The electronic drums conundrum

Dwayne C

New member
Hey everyone. My first batch of original music is ready to see the light of day, but I'm having a hard time reconciling one problem.......... the drums are electronic, but the performance is so solid I don't want to replace them.

Everything else is done. I sent one song out to master with the electronic drums and I just can't decide if it's worth the work to redo 8 songs worth of drum tracks and all the reworking that will go into it.

Does anyone else release any rock stuff with electronic drums? I just don't want to set myself up for failure..........

I'll post the mastered song in the other forum if anyone is interested enough to give a listen. It's titled Minimum Wage.
 
Does anyone else release any rock stuff with electronic drums? I just don't want to set myself up for failure..........

People "release" all kinds of stuff.

What kind of failure are you worried about? The stakes in this game aren't too high. Basically if you're happy with it, you're good.
 
Sounds quite good man. By 'electronic' drums I assume you are using a drum VST triggered by an electronic kit?

Any way you go about it, there are a number of things you can do with the drums so that every song from your first release does not all sound the same. What drum software are you using anyway?

I'll go just a bit further after second listen. It sounds to me as if the snare is a bit on top overall in the upper mids. It kind of takes over. The biggest thing I find that I have issue is the main rhythm guitars throughout have no 'body'. It would be great if they had the balls the solo tracks has. What was the difference between to two? Not the accent track, the solo one at 1:00. Why is that different from the others?

Then overall I think seems things would sit in place better if the kick and bass were holding up the low end. The bass has a bunch of low/mid that makes it seem loud in the mix, but it is not there in the subs with the kick drum which should be creating the bottom for the track. I think once you get that driving the rest will fall in to place.

Again, I really like the song and think you are really close to what you hear in your head. :)
 
Last edited:
These are Roland V-drums played in 2004. I only have them as a 2-track stereo mix. Hence the quandary. I think his performance is great, but I can't EQ or compress or tweak any individual element of the drums.

The guitar track you aren't digging was done through a Sansamp rack unit (the old silver one with yellow printing). The other is my G&L ASAT Z-3 through the Rivera Quianna. I'm thinking I'll redo the track with an amp and use a different guitar.....maybe LP, maybe G&L S-500.

I will try taming the bass in the low/mids and add some lows to see what happens, but you're making me feel like I may be setting up for live drums.....

Thanks a ton for the input.

My setup is pretty basic. Sountracs Topaz 24/8 to Tascam DA-88s. dbx compression, Lexicon/TC/old Yamaha fx. Mixing to cd, which will be upgraded to a Tascam DA-3000 next week. No computers. I like my old stuff.
 
The drums sound ok to me, but the drums/vocals/lead guitar seem to be in a different 'place' than the rhythm guitar(s). There's also a little timing issue right at 15 seconds.
 
Yes! And that's why I've kept these tracks for so long. I thought he played so tastefully and I never felt the tracks sounded bad myself. It's very validating to me (thanks!) to hear other folks notice his 'touch', even through a Roland V-drum kit.

I was always planning on reworking a number of things and trying out another mastering service anyway since I'm gonna have about 25 tracks to deal with this year. I have a guy in mind to try that I believe is here on the forum.

Any suggestions on helping the rhythm guitar sit better in the mix? The extra strum at 0:15 is not a problem to handle.

I think jimmys69 bass and drum EQ comments will help on the bottom end. I can tame the bass sound in the mids. As for the drums, I'm thinking maybe run them through a band EQ and pick out a few of the frequencies regarding the snare or maybe compress it just a tiny bit. Any idea if either would be effective?
 
Hard to tell just by downloading the track and finding what could work if I had the individual tracks (and yes I used alternative means to do so), but the kick seemed to need energy (a boost around 77 Hz). I know that sounds low, but that is what I find missing. Combine that with the bass guitar up a couple dB at around 80Hz seems could make it move some air. Don't push too hard at once. Just feel what it does to the mix in small increments. You will find better yourself having the individual tracks to work with.

There is a timing issue at 15 seconds that mjb pointed out. The delay timing at the intro vocal is not helping that either.

Think the disconnect from the vocals to the music is just an eq/compression thing. I kinda like the slapback delay on this, but the vocal is just in and out of the pocket. Manually edit those to be more in place then use a couple compressors to level off the edge. The vocal does get way loud towards the end of the song. Again, manually edit before compression, then bring the fader up if the song needs the build up of volume.

Accent solo up to 2:07 is hidden, yet the one after is way out front. Way over the vocal level, which should not happen ever, unless it is a Steve Vai record. lol But, it sounds really good there. Just panned off to the right a bit hard and loud. If you are planning to have a heavily panned instrument anywhere, I recommend having something else to hold up the other side. If not another instrument then maybe a the same guitar with a verb on the left. It just feels weird in this mix to me.


In the end this is only my opinion. And in my opinion; this is a great tune and the mix is almost there. It just needs some balance and fine tuning.

Props again.


:)
 
UPDATE: I am much more satisfied with the drums/bass after working on them last night. I ended up adding a healthy dose of low end and cut just a smidge on the mids and highs. I sent the tracks to Group1/2 and compressed the crap out of them there, bringing them up underneath the main drums until it felt right. After doing this, the bass immediately felt too bright, so I ended up cutting in the mids and highs more than I normally would but it sounds nice. All in all, the drums seem to have more life to them, and I can work on seating the guitars and vocals at a lower point in the mix.

Tonight I will re-track the main rhythm guitar through an amp with nice spring reverb, cut back about 40% from where I'd set it for playing and see how it feels.

Thanks for the input guys. It helps.
 
Back
Top