Need a little extra knock & punch to your drums? Parallel distortion can do the trick!

It's as simple as duplicating the track or creating an AUX send & distorting the parallel channel to taste.

The wet/drive knob on some distortion plugins are an option too by applying the distortion directly on the original channel; however, we think a parallel channel gives you more flexibility & the ability to EQ the distorted kick or snare differently than the original kick.

Speaking of which, adding an exaggerated amount of EQ on your parallel channel can add some extra knock to it as well. You can go a little crazy, like 10dB +

Search between 70-95Hz for the punch of your kick drum.

180-250Hz for the body of your snare

1,500-3,000Hz for the attack of the snare.

If you add EQ before the distortion, you will distort the boosted EQ & some times that can give even more energy & other times it can be too much.

If you add EQ after the distortion, you will be EQing the already distorted sound. Some times this can give a cleaner sound.

Use your best judgment & play around with each option.

We also have a video on our YouTube channel breaking down this entire process!