My Drums Hurt Give Me A Head Ach!!

Adlib311

Adlib311

Umbrella Music Group
This is gonna be more like a discussion and not a question...But im pretty sure ill find an answer..Anyways

I been listening to alot of comercial stuff...and i notice that the drums on there tracks are not so loud.....there present but not like..whoo what the hell???? You know what i meen? I have a problom with making my drums a lil too loud..i just realized this after i payed attention to comercial stuff....

Im not asking how to achive this sound...But if anyone would have any recomondations or tips..on any kinda mixing skill that can help me from thinking that i need to boast that drum up...do you know what i meen? Or is this sumthing that im going to have to achive by training my ear to be able to here things like this...

I been recording and mixing for 5 years..In pro studios homestudios and anywere else possible were sumone could set up to record..

if any one has sum tip it would be apreciated!
 
First up, bring up your mix with no compression, eq, reverb, nothing, just clean unprocessed samples and synths. Now loop two bars that are full of action. Try mixing the levels by bringing up the kick first, then bass, then snare, then hats, then instruments. Save it. Now do another mix bringing things up in a different order, perhaps instruments, hats, snare, bass. Save. Compare.

Now, play a commercial CD on your system. Now mix again and try to get the levels the same. Dont worry about punch, clarity, power, ONLY levels.

Once your have a good level mix. Then you can make things clearer with eq, especially reducing lo freqs on everything but the kick and bass. Dont make them thin of course. Actually, parts CAN be thin on thier own, as long as they sound good in the mix.

After eq, compression kick bass and snare if needed. Setting can emphasise attack and percieved brightness and volume.

Also, using several different verb algorhthms can help make things stand out in thier own space. Too many verb patches and the spatial information get messy, but if you only have ONE verb type on everything it can sound a bit merged and homogenous.
 
i've gotta a suggestion for you,

i know alot of people always balance the drums first but i remember reading about abbey road and geoff emerick, he was the engineer for the beatles, and also alan parsons he did dark side of the moon with pink floyd and how they approach a mix.

i know this is old skool and not hip hop music, but it still relates to mixing and getting the feel of drums right.

now, what both of these guys did, was to bring the drums, bass and finally vocals into the mix last (though would also listen to the vocals in the mix without the drums and bass to make sure the echoes and effects were balanced)

...so they would create a stereo spread of everything else, i.e keys, guitars, sythns, any other instruments to get some perspective, then bring the kick drum in til in feels right.

i know a guy who has a big emphasis on beats, but he told me he doesn't always start with the drums, it depends on the track, but in this case where your drums are bugging you out, you could give it a try, hope this helps.
 
Ok im gonna try them out,.....those were sum GOOD tips!!....but asfar as mixing the beat with the final accapella is what im worried about,,,I allways think the drum should be hitting supper hard...but in comrecial cds the vocals have the presend and in my tracks the Drums carry the presence...i might be over compressing a lil bit i think
 
Buddha said:
First up, bring up your mix with no compression, eq, reverb, nothing, just clean unprocessed samples and synths. Now loop two bars that are full of action. Try mixing the levels by bringing up the kick first, then bass, then snare, then hats, then instruments. Save it. Now do another mix bringing things up in a different order, perhaps instruments, hats, snare, bass. Save. Compare.

Now, play a commercial CD on your system. Now mix again and try to get the levels the same. Dont worry about punch, clarity, power, ONLY levels.

Once your have a good level mix. Then you can make things clearer with eq, especially reducing lo freqs on everything but the kick and bass. Dont make them thin of course. Actually, parts CAN be thin on thier own, as long as they sound good in the mix.

After eq, compression kick bass and snare if needed. Setting can emphasise attack and percieved brightness and volume.
Click to expand...
That's an interesting tip. Most people think everything must sound optimal at their own. But sometimes it's just impossible.

Really nice tip!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top