House DJ Magic Tricks: Pull a Hat out of Your Kick

For DJs, short loops can be expressive building blocks that, when used properly, can be a fun way to layer additional sounds into the mix. In today’s tutorial, Ean shows off how to take loops with high and low frequency elements and make them into playable kick/ride hits with just a simple filter.

Download the Kick/Hat combo sample used in the video for free here 

More DJ mixing and looping tutorials to watch now: 

  • The Stage Principle: Telling a story in your DJ routine with loops and themes
  • Loop Move Macros: How to move around a playing track to make on-the-fly edits or extend a mix while keeping phrases in sync
  • Serato Slicer Techniques: using Serato DJ’s Slicer functionality to chop up a playing song and move around inside of a loop – along with a few great ideas for how to do it in a mix.
Dj Tutorialsfilterhigh hathouse musickicklayering soundsloopingride
Comments (35)
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  • Phil Worrell

    working now. The wonder of the internet. Great video Ean. Enjoy Ibiza.

    I have been playing with loops / remix decks and the filters for a while now. I run into problems if a track is not not beat matched properly, but otherwise I have a bunch of 4 / 8 / 16 bar loops running on the remix decks and filter out either way to mix up the house beats between tracks and adding fills / breaks etc. I just can add a new groove to the tracks and fire off a few one shots in places.

    One thing I would like to see in Traktor would be to add more loop / cue points in a track. then have a track full of loops stitched together at a set BPM to jump two. 8 is good, but i would like more. Then again I’m greedy 🙂 Still have to be able to access these from the controller.

    Still have to get one of those awesome Twisters. Do you have any distributor in Europe?

  • Oddie O'Phyle

    hey ean, it’s a nice n dirty little tip. i’ve spent the last month or so digging through Komplete and my mashine 2 upgrade and assembling my own stems in remix sets. i’ve been seriously contemplating the sale of one of my F1 decks for a twister, i love the fact that the on-board script turns it into a 4 voice drum sequencer!

    p.s. digging the new video format. happy to see that djtt didn’t have to sacrifice integrity to keep the tutorials flowing.

  • Prof_Strangeman

    Private in Canada.

  • oli

    in switzerland also private

    • Phil Worrell

      Not anymore, I got in Switzerland Oli.

  • Anski

    Maybe it’s just me, but these borderline clickbait-style titles are something I would have hoped that never in a million years DJTT would resort to. We’re going to read the article because we love you, you don’t have to intrigue us into opening it.

    • Ean Golden

      This was a tough one to write a title for – once you watch the video (it’s now public) I think it will be more apparent. The technical title would have been:

      “using a 1/32 note kick drum sample with high frequency content as a hi hat pattern can also give you instant drum rolls without sacrificing decks!”

      well you get the idea – so we opted for something more general that would capture the value of the concept instead of being technically descriptive.

      Def not trying to go for click bait titles and will keep your feedback in mind for the future.

      • Anski

        I appreciate you clearing it up, and hey! We’ve got a great new title out of it. Keep up the good work, looking forward to all the super specific technical titles in the future, haha.

    • Ean Golden

      What about a little improv dj TechTools contest? Reply to this comment with your own title for the article and the most voted idea will become the new headline and win some chroma caps.

      That sounds like a fun way to title an article 🙂

      • Father Loz

        Hi Ean : ) Great contest idea! – i would like to suggest: ” Combine a Drum Roll and a Filter for a sweet double trick! ” Later guys!

      • lupzdut

        As an homage to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly how about: “The Loop the Kick and the Filter”

      • Oddie O'Phyle

        Twister Tip: How to “Build” The Perfect Storm.

      • Toontown

        House DJ Magic Tricks: Pull a Hat out of Your Kick

        • Ean Golden

          I think we officially have a winner folks.. very clever!

          • Toontown

            Righteous! Thanks Ean and everyone for the votes!

      • Saint Rob,Club mU

        A dj loops a simple kick sample and what happened next WILL SHOCK YOU. Sorry guys….I couldn’t resist.

      • Schmeid

        These could be a great series. Quick, specific tutorials that don’t need the full, smooth production of a regular DJ Tech Tools Tutorial. Name them accordingly, like: “Mini Tutorial: Easy and Effective Drum Fill” or if you really like alliteration: “Mini Tutorial: Stupid Simple Cymbal Sample”

        • Schmeid

          Or even call them “Mobile Tutorials” and cover little tips you guys come up with on the road, whether prepping in hotel rooms or setting up in a club.

      • Scott Frost

        tickity boom

      • Felix Herbst

        “Using kick loops to create a background percussion pattern live”

      • CUSP

        Hold mah beer, watch ‘is…

      • Marco Hooghuis

        Dr. Filterbeat

      • lokey

        “a well placed filter can do wonders for a simple drum loop”

      • Moon Motel

        hi hat pattern to kick roll; buildup technique 😉

  • Sandeep Kumar

    Guys, can we just respect Ian’s privacy please? 😛

    • Ean Golden

      that would be just great Sandeep,
      I have been getting very self conscious with all this public attention! 😉

      • chris

        @disqus_AWzNDcal2f:disqus: only if he were catholic he would play for his self.
        (maybe future altar records will be do a great work on his own.)

  • Thilo Be Cker

    Private in Austria too

    • chris

      leider wahr

  • Phreddixeous

    nope–I can’t watch it either.
    private in Iran too.

  • Ezmyrelda

    Private in the United States as well.. Currently nobody can see this video unless they have the url.

    • Ean Golden

      Video was not turned to public, sorry everyone! Problem now fixed.

  • killmedj

    Video set to private, here in Aus anyways.

  • Dirtylooks

    Video is set to private so I can’t see it!