This will shave the transient off the 808.

Set the attack to its fastest value, so that every time the kick hits, the 808 turns down momentarily.Route the kick into its sidechain input.You can use sidechain compression to make this happen. The kick will provide the initial impact, while the 808 will cover the sustain and body. Get rid of the transient on the 808, and the two tracks will get out of each other’s way. If your kick has a sharp transient, you don’t need one on the 808 too. What’s the key to making 808s and kicks fit together? When in doubt, shorter works better. This is often the key to fitting 808s into busy tracks. If you have access to the MIDI, program the 808 so it releases properly. If your 808 has already been printed to audio, use volume automation to cut it off manually. Make sure your 808s cut off before the next kick or downbeat. This can cause them to trample over the groove of a track. When applying distortion to 808s, subtlety is key. An 808 will never sound massive on an iPhone. While this technique often works well, be realistic. You can use plugins like SoundToys’ Decapitator to add distortion to 808s Small speakers can play these back, which will help make the 808 cut. So how do you make 808s cut on laptops, earbuds, and iPhones?Īdding distortion to an 808 will create harmonics that extend up the frequency spectrum. While you might hear them on big speakers, they often disappear on small ones that can’t play back sub frequencies. You can pull this off by using a technique called “subtractive EQ.” To learn more, watch the video below:Ĩ08s are made up almost entirely of low-end frequencies. This is why they’re tricky to mix. Give the 808 room to breathe, and it will often cut through without any processing. Common culprits include kicks, basses, and synths. High-pass filters are your friends. Remove excess low end on tracks that don’t need it. If the 808 is dominating the sub-range of the frequency spectrum, you don’t need a lot of sub from anything else. This means you’ll often get better results by leaving the 808 alone, and instead shaping other tracks to fit around it. If your 808 isn’t cutting through, it’s probably because something else is getting in its way. More low end, distortion, tape saturation…

Many mixers try to make their 808s cut by adding things. Click here to download FREE 808 samples from my personal library.

808 drums sounds