drums in the mix

[nascentjunkie]

no offense to the newbs and amies, but i want some advice from the pros here... how do all of you pros attempt to acheive great drums sounds IN THE MIX. Making sure it sounds bright enough, has enough attack and lows, and just overall doesn't sound muddled in the mix. Clearly eq and compression and such work, and making sure the frequence's don't compete, but is there anything else that you guys can tell me that might help? ( i'm assuming there is, because i don't claim to be a pro, haha.) Pretty much anything that your knowledge base can help me with here will help a ton! Thanks to everyone who posts, or has interest!

[PhilGood]

Originally Posted by nascentjunkie

no offense to the newbs and amies, but i want some advice from the pros here... how do all of you pros attempt to acheive great drums sounds IN THE MIX. Making sure it sounds bright enough, has enough attack and lows, and just overall doesn't sound muddled in the mix. Clearly eq and compression and such work, and making sure the frequence's don't compete, but is there anything else that you guys can tell me that might help? ( i'm assuming there is, because i don't claim to be a pro, haha.) Pretty much anything that your knowledge base can help me with here will help a ton! Thanks to everyone who posts, or has interest!

Less is more. The more you EQ, the more you destroy the sound. The drums should be tuned well and good mics and mic placement are worth way more than EQ. Compression is good. A good room is important, too. It's all technique.

Once you have all these things, you shouldn't have to do to much in the mixdown. If it doesn't sound great while you're tracking, you can't make it sound better in the mix. I used to think I could. You can't!

I'm not totally pro, but I the best advice I've heard was from a pro.

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showpos...84&postcount=8

[shortness]

Originally Posted by PhilGood

Less is more. The more you EQ, the more you destroy the sound. The drums should be tuned well and good mics and mic placement are worth way more than EQ. Compression is good. A good room is important, too. It's all technique.

Once you have all these things, you shouldn't have to do to much in the mixdown. If it doesn't sound great while you're tracking, you can't make it sound better in the mix. I used to think I could. You can't!

I'm not totally pro, but I the best advice I've heard was from a pro.

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showpos...84&postcount=8

thanks for the post phil...i haven't recorded long, but i've always done it the other way...this is, i always micd my indv drums first and then stuck in the overheads AND never been real pleased...i am micing thru a mixer so not recording multiple tracks.....will try your way this week/weekend and see if i can get a more pleasing overall sound!

[drummerdude666]

You cannot polish a turd.

What i mean is your kit MUST be tuned. If you have a set of decent mics and a nicely tuned kit (the kit doesnt have to be that good) and as long as the room isnt crap you can get a nice drum sound.

My room is crap, acoustic guitars all along the walls and it just sucks, but i tune my kit, i choose my mics carefully and some well placed curtains around the kit go a long way.

In terms of mixing. Cut dont boost if you can. People always think that they have a live sounding kit and they want a 'studio' sounding kit.

What they mean by a studio sounding kit is triggers. A huge amount of rock recording is triggers and people want to get that sound...you can't. UNless you are triggering yourself then you wont get that sound.

Many people (me included) thought that the 'live' drum sound would be lost in the mix and sound crap, it doesn't. A live drum sound (to my ears) sounds sooo much better than triggerd sounds.

I am not a pro, but these are things that i had to learn and get used to before i got a nice drum sound. I hope it helps.