drum EQ VST plugins?

G

Goreliscious

New member
I'm new to recording/mixing and have just discovered what VST plugins are...
Can anyone tell me if there's plugins that have a whole range of drum EQ/reverb/compression presets?
I've tried a bit of Googleing and searching on this site, but I need help with search terms as I'm so new to this I don't really know how to focus my search, I keep getting drum machine or trigger plugins...which I don't want.

I'm not actually the one mixing my band's stuff, I just want something to play around with so I can get an idea of how to create the sound I'm after on my drums so I can relay it to the producer in a language that'd be useful to him.
Cheers
 
What DAW are you using? My first advice would be not to worry about presets for EQ. Every situation is different, so tweeking EQ, if any EQ is needed at all is the norm.
Reaper comes with ReaComp, a pretty neat compressor with a few presets, including a NY for drums one.
 
I have sonar x1 prodeuce and the vc64 percussion strip plugin is amazing for drLook on the cakewalk website and look up their sonar x1 package and the plugins within it.
 
mjbphotos said:
What DAW are you using?
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Adobe Audition 1.5, used to be called Cool Edit Pro. Very basic.
I downloaded a demo of a EQ plugin earlier that shows frequencies my drums are hitting rather than me just moving the Hz sliders up and down by process of elimination to see where the drum responds. Stuff like that is the sorta thing I'm after, but not just demos.
 
What genre or music are you working on? I personally am a fan of using some parallel compresion on drums, but I tend to mix more rock oriented drums. Their are alot of effects that you can add, that all can compliment each other (if used properly) or make your already good sounding sound be worse....
 
Goreliscious said:
Death metal. What's parallel compression?
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With that genre, you will want as much punch to your drums. Parallel compression is basically a method of bussing an uncompressed drum tracks and adding a fairly aggressive compression (something like 4:1) and a fast attack and release. The explanation given here is a pretty decent one:

Parallel compression for fatter drum tones - Hometracked

You could also look at using gates to help give the kick and snare even more punch. Hope this helps.
 
Parallel compression is almost a "must" when mixing extreme styles of metal - my kicks and snare are almost always paracomped when mixing a metal project, so they cut through and give some weight to the low end.

Here's another great resource with examples on parallel compression on metal drums: FaderWear Guides - Need a Fat Drum Sound? Parallel Compression Guide

For VSTs, I love Bootsy's freeware plugs on my drums - especially Rescue on the drum bus, and the original Density for the parallel comp.
 
jimmys69 said:
But not the cracked ones.
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NathanRichards said:
Waves plugins would be ideal
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Cheers, they look pretty cool. I like the look of:
Maserati DRM Drum Plugin | Waves
and
CLA Drums Plugin | Waves

I don't completely understand what they do but they're pretty easy on the eye and seem to be designed for n00bs like me to use with dials like "snap" and "thump". $113 is a pretty penny for me but from the last few comments I'm guessing there's some slightly cheaper copies floating around the internet.
 
Rough settings for drums which I "might" use. This all depends on how the recorded drums sound, what sound you are going for and how the rest of the instruments sound also.

Compression on kick and snare 5ms attack, 40ms release, ratio depends on how much you want to squash them and threshold to taste.
To catch transients on OHs, 5ms attack 150ms release for a more solid drum dynamics,
To bring out the room sound in the OHs, 80ms attack 150ms release, set the ratio and threshold high!

G
 
Parallel compression can work well, but I like to group the drums and put a compressor on the group some times.
This can give you a very solid drum sound in the dynamic department.
5ms attack, 150ms release, ratio depending on how dynamic you want your drums, and threshold to taste.

G
 
Parallel compression is basically an uncompressed drum tracks, the bus, an increase of quite positive compression and fast attack and release.
 
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