Quote Originally Posted by MangaFish
(although i must admit i have no idea what the settings on the compressors or filters should be set to)
theres your answer :lol: , compression is very subjective and im only starting to get the hang of it properly now but as far as kick drums go you are wanting to emphasise the snap to the beggining of it whilst controlling the volume of everything after meaning the kick peaks at the right place and stays controlled afterwards

although just guidlines try setting your compressor up liek this for a kick drum then you can work subtle changes around it till you get it sweet

attack = 2-5ms
release 10-20ms
ratio 10-1
- 15db
then make up the volume with the compressor gain

whilstthe punchyness of the kick is determined by the actual kick you will find any snap to the begining of it will be greatly emphasised and should push through the mix nicely. also try eqing the kick drum, lower mid boost of about 2-3db can help emphasise that snap but again its all dependant on the kick.

like audioinjection says layering can be good to, i sometimes put together a kick in soundforge by looking out for certain charectoristics of other kicks isolating them with eq and forming layers which you can then put together, its a good way to give the kick a lot of pressence by having a deep bottom end and punchy mid and once compressed in the mix youl end up with a tailored punchy kick :)