Just curious about your experience with this production technique.
When working on a new track, focus first on your synth parts (chords, melodies, etc.), bass sound, special fx, vocals, etc. and then, only when you have a sketch of all your main parts already in place, only then start looking for your “perfect” kick drum sound that matches the vibe and sonic characteristics of the track.
Thoughts?
Funny, this is something I’ve done a lot lately.
Also, I like to use different velocities so that I don’t have a uniform kick and can let other parts shine.
I start with a drum kit. And make a pattern, with sounds that compliment the pattern. I’ll fill my drum machine with patterns, each with their own kit, then I will use those as starting points for tracks. Bass, chords, Melodie’s etc comes later. I don’t really think about kicks to be honest. There’s only a few that I use. Same ones, over and over again. They work. Kick drum isn’t the focal point of my music at all.
…drum replacement always happens…eversince there’s the option to do so…
in all kik essential genres, it’s more or less pretty important to be always able to switch out for the “better” final solution what gives the main pulse…
starting out with basslines and harmonic progressions/elements is always leading to “better” results…especially when it’s so tempting but also pretty common to start with that classic downbeat bumm…
if that’s what u need to do, u can at least trick urself and lay out just the accent of the downbeat…just a little blip or blop, more like a metronom at first…
but since we all know how a four to the floor beat must/should work and feel like, we’re all good adviced to start with some sort of bassline thing…
but all dogma sux…so kik at very last is also counterproductive…once u got some basic harmonic call and response layed out, u can always start looking for the “perfect” bumm for sure… 
to avoid scrolling endlessly on the hunt for that kik, it’s also a good technique to let a synth do the first impression…to shape it to ur liking during the whole process and then/later on under/overlay it with some sample…there’s always a transient, a thump and a tail involved that makes THE perfect kik…no one can say, all three elements must come from the same source…to find all that in one same sample remains a rare and tedious thing to hope for…
This is workflow dependent for me. When I have the drum machine out on the desk… I start with the beat and that starts with the kick. More recently I’m 100% ITB and that usually starts with a bass line or synth pad progression and then go through a number of different drum iterations until I find something that’s complimentary to what I’ve established musically.
This is so dependent on the genre of music you intend to make that you really need to specify what kind of music you’re trying to make before it becomes a practical technique.
There is music made up of entirely drums. There is music with rhythmic melodic elements instead of drums. Can’t anything with rhythm be a substitute for a drum in a pinch?
Drums can be a metronome for the rest of your composition so you don’t just listen to blip blop the entire time you’re writing. Drums are probably my weakest point and I want to look away from them like a car crash, but if I make even a basic version on the drum beat I’m going for, I feel so relieved that it’s much easier to proceed.
Kick in particular is interesting though because even if no one cares, I would rather tune a kick to a song. So is it better to write a song around a tuned kick drum, or is it better to tune a drum to the rest of the song? I think there’s no correct answer. If you work best in one condition do it - or, do the opposite and challenge yourself from time to time. That’s all it comes down to is what will get you moving, at least it’s that way for me.
not very productive strategy for dancefloor oriented music.
it’s like writing way too long & overcomplicated intro.
I watch a lot of production videos on YouTube.
And in hip hop there is a trend from Metri Boomin and OZ.
They start with the hihats. So maybe this all checks out.
I’m frightened by your proposition
In my experience the two main advantages of this technique, mostly when producing any kind of “4 to the floor” music, are:
You usually don’t end up with a bass drum overpowering the rest of the track. You add the kick last, “sliding it” in to make sure its tone and level fit the track.
The kick drum doesn’t disappear. Often, when we start a track with a kick drum sound, as we add more elements to the arrangement, there’s a risk of loosing the bass drum deep in the mix. By adding it last, choosing the right sample/tone and appropriate volume, we are able to overcome this potential problem.
It’s not the only way I produce (sometimes my music doesn’t even have a kick drum!) but when I do use this technique I usually get better mix translation. Might be a coincidence…
I was just curious to know if other people had ever tried this approach.
If for some reason it doesn’t fit your workflow, that’s fine as well.
Makes perfect sense! Both can be an issue with kick first, and if you want it to lead the pulse, having it smeared or fuzzed out too soon can spread it out too wide in space, send it too far to the “back” and make the drive less powerful.
I’ll definitely try kick last next session, thanks!
Not last but replaceable. I often put it first for reference and metronome.