Synthesize Realistic Kick Drums using FM

US Kicks & Snares covered by Zion Jaymes      27/01/25

Making your own Kicks and Snares is a satisfying way to ensure you don't sound exactly like everyone else; regurgitating the same electronic drum sounds we've heard for 40 years or so! In this video Zion Jaymes goes over how to make your own realistic sounding kick drums using FM, and offers the sounds he makes as a free download. Here's what he has to say: 

In this video, I show you a very simple technique for synthesizing realistic kick drums using FM synthesis! Later in the video, I also show off my favorite method for making very unique bass drum sounds from any virtually sound. This one took longer than expected to make. I learned a lot about bass drums and what gives them their sound over these past few months, and I'm still learning more. FM is a very versatile can be used to model a lot of different sounds, though it's used in a rather "rough" fashion here.

 

He;s also made a similarly successful video on making your own Snare drums, which is here:

A follow up to that video is here:


More from Zion Jaymes

 

About the author [midierror]: midierror is co-founder of Potato Audio, he makes nifty Max For Live devices, award-winning Sample Packs and hosts the 'midierror meets...' interview series speaking with all kinds of people working in sound & music. 


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