How to Make Schranz Kicks

I put it in levels. We have a main kick, the stuff you'd use in driving techno. Then you have the rumble. Together that makes a rumble kick, and that's two methods at once you need to understand.

Then you add percussion on top, so you don't need any hi-hats in your drop anymore, because it's all in one kick. Rumble kick, top kick, top loops. They all go into one main Schranz kick channel.

I route the punch into another channel with 100% reverb. After that a Fruity Limiter, so I can automate the gain and with it the volume of the rumble, then an EQ to get rid of the highs, and some OTT.

The second reverb is a higher one. Same chain, but this time I only muffle the highs and get rid of the sub. Automate that limiter again, and together these two create the rumble.

In front of everything I add Pro-Q on stereo placement side, with a 96 dB/oct low cut, so everything under that range is mono. We want a clean sub.

Otherwise you ruin the stereo, and when you're in a club you suddenly don't have any sound anymore. It just sounds like mush.

Work on the top loop a lot, and start with the EQ. Get rid of the sub, because if you distort a top loop with sub in it you get a muddy top loop. You want it sharp and snappy, blending into the kick. We already have enough sub.

Then distortion, an EQ for the tone and a compressor with a ratio of 4 or 5, so the loop stays consistent in volume. I also add sidechain on it, because the distortion is kind of overwhelming the punch.

On the main Schranz kick channel I add the same basic processing as always, an inflator alongside a soft clipper. Once you're really squashing it against the zero dB you get that overdriven techno kick.

The fun part starts when you overdrive it and then play with the frequencies in front of it. Nobody is stopping you from automating that. Keep the mids at the normal level, then bring them up at the end of the kick.