to add harmonics to your sub bass. If you just have a sine wave playing underneath everything else, you'll often times hear a disconnect between sub bass and low mids. Adding some distortion onto your sub bass will add more harmonics and make it sound "bigger"

Hope this helps!

I definitely enjoy the ambiance you've created here with all the vibey elements. That main percussion is a bit harsh for my taste but thats just my personal preference Keep it up!

Always looking for feedback on the overall mix / composition!!

xKLANG

I'm looking on some good tutorials on getting my drums to come out a lot more in my mix. Whenever I drop a sample like a tom or anything like that, it just doesn't come out or just doesn't sound right. I know it's not my samples as I have some pretty good ones. It can't be sidechaining, because then it just sounds like I have a pumping track all over the place. Anyone able to point me in the right direction?
I'm using ableton.

PS I'm a percussionist so this is driving me bananas!

I can tell you right now it has way wayyyyyy more to do with sample choice than anything else. Picking the right sample to fit in amongst the pads/leads/basses you're using will go much further than any processing ever could. That being said, I think parallel compression can be the most effective method in the way of helping things pop and stand out more.

gets quite interesting at the end there...

One piece of advice is that there seems to be little to no sub outside of the kick drum.

Other than that I kinda dig the minimal feel

So i have actually been messing around with trying to recreate something similar. Boombox cartel makes gnarly future bass like this and I spent most of yesterday trying to really perfect this type of sound. I can tell you that the easiest way to do it (the only one I know of really) is to use manual volume automation.

You'll have to draw in the volume automation and I can tell you it isn't a super quick process. But, it can yield really cool results when done in certain tempos/time signatures and really leaves for a of creativity when it comes to the kick drum.

I attatched a little screen shot of what I am referring to. You'll a pad layer, my snare drum (usually a pretty consistent beat here) and then my volume automation. Probably took me two hours to tweak and get it exactly where I want it but I'm pretty happy with it

It seems that everything I upload to Soundcloud diminishes significantly in audio quality. The high end turns out sounding like complete shit. I have tried uploading things in 44k 24bit WAV, 44k 16bit WAV, and 44k 16bit IFF but nothing seems to prevent this.

Suggestions??

I think it really depends on what we're talking about. When it comes to being purely creative, yes. I believe thinking can be counter productive. The best work I have ever done has come from a place that is not always accessible. (Without sounding too abstract) It is almost a form of my sub conscious mind bursting through controlling my physical body.

Being creative means letting your creative self play. The logical side of your brain needs to take a seat and let the creative side do it's thing.

All this being said, logic is a very powerful tool in music production. You have to listen and decide if certain things sound right or not, whether an idea is worth pursuing or not.

It can be difficult to find a happy balance between logic and creativity but that's where the magic happens