bass and kick, 50-80 hz

[Farview]

right now I have a song that is driving me crazy, if you guys have any suggestions pleeaze...how can I get a snare to come up without hard limiting it? I've tried everything except put in a sample and remove the instrument....gimme a good midrange EQ? FX? New drummer? haha

What is fighting with the snare? Sometimes you can scoop out a frequency range out of a different instrument to make room for the snare.

YMMV, but my starting point for snare EQ is 200hz for thud, 2k-3k for crack, 8k for air and sizzle. The frequencies that I actually use will depend entirely on the sound and tuning of the snare and the tone of the other instruments in the mix.

Remember, you don't need the snare to sound good by itself. It just needs to do it's job in the mix

 

[bkkornaker]

what seems to work best for me (IMO) ..................is to make sure the beater of the kick is nice and apparent, and should match about the same volume of the "fret slap" of the bass guitar. This way, both instruments have some sort of Presence in the mix. Then i will make the lower frequencies (thump in the kick, and Boom/rumble in the bass) are also about the same. I try not to suck out any lower frequencies in either of those 2 instruments. i let them both share that space in the lower frequencies.

but i almost always suck out a ton of 800-900hz in the kick drum, to leave a pocket for the bass's mid frequencies.

it works for me........., but your mileage may vary......

 

[Lectric_Lab]

What is fighting with the snare? Sometimes you can scoop out a frequency range out of a different instrument to make room for the snare.

YMMV, but my starting point for snare EQ is 200hz for thud, 2k-3k for crack, 8k for air and sizzle. The frequencies that I actually use will depend entirely on the sound and tuning of the snare and the tone of the other instruments in the mix.

Remember, you don't need the snare to sound good by itself. It just needs to do it's job in the mix

Thanks farview...the snare by itself doesn't sound that great, its acceptable in the mix, strainer was loose sounding...the problem is volume I guess, and keeping the red tics outta there...I'll try the 2-3K and see if that makes a significant difference...appreciate your advise.

 

[Farview]

Thanks farview...the snare by itself doesn't sound that great, its acceptable in the mix, strainer was loose sounding...the problem is volume I guess, and keeping the red tics outta there...I'll try the 2-3K and see if that makes a significant difference...appreciate your advise.

You could try some compression to thicken it up a bit if it's just weak and thin. You could also try turning everything else down and worrying about the transients in mastering.

 

[Lectric_Lab]

thank you Farview, yep,yep I did try the 2-3 and got a better sounding response, I have all along been adding comp, even tried hard limiting...it does come through better now, this song has been mixed and mixed, the snare was main prob, good call.

I had a band come in last weekend, the drummers kit sounded real good, tuned well but there was a rattle pre hit on the basss drum, drove me nuts....rattle, thump, hard to explain, but after a half hour of trying to fix it, the drummer took his front head off and we found a paper clip lodged between batter head and rim (on inside) of bass drum, his son must of poked it in the pressure hole on top HaHa...no amount or change of frequencies cured that one