please critique my raw drum sound

  • Thread starter Thread starter skiz
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Not too bad I guess. It really depends on what you're gonna have going on around it and the type of song. If it's gonna be big, loud, and guitar driven, you're gonna probably need more close mic presence.
 
do you think that with processing and proper mixing i could bring the close mics out in the mix a bit more? everything was close mic'd and the snare was mic'd top and bottom. should i just back off on the overheads and bring up the close mics?

also in your opinion, what am i doing wrong, what am i doing right, and what needs to be improved on?

thanks man
 
skiz said:
do you think that with processing and proper mixing i could bring the close mics out in the mix a bit more? everything was close mic'd and the snare was mic'd top and bottom. should i just back off on the overheads and bring up the close mics?

also in your opinion, what am i doing wrong, what am i doing right, and what needs to be improved on?

thanks man
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It's hard to tell without hearing the drums in an actual mix. Throw some scratch guitar and bass tracks around what you got there and see what it needs. Raw, music-less drums are fine for checking phase issues and stuff, but things change dramatically once you plop bass and guitars around them.

I personally like the in-your-face isolation of close mics, but everyone's tastes differ.
 
ok cool man.

ill be getting the tracks back from my guitarist some time this week with guitar and bass over it and ill put up a sampler from that.
 
It's not bad, but the overheads are a little too out front for as compressed as you have them. That guitar that starts the song is kind of annoying in the 2k-3k range. It's kind of clangy with no lower mids at all.
 
cool man. we're getting together today to do guitar properly ill let you know how it goes.

guitarist uses a vox ac 15 and has no mid EQ knob. only lows and highs? how do you pump mid range without it?!
 
skiz said:
cool man. we're getting together today to do guitar properly ill let you know how it goes.

guitarist uses a vox ac 15 and has no mid EQ knob. only lows and highs? how do you pump mid range without it?!
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I'm not feeling the cymbals at all (way too shallow and not enough presence) and for my taste, I'd like to hear a lot more punch to the kick. I've heard a lot worse than this here though.
 
skiz said:
cool man. we're getting together today to do guitar properly ill let you know how it goes.

guitarist uses a vox ac 15 and has no mid EQ knob. only lows and highs? how do you pump mid range without it?!
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The mid control on most amps won't give you lower mids anyway. I would crank up the low end and maybe back the highs down a bit. But it might be what that guitar sounds like though that amp. If you have the mic pointed right at the center of the speaker, move it a couple inches off center. That will take away some of the shrillness.
 
thanks so much for the responses guys. really appreciate it.

heres a new clip, redid guitars today. i think the tone we got was way better than the scratch tracks. still they are bone dry with no eq or anything

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?id=25859

i backed off on the compression on the overheads and tried to eq them so that the cymbals were brighter and popped more. what do you think?

im not sure how to give this damn kick more punch without making it sound pretty crappy. what'd you recommend?
 
skiz said:
im not sure how to give this damn kick more punch without making it sound pretty crappy. what'd you recommend?
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maybe take away some 800hz and/or add some high shelf at about 8k.

It's really coming together compared to the first version.
 
i tried killing some 800hz in the kick. ive already boosted pretty heavily in the 8k-11k region, would it punch it up if i ran it thru a limiter at the end? i just always end up killing things with limiters..

also some vox were put up so i just chose a different part of the song to upload but its the same song

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?id=25873

thanks a lot for the tips guys
 
Not bad. That snare sounds pretty dead. It's loud and proud, but it just sounds dead. No snap. The kick still lacks definition. Take out some woof and get some slap.
 
that "snap" you're talking about, would that best come from top or bottom mic?

cause i have the bottom mic mixed fairly soft cause its not as snappy as i was hoping. or are there generally processing tricks that go on the bottom mic that make it more snappy and less just buzzy? like compression with an attack speed to get the initial snap and then squash the rest of the buzzy-ness?

the problem i always have with my snare sound is that i always seem to lack the really nice high end.. but i guess thats probably my rooms fault

but thanks a lot greg. a "not bad" from you is definitely encouraging!
 
To be perfectly honest, I never mic the bottom of a snare, so I don't know what you'd do. Make sure the phase is flipped, and that's about the extent of my knowledge/experience with miking the bottom head. I've tried it several times, but I just end up not using that track at all.

Your room might have something to do with it, but really I think it's just mic position and tuning. If your snare aint snappy on it's own then it aint gonna be snappy in a mix. If you close mic the snare and get too much top head, it will sound donky, like the snare sound you have here. If you overmuffle the snare it will sound donky. If it's not tuned well it will sound donky. If it's a deep snare, a wider snare wire set helps. And of course, the usual compression and EQ tricks can liven up a snare. Just keep playing with it.
 
skiz said:
i tried killing some 800hz in the kick. ive already boosted pretty heavily in the 8k-11k region, would it punch it up if i ran it thru a limiter at the end? i just always end up killing things with limiters..
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When you say some, how much. I will suck out as much as 16db at 800hz with a narrow Q and add 16db of high shelf at 8k. I also add a bunch of 50hz with a medium Q. Obviously, how much I EQ depends on the kick itself. Don't be afraid to use seemingly extreme settings.

Then I would send it through a compressor at about 3/1 with a medium attack and as fast a release and the compressor will do.
 
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