drum effects processing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rusty K
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Rusty K

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Hello,

Hope this is the best forum for this question..... Is there a rule of thumb about which effects to use on which drum? I know for instance that reverb is good for snare but usually not used on Kick. What about cymbals and toms? I usually just want as organic/real sounding kit as I can get with PCDrummmer. Sometimes I like a bigger sound other times a more acoustic level sound.

Thanks,
Rusty K

PS. I like my new member description..."dedicated" as opposed to "expert". I was always uncomfortable with that one because the number of post does not correspond with one's expertise.

RK
 
the only thing i have to say is: Dont use to many different effects on the drums.

Use a small room or a decent reverb on everything to get the feeling of the drums in the same room.
If you mess about with a lot of different effect you will loose the overall sound in the mix.

I use a Behringer Virtualizer to my drummixes.
In there you can find a Factory preset called "Drum ambience"
Perfect for this. A bit of reverb and high freq Decay.
 
I love having a little bit of reverb on the kick.. gives it a really cool sound if you can findthe right reverb.. which I do with Waves Rverb :D
 
i must admit i spend quite a while on my dums (currently supplied by a yamaha rx8 and a roland tr505) - nice short room reverb on the kit as a whole, and then i add a bigger wider sound on the cymbals/hi-hat etc.

i'll often record the bass drum on a different track to get a real 'flaming lips' style boom.
 
I like to send all the toms to one reverb, snare to it's own reverb and compress as needed. I dig linking the bass and kick via compressor, just me though.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks...I'm working on a mix as we speak. I'll have an Mp3 posting soon.

Wallycleaver.....How do you link the bass and kick. I'm a bass player so I know this is important in the mix. I was thinking it was accomplished more with eq....but I'd really like to know how you do it.

Rusty K
 
I bounce a track of all the drums in proportion, make the track completely wet in reverb (I personally like a medium hall verb for a concerty feel), and barely bring it up in the mix, just enough to hear. Adds a lot of life, realism, cohesion, and sparkle to the drums.
 
If you have a link fuction on a compressor. The behringers have it, I can't remember whom else of the top of my head. Everytime the kick hits it compresses the bass and visa versa. Also great if you di and mic a bass
 
ummmm...?

Wallycleaver....I have no outboard gear. I'm assuming that's what you are refering to. I'm totally PC except for a nanocompressor I use to limit vocals etc. as I record. Does that mean I'm out of luck on the linking of bass and kick?

asi9.....sort of the same perdiciment but your method sounds like it would really be cool. I'm going to try it. Do you have any verb on say...the snare, before the overall verb or just a bit on everything in the bounced track?

Thanks,

Rusty K
 
If you put the overhead mics outta phase to one another....it really seperates them. I use this all the time and it really does make a difference
 
Rusty K:

Nope, just a general mixdown of them all. If you don't want a lot of reverb on something (say, kick drum) just make it relatively quiet, or completely mute it. Sometimes I do just overheads, toms and snare so that the reverb sticks out a little better on the snare and toms.

The reverb also really makes the cymbals sparkle and come to life. I don't usually have to eq them at all.
 
asi9,

Damned clever idea. It's now in my bag of tricks. I plan to use it right away.

Thanks this will also save my CPU.

Rusty K
 
guys,

I've posted a tune in the mp3 clinic where I've employed many of the suggestions from this thread. I'm still not happy with the drum sound I got but it was my first try.

If you get a chance give it a listen.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artist/blues/royl/#

It's a ballad called "Solid Ground"

Thanks,
Rusty K
 
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