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skiz
New member
just wonderin what delays you guys would recommend for kick and snare? and what settings you use
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RAMI
Guest
I have never, and I don't know anyone who ever has, used a delay on drums.
OK, I'm exxagerating, it's sometimes used on Reggae "dub" type stuff. But why would you ever want to put a delay on any drum??? Unless you meant "reverb", in which case, that's used almost all the time.
OK, I'm exxagerating, it's sometimes used on Reggae "dub" type stuff. But why would you ever want to put a delay on any drum??? Unless you meant "reverb", in which case, that's used almost all the time.
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Greg_L
Banned
Lol. I agree again. Delay on drums would just be a fucking mess.
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skiz
New member
not a lot of delay,
ive found using a small bit of delay of delay time like 5ms with really fast decay helps to fatten up my snare but the standard delay with cubase doesnt sound that great
ive found using a small bit of delay of delay time like 5ms with really fast decay helps to fatten up my snare but the standard delay with cubase doesnt sound that great
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Greg_L
Banned
That would be like using a gated reverb. How very Phil Collins of you. 
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RAMI
Guest
But instead of all these "poor man" tricks that don't really work anyway, like doubling up kiks and adding echo to a snare and whatever else....You're missing the whole point, which is to get your thick, full sounds at the source. If you NEED to do all these weird things just to get something to "cut through", your problems are alot greater than just trying to figure what kind of echo to use on a snare.
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Greg_L
Banned
Yup. You're putting the cart ahead of the horse.
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skiz
New member
yes, because i have a crappy snare and no money for better equipment unfortunately
as for the kick im using a beta52 on it and placing it inside about 3 inches away from the beaters and well i cant get it to cut through either. im new to home recording. im just messing around to see what things do.
as for the kick im using a beta52 on it and placing it inside about 3 inches away from the beaters and well i cant get it to cut through either. im new to home recording. im just messing around to see what things do.
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RAMI
Guest
Yeah, that's cool. Don't get me wrong, you're doing the right thing by experimenting. I'm just trying to help you with things I've been through. We all go through a period of trying to find short cuts....Sooner or later, we all realize that the SOURCE is where you have to make things sound good. That means, good tuning, good playing, good mic placement , a good room, etc....
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Greg_L
Banned
What is a "crappy snare"? How crappy is it? I had a junky old Rogers snare that was pretty damn crappy, and I still got it to tune and record decently. Dare I say it even sounded good at times. You just have to play with things. Experiement with mic'ing and tracking.
I'm thinking your drums are tuned poorly or your tracking/mixing habits are way off base. Going back to your kick problem, like I said, turn the other stuff down. It's okay to turn things down. It's a mix. You don't need every track peaking. You're gonna have to turn down the main bus anyway, so you might as well do it in the mix. You're chasing volume that will miraculously materialize if you'd just turn the other shit down some.
I'm thinking your drums are tuned poorly or your tracking/mixing habits are way off base. Going back to your kick problem, like I said, turn the other stuff down. It's okay to turn things down. It's a mix. You don't need every track peaking. You're gonna have to turn down the main bus anyway, so you might as well do it in the mix. You're chasing volume that will miraculously materialize if you'd just turn the other shit down some.
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skiz
New member
i can understand the good room helping with snare and everything
but how does the room really help with the kick seeing as the mic is inside the drum? also how much mic technique can there be with a kick, as the mic is just inside, 3 inches away from the batter head pointing straight at the beaters.
i think my kick sounds decent live but i think it might be tuned a little high on the batter head. also with the whole turning everything else down, then the volume of the overall track will drop a bit and sound weak if i have to start turning everything down to get the kick to come through.
but how does the room really help with the kick seeing as the mic is inside the drum? also how much mic technique can there be with a kick, as the mic is just inside, 3 inches away from the batter head pointing straight at the beaters.
i think my kick sounds decent live but i think it might be tuned a little high on the batter head. also with the whole turning everything else down, then the volume of the overall track will drop a bit and sound weak if i have to start turning everything down to get the kick to come through.
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RAMI
Guest
Well, you should be getting the majority of your drum sound from the overheads, not the individual mics. So the room is very important. But you're right to a point about the kik not being affected as much by the room. Still though, you'd be surprised how much moving a mic one inch can do. Even if your kik still needs a little prcessing after, it should still sound decent recorded flat.
As far as Eq'ing, instead of boosting 90-120Hz, try cutting 225-450kz first. Often cutting is much more natural sounding than boosting.
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Greg_L
Banned
Move the mic and see what a difference it makes. Try different things. You may need to tune the drum differently. You have to try stuff.
Dude, turn up your monitors. Whatever "volume" you lose by bringing the other stuff down so you can hear the kick can be regained by turning your monitors up. If your other tracks are drowning out the kick, bring them down to it. Don't keep turning the kick up and up and up. You can get the overall loudness back later once the actual mix is good.
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Greg_L
Banned
I couldn't agree more.
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RAMI
Guest
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Greg_L
Banned
Copycat!
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skiz
New member
ok cool, how do i get that "loudness" back once the mix is good?
normalization and compression of the overall track or what would you guys do?
normalization and compression of the overall track or what would you guys do?
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RAMI
Guest
Well, it's a longer answer than just this, but basically: Compress it or limit it with a good compressor or limiter.
Don't worry about getting the MIX as loud as possible. Worry about getting it to sound good.
After that, we're opening a whole different can of worms with how you get the volume up, or even IF we should get the volume up...
...With both extremes of the argument chiming in; From "Smash it to death with a limiter"...to..."Don't touch it if it sounds good, people can turn up their receivers". I imagine the right answer is somewhere in between depending on the style of music, what you're intending to do with the CD, personal taste, and a bunch of other factors.
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Greg_L
Banned
Yeah. Don't sweat getting it as loud as commercial CD's. Just get it to sound good on it's own. Work on getting a good mix before you go worrying about loudness.
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