The saga continues my friend, the search for the killer kick drum is as elusive as big foot but Even Mr. Big gets “sighted” every now and then. I dont claim to be some super engineer but heres how I approch kick drums.

1) Get a reference, pick some song that makes you say, “OMFG that kick is bad ass!”
2) Do your frequency cuts. This means cutting those frequencies that add the sounds you dont want like hollowness and ringing. This allows you to”PUSH” the frequencies that you want without adding volume to the ones you dont want. I do this for every part of the kit save the crashes as you want that full body crash.
3) Mix the kick to as close to your reference as you can get it. then listen to it with your body of music and tweak. Even if your reference kick is spot on, its eq’d for that song not yours and your going to have to do some tweaking.
4) Depending on your production, you’ll want to boost some frequencies and lower others. If you want to emphasize the lower end of the kick, anywhere from 20-1000 Hz may be used, but it isn’t limited to those areas. If you want the kick to be sharp sounding, a higher frequency like 3 kHz might be reasonable. Anything can work depending on the sound. Try making a boost peak in the equalizer and scanning along the frequencies with the kick drum playing and find out which frequencies you want to stand out. Then mix accordingly.
5) You may have to compensate when another sound occupies the same frequency or pan it to make it stand out. You can use VST audio analyzers to figure out exactly what frequencies are used. What you ultimately boost or turn down will depend on the kick drum’s place in your tune.