Hardest Hitting Drums

qblok89

New member
Whats the best way to achieve the hardest hitting drums through parallel compression or Eq with Compression?
 
hardest hitting drums is pretty vague, do you want them to be very loud or just cut through the mix or are you talking about your BD's hitting harder on a sub or whatcha mean?
 
Yeah "hardest hitting drums" is a little too vague. You can make drums really loud, really punchy, but each of those has its own drawbacks to the rest of the mix. I assume what you want is stuff that cuts through the mix well, that means understanding where each drum stands in the frequency spectrum. By cutting out specific spaces for your drums to sit using EQ they become much more punchy (you hear the initial slap better, often referred to as the transients). This takes time to learn how to do it well, first you want to make sure you have your "go-to" EQ that you know in and out, use that as often as possible so that you get to know it as best as you can. Parallel compression can work really well for this too but it can quickly get out of control (your drums sound insane but getting the rest of the mix on par can be difficult) so I would use that experimentally at first, rely more so on really good EQ techniques. Also ducking the track (or at least competing frequencies) with the kick especially can help it cut through. Ducking is where you set a compressor that acts on the rest of the track (side-chain compressor) based off when the kick drum comes in, quickly compressing the rest of it for a brief second (fast attack / fast release) then bringing the levels back up, allowing the slap of the kick to artificially cut through the mix with less EQ needed.
 
Ok please any engineer i have tried to many damn methods and i need this to achieve the sound i want. Here is how i want my bass to sound. **** the artist and the video just listen to the BEAT and help a brother out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD3xowIXjAA

I've been gone mad. I've came close but the 808 isn't wide enough or distorted enough it sounds dull, now this is my latest mix where i've come close. Everything is neat and mixed real well but the 808 just simply is dry to me doesn't scratch my speakers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABOmBMH9Xlo&list=UUCknxvHrRe8aojmP-NtVTbA&index=1

What i did on my track was no compression on ANY individual track just the master fader(Compression and EQ. I EQ'd and panned a few instruments. But you can see im close to that sound just not the 808 rumble so can anyone help with this it's a necessity. I have about 5 beats that NEED this sound for my up coming project to give that feel so please help.
 
adding some saturation can help and eq
that's what I do but I don't go by a rule book
but do use a template to start all my beats



-Coach Antonio
 
Just turn all your instruments down a little bit if you want your drums to be perceived as louder.

Agree with this, mix the stuff you dont want standing out low instead of trying to bring up the stuff you do want to stand out. Also am not a big fan of compression on drums in general, better results without it in my opinion.
 
Agree with this, mix the stuff you dont want standing out low instead of trying to bring up the stuff you do want to stand out. Also am not a big fan of compression on drums in general, better results without it in my opinion.

How is that though?
Seems like people preach compression when it comes to drum sounds...
What is it you do instead, or what's your reasoning for this? just curious?
 
EQ and compression are your best friends. also , you want to make sure all your other instruments are leveled properly, as it might be that even though your kicks are mixed properly, the rest of your instruments aren't or they're just too loud or some shit.
 
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