Mixing Drums

[born2exile]

Hello to everyone,

This is my first post, thought I join after reading some nice recording articles by Brandon.

My question is concerning recording/mixing drums. I don't mean a real acoustic kit, more like synthesized drums, like the ones I have on my Roland Fantom keyboard. I wanted to know when recording/mixing how important is it to separate all parts of the kit to different tracks?

And when it comes to applying EQ, compression I'm a little confused about that also. For example let's say I add some low gain EQ to the kick drum, do I add it to the snare,toms etc. also to compensate for the stronger kick? The same goes with compression. I know there's no definitive answer, but I would like to know the best approach. I hope I posted this in the right forum, if not I'll put it on the drum forum. Anyways, any input would be appreciated. Thanks again.

[.tom]

those are wut is considered canned drums. they should perform for you straight out the box --or can... adding eq to those drums is not recommended. insted, choose drum samples that best fit the song. if you need heavy kik then choose it from the fantoms library etc. certainly, you could add eq but, more likely a change in fader value worx better. as for your q about how many trax, you've gotta submix drums at some point --id suggest getting it submixed to taste from the source... from the fantom into its twobuss output. you'd simply record this to a pair of trax and treat them as a stereo pair (drum submix)during mix...

[brandondrury]

The samples and synths genre of drums, like .tom said should work right from the start. I find that I may need EQ for this or that when the tracks start piling up and mix gets a lot more dense. You've got to make room so everything fits.

wanted to know when recording/mixing how important is it to separate all parts of the kit to different tracks?

It's not always important on a real kit. I've recorded drums with 2 mics before (one of them being a room mic). It depends on what you are going for and what you are trying to do. If you know you want gated reverb on the toms, you probably do need to record those on a seperate track, for example.

For example let's say I add some low gain EQ to the kick drum, do I add it to the snare,toms etc. also to compensate for the stronger kick?

First of all, are you 100% sure that you need more low end in the kick? Be careful hear and check your mix on other systems. Of course, it's possible that you are overcome shortcoming in the sample (at least in terms of what you are looking for in a specific song).

Adding low end to a kick doesn't guarantee more "power". It guarantees more "boom". Sometimes the two are synonymous. Sometimes they are not. As you probably know, a boomy kick isn't the same thing as a powerful kick.

If you decide you want more low end in the kick sound, go for it. Do you need to put the low end in the snare and toms? Hell, I don't know! There is no rule that says you should. I've never even considered the notion. I just mix the damn song. If a tom needs more low end, I add it. However, I can't remember adding low end to toms just because the kick was deep.

same goes with compression.

Well, there isn't just one "mode" of compression. All the compressor plugins I use have attack and release. I can make greatly increase the attack on a drum or I can completely get rid of it. How are you using the compression?

Generally speaking, I don't compress much when using samples or synths. Most of the time, the work has already been done for me. I usually have a compressor over the drum bus. It's usually set to be pretty fast. I knock just the slightest bit of attack from the loudest drums to maximize level. I do this so I don't have to work my L2 Limiter (on the 2 bus) as hard. I this modern method, but it's been the best solution for me to get mixes that are a level that the clients are happy with it.

If I need more attack in the drums I have a parallel compressor permanently setup in Cubase that I can send drums or whatever to. It will greatly increase the attack. I send that parallel compressor into the drum bus. So that signal is going to be blended in with the other drums and hit with the compressor I mentioned earlier. This means that the parallel compression must be subtle or it's effect will be null and void by the drum buss compressor (which isn't doing that much anyway).

Brandon

[kredd]

Originally Posted by .tom

you've gotta submix drums at some point --id suggest getting it submixed to taste from the source... from the fantom into its twobuss output. you'd simply record this to a pair of trax and treat them as a stereo pair (drum submix)during mix...

IMHO, i wouldn't submix at all **if possible**. i'd record/import all the drum parts separately and put them on diff tracks.(note: i have NO idea if this is possible with the roland fantom, just making a suggestion!!)

but i use reason's redrum...so once i set up my kit i run each drum channel into it's own mixer channel and export each piece of the kit separately so that i am free to mix/eq them individually in Audition...the other option would be to run 'stereo out' of the drum machine and then only having a single drum track that i can't mix and eq worth anything(in my opinion) once i bring in bass/gtrs/vocs/etc...

not saying you can't be successful in accomplishing a great sounding song with just a stereo track, i just prefer to have as much control as possible and not submixing i'll always have it...

[born2exile]

Thanks to everybody for their expertise on my post, I greatly appreciate it. It definitley gives me a new outlook on this subject.

[brandondrury]

not saying you can't be successful in accomplishing a great sounding song with just a stereo track, i just prefer to have as much control as possible and not submixing i'll always have it...

"Control" is a double edged sword. "Control" kind of ends up being "responsibility" somewhere in there. Don't get me wrong, I'm a control freak myself, I can't count the number of times, I've went nuts processing individual tracks just to end up with total junk....then I take everything off and mix sounded great. I'm guessing this has happened at least 1,000 times for me.

So, sometimes committing to something from the beginning is the best thing you can do. Sometimes, you are stuck.

With samples / synths, I think less control is needed than with recording a real drum kit. If I'm close micing, I want all the tracks seperated on a real drum kit. I could probably guy by with a submix with synths / samples in most cases.

Some of this depends on if you are going for maximum engineering or maximum musical power. When I'm creating noise, I have to turn off my engineering brain (not easy) and just make noise. When I'm mixing, I have to balance both.

Brandon