Drum Tips - Pan Your SubKick For Interest

A nice effect to add a little something nice or just a little "hey that's different" is to pan your subkick AFTER it hits.

So it hits in the center, but then as it the tail plays out, it slowly pans left or right. This tip uses panning automation.

Let's take a look

Here is a simple kick, snare, hat drum loop. Everything centered.

 

Here is the same pattern. The subkick starts out in the center, but as they play out, it pans to the right. For each loop, you'll hear it progressively pan to the right using automation.

[headphones on to really hear (and feel) the effect]

 

In the above might be a bit much, I over emphasized so you can hear the difference. Knock it back a bit and it'll sit nicely in your track.

It'll be one of those subtle effects where a listener might not notice right away, but they'll notice there's something unique about the track.

Panning the Subkick - What's Happening

Here's an image showing how the panning automation is done.

Subtle Drum Tips

Panning your subkick like this is subtle but is a nice trick to add a little flavor to your next track. Give it go!

Cole