Layering a TR-808 and TR-909 kick into one sample yields a kick with both deep sub and sharp attack

For their first record Dynamix II built a custom kick by ‘marrying’ the TR-808 and TR-909 in an EMU Emulator II, sampling both kicks and blending them into a single hybrid sample, which they then sequenced and pitched in an SP-1200. The result was a bass drum with ‘all the right things in the right places’: the 808 contributes the long, deep sub-harmonic while the 909 contributes punch and attack. Layering complementary kicks is the general technique, taking the low-end body of one and the transient of another so the drum reads clearly on both big systems and small speakers, and it remains standard in bass-heavy production.

Examples

David Noller: ‘We used an EMU SP-1200 sampling drum machine as our primary drum sequencer and had a custom kick sound made by marrying the TR-808 and the TR-909 in an EMU Emulator II.‘

Assessment

What does each of the 808 and 909 kicks contribute to a layered hybrid kick, and why does combining them beat using either alone for a bass-forward track?