SO I want to talk about kick drums. The particular sound I’m looking for is that tigh,t firm, but not overwhelming, kick found in a lot of progressive house (Axwell would be my prime example, his kicks are great)
What I know to do:
Layering two (three?) kicks. Top kick for attack, a clicky sound that punches through the mix, A subby (presumably 808?) for bass, (and a punchy mid kick?)
I’ve been reasonably successful, but still not quite there.
A big complaint of mine would be my sample library, I have literally thousands of kicks, (vengeance, loopmasters, etc.) and there’s a ton of crap, which I’m now beginning to weed out.
If anyone has tips on EQ, Compression, great samples they have found, or any tricks that they like to use, please, sharing is caring 
yeahh man i actually started to sample others people kick and layer it down with some sample pack Kick . it really works for me.
compressing does a great job for mashing the transients on both kicks .
so experiment with it. hopefully it helps 
Try using compression to help the attack of the kick and make it punchier. Also when you have a kick sample try messing with the decay of it, this can also make a kick sound a bit snappier and tighter…
If your kick is in a sampler, zoom and to the very beginning and move the sample stary point slightly so it’s off the zero/middle line.
This should give it a simple click at the start even if it’s not a clicky kick.
I like those really punchy Ian Levine style kicks, just like this one - Evelyn Thomas “High Energy”
Can anyone help me recreate this sound?
Almost like Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax”
Is this achieved through layering?
Try taking one from an Axwell track you like, job done
I’ve recieved the advice to sample straight from tunes i like before, I just have trouble finding instances of a clean kick without anything else from the track. Also would it be a big deal to sample something that’s an mp3 as opposed to a WAV or AIFF file?
The more tweaking I’ve done, the more I think it has to do with the samples I’m starting with.
Anyone have a library they recommend?
Have a look in the Training Videos section dude, there is a video series especially dedicated to creating phat kicks if you want to try create your own.
Personally, I prefer to use kicks from sample packs. For me personally I’m always using Funkagendas sample pack kicks, sick! But i’m sure you could find something close to what you’re looking for out there.
Oh… there is also a video on how to extract a kick in the Training Videos section, I forget where it is cos it was uploaded a while back now, but it’s probably the earlier Tech Tips.
Creating that awesome kick by yourself is a tedious work. There’s some video from FM or CM of Steve Angello talking about their used kicks.
They worked long on creating that bass heavy yet punchy sound. But he also tells us they grab good kicks from libraries and other producers.
What I noticed when layering multiple kicks as you said before, is that EQ-ing and filtering along with compression will eventually give you a good result. Good monitors to carefully listen are essential as well. And do make sure the key of your kickdrums are the same or at least not conflicting. Phasing might give you some issues as well.
[quote]Roben (28/03/2011)[hr]Have a look in the Training Videos section dude, there is a video series especially dedicated to creating phat kicks if you want to try create your own.
Personally, I prefer to use kicks from sample packs. For me personally I’m always using Funkagendas sample pack kicks, sick! But i’m sure you could find something close to what you’re looking for out there.
Oh… there is also a video on how to extract a kick in the Training Videos section, I forget where it is cos it was uploaded a while back now, but it’s probably the earlier Tech Tips.[/quote]
+1