Are the drums seated well with the rest of the instruments?

Hey all,

Just wondering if the drum kit, in particular the bass drum, is punchy enough but also not overbearing in the mix?

I struggle with drums, just getting the kit sounding right let alone it sitting in the mix. I'm doing better than ever with each try though. I also ran the mix through Ozone so it's pushed a bit.

Lately I've been augmenting the kick mic with a sub-kick speaker mic, and then hitting the bus of both of those with a little saturation. But not too much so that it sounds too slappy. But I want it to be heard not just felt, you know? Good times.

View attachment EP Adventures 2019 003ins.mp3

Thanks!
 
The first thing I hear is that the drums could use a little more definition. They're sort of muddy as a whole.......not just the kick. The cymbals come off ok and seem to have the correct sound stage (width and depth) as the rest of the tracks........but the other drums are more centered and bunched up in the middle of the mix. They lack the punch they need in certain spots of the mix as well. Everyone has their own idea of what drums should sound like so maybe you like them that way.....and that's fine of course. Just my 2 cents of course.
 
Thank you!

Everything from the drum kit is in mono, and I actually am only using a ribbon mic about 5-6 feet in front of the kit. I think I will utilize overheads and try another take. I will also automate the gain of the individual drums to make them more even in impact. Good stuff to think about
 
Thank you!

Everything from the drum kit is in mono, and I actually am only using a ribbon mic about 5-6 feet in front of the kit. I think I will utilize overheads and try another take. I will also automate the gain of the individual drums to make them more even in impact. Good stuff to think about

Before you go to overheads and the ribbon, try the ribbon up over the kit on a boom, horizontally. That and a kick mic might get you closer. I would skip the sub mic on the kick, it is nice but doesn't really seem to match the sound of the rest of the track (very early/mid Whoish). Try and get some a little click the kick so it can gel up with the bass. Like someone else said - it's all a little muffled, and a little low I think.
 
Thanks Chuck! I like the idea of the ribbon as the overhead. I'll give that a try. I have to just use one of my nicer condensers but I had a large diaphragm condenser on overhead in an omni setting but it's a cheapo Samson and sounded really brittle so I took it down. Seems mud/quietness is what I need to focus on removing/improving. Thank you for giving it a listen, and the early Who vibe is a great compliment

I just moved my drums out of the living room and into an unused bedroom, which I've started to treat with bass traps and minitraps. it's fun to get it all up and going! I have the ribbon front-of-kit mic out by the door, so I put a gobo/trap in the doorway so that it isn't picking up the long hallway with the back end of its figure 8

View attachment IMG_3577.JPGView attachment IMG_3578.jpg
 
so instead of running the outputs of the kick in/sub mics to a bus and compressing that, I used sends to run the kick mic to a parallel compression bus and let the kick and sub kick mics signals go out into the regular drum bus with all the other drums. for snare, toms I did the same thing: did a parallel compression bus for them. I also turned up the room mic because then the kit became quite full. I think these are a little beefier than before. Thanks for the ears you guys. It's always good to get other opinions. You hear the thing so long you get used to it and lose a little objectivity.

Hopefully this version is a little punchier:View attachment EP Adventures 2019 004.mp3
 
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Oh man. I started to use the UAD plugins I bought for my Apollo x16/Satellite since I figured I got the CPU power. Using the dbx 160 on kick and snare parallel compression buses, the Neve 33609 on the drum bus and main mixbus, and then the mixbus 33609 into the Ampex ATR-102 tape machine. Holy crap the Neve and Ampex are sort of like glue for whatever they are on! I am getting good drum sounds and they're (hopefully) not as thin anymore. I'm still going to shoot for better.

I also think the USB keyboard-based Logic software instruments I played in this song are hilarious, but also a little awesome :guitar:

View attachment Pipa, Saz Zither, and Pan Flutes, Oh My!.mp3
 
Thanks Chuck! I like the idea of the ribbon as the overhead. I'll give that a try. I have to just use one of my nicer condensers but I had a large diaphragm condenser on overhead in an omni setting but it's a cheapo Samson and sounded really brittle so I took it down. Seems mud/quietness is what I need to focus on removing/improving. Thank you for giving it a listen, and the early Who vibe is a great compliment

I just moved my drums out of the living room and into an unused bedroom, which I've started to treat with bass traps and minitraps. it's fun to get it all up and going! I have the ribbon front-of-kit mic out by the door, so I put a gobo/trap in the doorway so that it isn't picking up the long hallway with the back end of its figure 8

View attachment 105175View attachment 105176

Remember, treat tracking room different from mixing room. Tracking room is for the sound you want to capture, mixing room is to make the room neutral as possible.

There have been numerous stories of people recording in hallways, bathrooms, etc. to get a certain sound into the microphone. Unless you have to track and recording in the same room, treat them different. Plus, in your tracking room, you always have the option of mic placement.

I record in my mixing area and therefore have to put some life back into my tracks. Just food for thought.
 
Oh man. I started to use the UAD plugins I bought for my Apollo x16/Satellite since I figured I got the CPU power. Using the dbx 160 on kick and snare parallel compression buses, the Neve 33609 on the drum bus and main mixbus, and then the mixbus 33609 into the Ampex ATR-102 tape machine. Holy crap the Neve and Ampex are sort of like glue for whatever they are on! I am getting good drum sounds and they're (hopefully) not as thin anymore. I'm still going to shoot for better.

I also think the USB keyboard-based Logic software instruments I played in this song are hilarious, but also a little awesome :guitar:

View attachment 105216

These drums sound great to me, right up my alley.
 
The drums seem to fit nicely for the most part. They could use more punch in the intro and around 1:39. The cymbals and ride could be much brighter overall though, can barely hear them on my Rokit 6's.
 
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