Help with Volume on Drums

  • Thread starter Thread starter dmbpettit
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dmbpettit

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I am having a horrible time mixing my drums in one of my projecxts using Sonar. All the recording is done, I am just doing the final mix. I have set the volume of the drums so that they get as close to clipping without actually clipping. But this makes them so much quieter than the rest of the instruments. Do I just need to turn everything down to match the drums. If I do this, some tracks won't even get close to zero on the meter (won't come close to clipping).

What am I doing wrong?
 
dmbpettit said:
I am having a horrible time mixing my drums in one of my projecxts using Sonar. All the recording is done, I am just doing the final mix. I have set the volume of the drums so that they get as close to clipping without actually clipping. But this makes them so much quieter than the rest of the instruments. Do I just need to turn everything down to match the drums. If I do this, some tracks won't even get close to zero on the meter (won't come close to clipping).

What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Compression can be your friend, grasshopper.

Drums usually have stong transient peaks. You need to tame them in order to be able to get the volume up. Slap a compressor on those babies.
 
Why are you trying to get the tracks close to clipping? This is not how you mix, it is how you record. And that only applies if you are recording to 16 bit convertors.
When you mix, you try to get everything to the level it needs to be to sound good. The final volume of the song happens in mastering, don't worry about it when you are mixing.
If the guitars are too loud, turn them down. That is what the faders are for.
 
Farview said:
The final volume of the song happens in mastering, don't worry about it when you are mixing.
Click to expand...

Not completely. You have to give the mastering engineer a decent starting point. Usually you want your final mix to be peaking around -6 to -3db, leaving some headroom for the ME.
 
Can anyone recommend some compression setting that I should be using for the drums?

While we are at it, does anyone know of a website where i could find some good starting points for compressing all kinds of different instruments?

Thanks for helping me learn more about this stuff.
 
Wow, compressor is not something we can set by "asking". It's millions possibilities. You need to learn and see the signal. Sounds complex, eh? But in instant situation, usualy I pick some preset on my plugin as starting point. Tweak a bit as needed. Eg. Learn why the preset should be named "Snare acoustic"...

Just do some search for old threads on Mixing forum from Shailat, Sonusman, or Blue Bear. They have spreaded valuable infos back then. All the knowledge you need burried on the old threads! :)


;)
Jaymz
 
dachay2tnr said:
Not completely. You have to give the mastering engineer a decent starting point. Usually you want your final mix to be peaking around -6 to -3db, leaving some headroom for the ME.
Click to expand...
The ME can add as much gain as he wants. Remember, line level is -12dbfs (sometimes -15dbfs) so if you insist on running your levels as close to 0dbfs as you can, you can be running yourself out of headroom in your analog chain.
It is very hard to mix a bunch of tracks together and not get a decent level. The idea is to stop worrying about hoarding bits, you've got 24...no waiting.
Anyway, it sounded like he was trying to get the individual tracks as close to 0 as possible and call that a mix. He sounded like he was completely missing the point of mixing.
 
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