mixing the drums...

bosone · Post by **bosone** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:30 am

Hi!
probably this is a common matter, but anyway...
recently i've been raw-mixing a MIDI drum track of mine (obviously arranged with other things...), but the piece is not finished yet.
the style is something heavy metal style

my procedure:
i come from sonar 2 (the drumset plays in kontakt) to STM 2448 mixer, in separate kik/snare/tom/cymbal/hat channels.

the only FX i used on every channel was eq/compression (standard STM2448 ones) and a preset of the masterverb classic, used on an auxbus.

after reaching a mixing level satisfying my ears (regarding the geenral volume level and the tone), i assigned each track to a record sub-bus (7/8) and i removed every single drum channel on the mix with the appropriate switch (the square green one, can't remember precisely the function name). in this way i obtain a "single" drum track.

at this point, the record bus 7/8 is directed towards a modular2 module, where i process the entire drum mix (without reverb) with a flexor soft-saturataion module.

this drum track finally returns to another strip in the stm2448 mixer, where i apply a very gentle compression (thru the standard mixer comp), and regulate the global level of the track.

what i'm asking is: how do feel about this method? is it wise?? what do you suggest in order to improving it?

the only thing i'm struck into is that i'd like to process also the reverb with soft-saturation and compression (assigning it to the record bus 7/8) but this is not possible!
(any ideas on this topic?)

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 12:05 pm

My you go to a lot of trouble with your drums

the only thing i'm struck into is that i'd like to process also the reverb with soft-saturation and compression (assigning it to the record bus 7/8) but this is not possible!

This is SCOPE, so it is possible. Just load the MasterVerb into you project, rather than inserted the mixer and send the outputs into your saturator or whatever back into the mixer, or straight into your Sonar for recording. Or am i missing the point?

To be honest i think i would leave the reverb out of the saturation chain as it might just muddy everything up a bit - it's worth trying but my gut says to just add reverb to your saturated sound.

When you saturate you might want to try leaving some instruments clean, perhaps kick, or whatever, just to see if that leaves the mix more 'open', sometimes in the search for power we get lost in thinking everything has to be maxed out, when in fact a more powerful mix might require less, ie. for years (during the house/techno era) i was obsessed with sub bass and i just turned up the bass on all my mixes. Now i tend to cut bass on all my mixes on all my instruments (even bass and kicks if required) and i think my mixes sound better for it. Less can be more.

Mr A

[ This Message was edited by: Mr Arkadin on 2005-02-14 12:06 ]

bosone · Post by **bosone** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 12:18 pm

This is SCOPE, so it is possible. Just load the MasterVerb into you project, rather than inserted the mixer and send the outputs into your saturator or whatever back into the mixer, or straight into your Sonar for recording. Or am i missing the point?

the fact is that every drum channel is sent to the reverb with a different amount, i.e. the reverb aux levels are not all the same.

or they should be? for example i use little reverb on the kik, the maximum on cymbals, a lot on toms an a less more on snare and hat

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:05 pm

Well there's arguments either way on reverb. If you want a kit to really sound like it was recorded in a room with just a stereo pair then you would have on reverb across the lot. However, most real drum recordings are done with a combination of close mics and ambient mics, so your idea of less for the kick (equivalent to a close mic) and more for the cymbals (equivalent to the ambient mics) is what i tend to do.

i generally use one reverb for the whole kit and maybe have no reverb for the kick and a separate reverb (probably plate) for the snare. Also i usually use Vinco on the kick, but tend to not use a lot, or any, compression on the rest of the kit.

As i say sometimes it's better to let certain parts breathe whilst other parts can be heavily effected. Are you after a real Heavy Metal drummer sound or a more industrial-type, obviously not-real, sound?

Mr A

[ This Message was edited by: Mr Arkadin on 2005-02-14 15:07 ]

valis · Post by **valis** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 7:23 pm

Personally I use multiple sends in Logic or SFP to my reverbs (busses in Logic) so that I can eq each one independantly...keeps the snare and kick from being too muddy and u can tame the high end resonances from percussion.

Also I concur that u might want to treat only certain parts of your drum track with the saturation, just bus out a few different 'drum tracks' to SFP and route only the channel(s) that u want saturated through Modular. I also find that mixing in SFP I get a bit more dynamic headroom than in Logic. Also I keep kick & snare mono (and anything else that exists below 200hz) and rely on the reverb and ambience tricks to keep a sense of space for them.

spiderman · Post by **spiderman** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:43 am

the tricks I use to give a more natural sound of a multitrack midi drum , is to use the early reflection plug on each tracks with different setting and use a reverb on the aux bus but without the early reflection on it ( you have to mute the dry and the early reflection , leave only the reverb on ).

so like this you have only one reverb corresponding to the room but different early reflection corresponding to position on each drum ,snare , cymbal etc ..

a nice trick isnt'it ?

[ This Message was edited by: spiderman on 2005-02-15 09:53 ]