Is this something natural???

[TamaSabian]

Yesterday a friend of mine came to my house and I take the chance to show him what I was doing at my home project studio. After a few minutes listening to my mixes he told me, why your drums are better sounding that the rest of the instruments?? . It sounds like hey I´m the drummer listen how I play!!! . One of my band members was telling me this all the time, and I said it´s just your point of view. Well, I´m the drummer of band and I do the tracking and mixing of the whole songs, so what do you guys think about it??. Is there something I could do to open my mind and do more balanced mixes???.

Thanks
TS

 

[Massive Master]

This is the same reason that I never master my own mixes. No objectivity.

If the guitarist mixed it, you'd have the same problem with the guitars.

The best thing I could suggest is to buss all the drums together at some point. During the mix, bring them all the way down, close your eyes, and bring them back up just to the point where they sound natural. Open your eyes and see if you were way off before.

 

[TamaSabian]

My guitarist always talk about my snare, why it´s so loud, bring it back!!! . When he listen to what I´ve done with his guitars, he said you could mix them better, try this, try that. Unfortunately there´s no other person who can help us right now, so we have to deal with it. I´ll follow your advice, thanks MM.

 

[masteringhouse]

Is there something I could do to open my mind and do more balanced mixes???.

Thanks
TS

Try playing guitar, bass, and even singing. Look at instruments through the perspective of the other players and listeners.

This problem is fairly common with musicians entering into engineering for the first time. Emphasize what's important to the song (usually vocal) not what you like the most.

 

[Farview]

It is also natural for you to have a better handle on what drums should sound like. You probably never had to think about guitar sounds all that much. Just remember that the song is the sum of the parts.

 

[punkin]

post the tune in the MP3 section and get someone else to check it out.

 

[dr.colossus]

Try playing guitar, bass, and even singing. Look at instruments through the perspective of the other players and listeners.

This problem is fairly common with musicians entering into engineering for the first time. Emphasize what's important to the song (usually vocal) not what you like the most.

yes, yes, yes... i'm a drummer/engineer aswell, and i would spend hours micing my kit and mixing the drum sound. then when it came to guitars, i'd slap a 57 up front and eq some holes in it so my toms wouldd "cut through"... even if you can't sing or play (everyone can do a tiny bit of both) try doing a song entirely on your own- focus on the "sound" of every instrument you play, don't worry about the playing so much, just focus on the sound your pulling... its a real eye opener!

 

[TamaSabian]

I just bought a keyboard so I will be fooling around with it, I only know two notes on guitar and I trust my feelings when I play bass. Playing drums, percussion and doing some backing vocals is where I feel more comfortable. I listened again to what I´ve mix and bring my drums back, I´m sure I can mix all the songs we have. I need to think in the whole song and how the band like it, what we do it´s a mix of bands like Placebo, Blur, My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead, Coldplay....and we all like that kind of style.

 

[Cosmic]

Hi All,

Favoring instruments...we're ALL guilty
I play mainly keys, a bit of guitar here and there, and I have a drum machine I HAVE to use to get the beat. Plus, I am such a Luddite that I hate drum loops on anything but techno/club and related, so I punish myself by playing the pads manually forever to get it right.
I just mixed a pre-mix of a song. Singer out front, fine. Bass (played on keyboard, and I am comfortable), fine. Piano, front and center and Loud. Drums...well kick sorta there, and snare there, most of the time, no hat riding and a few overdone rolls to 'make it exciting'.
See the pattern. We sneak back what we feel the least comfortable with.
We're only human,

CC

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

I used to be guitar-centric until I learned drums and keyboards. Now my mixes are generally well balanced... unless the client wants something stupid that I'll fight against and end up out-voted. Oh well, half the time they come back after a week for a re-mix to do it my way and I get paid for that too. Just happened the other week.

 

[TamaSabian]

Yep but how long it takes to learn??.

 

[Disposable]

Oddly enough... I have the opposite problem.
I play guitar and sing in my band, and do all the recording/mixing...
And I take more care in getting the drums to sound right than the parts I do.
I'm getting better at evening it out though.

 

[glynb]

Yep but how long it takes to learn??.

Impossible to answer.
How long does it take someone to ride a bicycle, how long does it take someone to learn how to drive? Depends on you and your ability to learn and be objective when listening to the sound.

All I would say is that the neutral listeniner tends not to focus in on background instruments like drums and bass, or rhythm guitar, etc, they will listen mainly to the singer(s). Try to bear that in mind.

If someone listens to the recording and says 'crap band, but great sounding drums', you have failed.

Listen to band's CDs who inspired you and try to hear how the instruments fit in the mix, you'll notice that drums will not dominate. Bass will not draw your attention to it, it will be there, but not 'in your face'. You really need to read the numerous threads on mixing, but what you need mostly is time and hands on experimentation, best way to learn.

 

[TamaSabian]

Well, I never study drums since now, and the first time I sat down in front of a kit I played like I always have played drums. The same happens when I played percussion. I´m don´t want to take guitar or bass lessons, I´m going to do by myself, asking my bandmembers for help.

Listen to band's CDs who inspired you and try to hear how the instruments fit in the mix, you'll notice that drums will not dominate.

That´s exactly what I do before I mix.