Drum demo, rough mix, unedited

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fvk82

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Hey I'm new here, and very new to recording and don't really know anyone but one person who can help me so I wanted to post a recent track/mix here to get some feedback. It's just a drum track with a rough mix and no edits. Please be as harsh as deserved, and thank you to anyone who took the time to listen and help, i really appreciate it. View attachment new song 6.6.13 (drums only).mp3
 
Hey thanks man, just a firepod10 into an old macbook running Logic Pro 9. i have shitty mics except for the SM57 and the small diaphragm condensers. I used an SM57 on the snare top, an sm58 on the snare bottom, an ATM41HE on the rack, an AT Pro35r condenser on the floor, an AT Pro6 on the kick and an AT Pro35r condenser as an overhead and an AT Pro35r condenser as a room mic. im doing it in a shitty, square 11x12 bedroom too, which is why i think im going a little heavy on the reverb
 
Kik sounds pretty good, but i think it's out of phase with your overhead or room mic. Snare sounds very good. The rest sounds very shrill. Are you sure you should be using a room mic? I wouldn't use a room mic unless I had a great sounding room. I would instead use the room mic as a second overhead. I don't know if it's the room, but the hats are almost louder than the snare and they seem to be phasy, which leads me to believe they're bouncing all over your square room and causing phase problems.

Also, because of the mono overhead, you have everything cluttered right up the middle and then you hit these widely panned toms. It sounds dis-jointed. I'd ditch the room mic, use 2 overheads.

Just my opinion.
 
I agree with everything RAMI said. Except I couldn't hear the kick being out of phase part. I'm sure he got it right, I just couldn't hear it.

The kick had that "rubber ball" sound that I didn't think fit with the rest of the sound.
 
TripleM said:
I agree with everything RAMI said. Except I couldn't hear the kick being out of phase part. I'm sure he got it right, I just couldn't hear it.

The kick had that "rubber ball" sound that I didn't think fit with the rest of the sound.
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I should have said "I'm guessing it's out of phase" because it's really just a guess based on the fact that it seems to be a good kik sound, but something's thinning it out and giving it that "basketball" sound.
 
this was the first time i used a "room" mic, and it and the overhead are eq'd to where its really only supposed to be for cymbals. i only left the room mic there because it had more "shimmer" or "crispness" to it than the overhead. I'm using little, AT Pro35r small diaphragm clip-on condensers as overheads/room mics and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to configure them, and so far i had been getting a better sound just using a single overhead. Any tips, besides the obvious get some real gear ha, would be greatly appreciated.

i checked the phase with each drum and the overhead, and each drum and the room mic, and the room and overhead so I'm not sure if it's out of phase or something i did in mixing, but I'm sure it is. I'm using small monitors with 3" woofers whose range only goes as low as 80hz or crappy little earbuds, so im already having trouble with low frequencies. But im sure it's my fault regardless, i'm never going to blame my equipment, or lack there of.

As far as panning while using a mono overhead, what would be your advice? Just a soft pan on either side or keep em in the middle with the rest of the kit? i dont like the idea of a totally mono kit, even though i suppose thats essentially what i'm recording since i have one overhead and a bunch of close mics.

Like i said im really new to this, and just need some advice to help me try and get the best sound i can with what i have. thank you guys again for the input
 
fvk82 said:
t "room" mic, and it and the overhead are eq'd to where its really only supposed to be for cymbals.
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Well, that's a mistake. Overheads (and a room mic) should be where about 75% of your drum KIT sound should come from. Right now, you have a shrill, harssh sound with the cymbals and hats almost drowning out the snare and clogging up the middle.

My advice would be to ditch the room mic, it's doing you more harm than good. Use 2 overheads, read a few articles on tried and true stereo overhead micing techniques, and you'll get much better resluts.
 
Hey i redid the song again the other day, ditched the room mic, x-y'd the overheads, panned them in stereo, soft-panned the toms, and lowered the eq and volume of the overheads. I know it still isn't great but i think it's a lot better, lmk what you guys think, and thanks again!

View attachment Output 1-2.mp3
 
The overheads sound better than what I remember from the first time.

I still think the kick is too boing-y. It needs more "woof" in my opinion. Keep in mind that we can't hear the drums in context with the rest of the song. But I think it's going to be too "basket-ball-ish".
 
TripleM said:
I still think the kick is too boing-y. It needs more "woof" in my opinion. Keep in mind that we can't hear the drums in context with the rest of the song. But I think it's going to be too "basket-ball-ish".
Click to expand...

Thanks man, yeah I'm with you. Im still having a hard time dialing the kick in, still not sure if it's a phase thing or an eq thing. I have flipped it and checked it with the overheads a million times, but im using small monitors whose frequency range is 80-20,000 so i dont know if thats part of it too. When i get the guitars on, ill post it for you so you can hear the whole thing. Thanks again Triple M
 
the second mix sounds way better. kic sounds good to me as is. with some gating you might get it tighter. do you have a blanket in the kic drum? toms are panned too wide.
 
Thanks manslick. the kick has a small towel in the bottom just resting against the reso head to temper some of the ring, and it is definitely gated so i dont know how much tighter i could get it aside from a different eq or something. yeah im still trying to figure out panning toms and well everything, but thanks for the feedback
 
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