Quote Originally Posted by AcidTrash
Quote Originally Posted by dirty_bass

Subtractive EQ will sort this out mostly. Then other things such as compression will tweak it up.
That is DB's answer to everything. ... and he's right. IF something's not loud enough, turn everything else down.

The problems I have matching loops to kicks is usually phase cancellation like you get when you're mixing techno on decks. Best thing to do if that's your problem is to joins the loops and kicks in a sample as one. I'm sure folks would disagree of you wanna loop sidechaining tricks but there's ways around that too. Experiment.Experiment.Experiment.
It has nothing to do with things not being loud enough.
EQ is simply THE most important effect bar none.
Subtractive EQ is the most important thing I have ever learned, and when you get it down, even without fancy effects you will get even the most basic track sounding really good.