Is anyone willing to give me advice on mixing drums?

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Young Squire

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Ok, so I'm mixing a 4 song cd for my brother in laws band. We recorded it over a period of about 2 days. It was really rushed, so I didn't get to spend any time expirimenting with different methods, mic placement, etc. And since this is only the second time I've ever recorded, the sound was far from what I would've liked to hear due to my lack of experience.

I need some advice on these drums if anyone with experience is willing. The drummer is only 15 years old. We were able to multitrack them into six different tracks. 1 overhead using really crappy condensers. 1 track for each tom(three) using sm57's. 1 track on the snare using an sm57. 1 track for the kick using a Sure Beta 52. I am using Pro Tools LE, and I don't have any hardware like compressors or anything. Just the plugins that came with Pro Tools.

The kick is my biggest dissapointment. I've tried gating it and knocking some of the higher freq's out and then compressing, but I cant get the ring out of it. It sounds like a floor tom to me. But I don't know what I'm doing. Please listen:



This track is completely raw, as we recorded it. No mixing or anything. Any advice? Hey, sorry this post is so long.
 
it's not a bad recording. toms definitely need some EQing and less gain on them. they stand out too much. i hear that kick drum sound you're talking about. how did you mic it?? a good way to find that annoying sound is to solo just the kick track and put on a narrow band of EQ. turn it up as high as it will go (watch your speaker volume though)...and filter sweep until it stands out like a sore thumb (sounds like around 140Hz or so)...then reduce the gain of the freq. until it starts to disappear. You may have to adjust your Q to make the surrounding freqs sound smoother.
Work on panning your drums out too. good luck :cool:
 
Also check you're not having any phase issues between the kick and overhead, or other mics. Blow up the wave forms in PT and make sure there's no peaks on the kick lining up with troughs on the other tracks
 
Not a bad recording and a good drummer for 15.

Its a little tough to say to much with out solo-ing the kick, but try cutting around 500 Hz a good amount and boost a bit around 4k. also try copying the kick to another track and gate that new track a bunch and blend the two together. The think you are missing most is articulation in the kick.
 
When first starting out it seems kind of tricky getting a good kick sound. Later on, when you have that mastered, you'll spend hours obsessing over the snare (like we did today--7 hour drum SETUP for a band--and we spent at least 4 on the snare... we start tracking tomorrow).

Maybe this will help you out. This is 'my way', not to be confused with the 'right way' or 'someone else's' way. :)

-Remove front head and put in another room--I won't be needing it

-Properly tune kick drum making sure that the tension is even on each lug, this will help eliminate ringing

-Throw 2-3 pillows inside the kick touching the beater side head... if the tuning didn't eliminate the ring this should

-Grab the following mics when available: ElectroVoice RE20, Shure SM7, AKG D112. Put the D112 about 3-4" away from the spot where the beater collides with the kick. Place the RE20 or SM7 (I prefer RE20) near the outer rim pointing towards the head. You may have to put the RE20 out of phase or use a phase reverser (i.e. check for phase).

-Theory is simple: D112 is the "click" portion of the kick, and the RE20 is the "meat" of the matter. Mix according to taste.

-For mixdown I will often keep the track seperate and put a 2000hz boost on the D112 for the click before I mix/merge the two together. Then I put some compression on it--typically 45ms attack, 120 ms release, 4:1 ratio somewhere around -16db threshold. Alot of times I will run a high pass filter around 60hz to knock off some of the rumbling lows that are just going to cause problems anyway.

-Then I properly EQ the kick: 100hz I will boost 4-5db, 200-400 hz area I will find the muddy booms and zap that with a narrow cut about 6db. Then I will usually hit up the 2200hz or 4000hz with a mild, but broad (Q 1.5ish) boost to accentuate the attack.

Honestly, kicks *are* easy once you get the hang of it. Virtually everyone wants the same general type of sound it seems. (That un-Bonhamesque smack-thud sound.) Personally I like a more live kick, although I'm not lining it with tinfoil yet.

Keep in mind that A LOT of pro albums make ample use of triggers or sampling to beef up their kicks (and everything else percussion). Heck, I've been known to do it from time to time.

Now snares... those can be a beast. People will want bright, attacky snares that are fat and they have a piccolo snare. Or you'll tune in and dial up the most awesome snare you've ever heard and they won't like it (happened to me today).
 
Ronan said:
also try copying the kick to another track and gate that new track a bunch and blend the two together.
Click to expand...

If you copy the track make sure you compensate for the delay that any plug-ins incur. (Page 87 of the manual shows you how) Depending on your plug-ins you can have enough delay to REALLY throw off the phase of your low end, which is not good at all.
 
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