I'm still dealing with the dilemma of how to jack up the kick level without losing the punch of the other elements. I'm fairly close to the same boat here as yourself...I still wish there was a good trick to get even more boost out of the kick drum. Chances are I will stick with some jazzy thing for starters...but evolve it as time goes on the other genres as I figure out more production tricks. Thank you for listening and the responses...thanks to people like you and comments like that I am improving more efficiently than ever before. :-)

A little better. The kick still feels a bit subliminal, but it's there no doubt. I detect sort of a jazz element (both this and the first edition) in the sense of finding the emphasis elsewhere in the sound. This edition with the more present kick might fit into some sort of experimental composition where the kick drum takes a back seat to the rest of the elements. However you try to use this, I bid you good luck.