Designing Sub-Heavy NI Massive Trap Kick Drums

Evan Sutton is back with another great Massive tutorial for the masses. This time he explores the word of trap music and shares how to design killer super low-end NI Massive trap kick drums that can be used in much more than just trap style music, of course. It all comes down to shape and balance to ensure the proper delivery and the ability for the kicks to really cut through the mix without losing any of the magic that makes it so appealing. Keep in mind, as you follow along with this lesson, that this is a tuned instrument that can be used in many more ways than just as a kick drum. Simply change the shape of the main amp envelope, or the modulation envelope, and away you go! A great supporting sound and it can even be used in some rather innovate ways to lay the foundations for minimal, dub or glitch genres as well. It’s all in how you imagine a sound being used that leads to something new, so don’t be afraid to experiment with this type of sound!

This lesson in designing NI Massive trap kick drums is a nice reminder of just how important the Roland 808 drum machine was to music when it first came out, and how it continues to influence music, musicians and producers still to this day. There may never be an end to how we adapt and evolve this iconic sound for our needs as time continues to fly past us. Modern trap style music is just one example in a very long line of how the classic 808 kick has been tweaked and reinvented to reign supreme over emerging trends over the years. And once you see just how easy it is to make this kind of sound, we have no doubt that you will probably have some pretty great ideas of what you can do with it, too.

A pure sine wave is the key to the smooth and clean sound of these NI Massive trap kick drums and the shape of the main amp envelope it follows, as well as the modulation envelope assigned to the pitch parameter of the oscillator, are responsible for how it is delivered, develops and resolves itself. And this is where your imagine comes into play. Try using a waveform that is not just a pure sine wave. You can also make a very small change to the main envelope, or the modulation envelope, and end up with something that becomes a signature sound for you. The sky is the limit with sound design like this!

Cheers,
OhmLab