First "real" drum mix....Help!

[Rusty K]

Hello Folks,

Ok...I have a terriffic set of drum tracks recorded in a studio. So far the only experience I have in mixing drums is PC Drummer and sampled kit sounds.

The natural bleed that one gets when micing a live set of drums has me perplexed. How do I apply processing to one single instrument without applying it to the "bleed" as well?

The song I'm working on is an R &B tune so I suppose I could go for a more natural kit sound without a lot of processing? If I do that sould I just process the whole drum mix, say for instance, with a little reverb and compression?

Somebody point me to a starting place.

Thanks,
Rusty K

 

[Kendog]

The quick answer to "how do I apply fx to the instrument and not the bleed? is... you don't. If the drums are recorded well and are spread over enough tracks, it won't matter.

For instance, your snare track has a small amount of kick in it. You eq the snare, compress it, and through some 'verb on it. These fx also affect the low-level kick, but once you throw up the fader on your kick track and your overheads, it should cover it up quite easily.

The most troublesome bleeding problems happen with the snare and hat. Too much hat in the snare mic can kill a mix, especially if your snare calls for a little delay but the hat does not.

Sounds like you're soloing your tracks while working on them. Just as an experiment, try getting a decent balance for the drums first, then leaving them all on while you compress, eq, and apply fx. I think you'll be surprised at how well it works... IF the drums were recorded well.

Ken Rutkowski
Outer Limit Recording Studio

 

[knownuttin]

For R&B I would go for the natural unprocessed sound. You didn't say how many tracks and what mic placements were used.
You did say that you haven't mixed real drums before, so check this out. The more mics you add picking up the same instrument (the kit) from different distances, the greater the chance of phase cancellation. You might find, for example, that the signal from your kick mic is out of phase with one of the overhead mics to such a degree that it thins out the sound of the kick. In such a case it may help to flip the phase of one track or the other. Or it may not.

I'd try bringing up the overheads first to get a nice overall stereo image of the kit. You might end up pulling some 350-500Hz out of these, but mostly I'd leave 'em alone if they sound good. Then, I'd add the kick for emphasis, maybe rolling off the highs starting around 7 or 8kHz. Then the snare, rolling off the lows say around 100Hz down to minimize the kick bleed. These are all judgement calls. Probably end up comp'ing and 'verbing the snare. But first, do no harm!

As you add each "emphasis" mic, try muting and unmuting it to make sure it's helping the overall kit sound. To paraphrase the mighty Mixerman, "just because it was recorded doesn't mean you have to use it!"
-kent

 

[Rusty K]

Thanks fellas,

At least I have a starting point now. I wasn't exactly sure where to dive in.

Kendog...I didn't record the drum tracks so I'm not sure about mic placement. I know there is a left and right overhead/kick/snare/toms and a couple more tracks that sound like "ambient" mic placements nearer the floor.

I'll try your suggestions.


Rusty K