Why Do Dr Dre's Drums Sound Louder Than Everything Else

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It isn't rocket science - 3 band compressor and limiter.


I run my drums through a hardware unit - the Zoom RFX 2200

It has a mixdown bank with 4 band PEQ and 3 Band compressor. When the drums come out they sound juicy, fat and snappy and basically run through the mix like a wreckin ball through a wall.
 
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Sparrow said:
It isn't rocket science - 3 band compressor and limiter.


I run my drums through a hardware unit - the Zoom RFX 2200

It has a mixdown bank with 4 band PEQ and 3 Band compressor. When the drums come out they sound juicy, fat and snappy and basically run through the mix like a wreckin ball through a wall.
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Not everyone uses compressors. I don't. Not saying what I use is right. Just saying there is no right. Just what gives the best finished quality. Alot of engineers advise to stay away from Multiband compressors.
 
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deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
Not everyone uses compressors. I don't. Not saying what I use is right. Just saying there is no right. Just what gives the best finished quality. Alot of engineers advise to stay away from Multiband compressors.
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what engineer would say to stay away from a type of compressor that can be contolled for high, mid or low end sound balancing, ie more mix controll over the sound?

Thats just dumb.


As for drums, sometimes the simpleist answer is the right one, yeah there are many ways to skin a cat, but why not just use the easiest way. apply a PEQ to them, listen to sound, watch the levels, when you have that then compress them and turn them up or down in the mix as needed.


For more snap in the snares add a hi pass filter, and to add more thump on the kicks dial up the semitones a bit.


Not saying Im master of mixing here, Im not at all, but it seems people try to make this out to be harder than what it is.
 
Well no, the easiest way would is to use drums that you don't need to run through a load of process.
 
noblewordz said:
Well no, the easiest way would is to use drums that you don't need to run through a load of process.
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Let me know when you find that magic kit will you. It would be like finding the Holy Grail.

All drums will have to be "processed" in many ways if they are going to appear with other instruments in a digital song sequence that will end up as a final master.

For them to stand out they will likely need to be "processed" even more than usual to add character and punch, but I assume you must know of some drum kit that mixes itself with artifical intelligence.

If so, my wallet is open and Im ready to pay. Wheres the download file at? Is it on alien servers?
 
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Its called sound selection. You pick sounds that work well together. Good sounds good sounds out. Reason drums all the big keyboard drums are professionally made. But dudes would rather use a bunch of off the net kits that are already compressed, and hey compress them b!tches some more.

The last track I made I didn't have to do more than pan my drums. If you have to process every sample you have, your using the wrong drums.

Thats as far as I'm going to go if all your going to reply with is a sarcastic comment. Keep compressing, I could give a flying fluck.
 
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yea, only thing im really working witha good bit of compression on is my low end,bass and kick. The rest of my sounds, i might add a lil reverb or delay, but thats it
 
noblewordz said:
Its called sound selection. You pick sounds that work well together. Good sounds good sounds out. Reason drums all the big keyboard drums are professionally made. But dudes would rather use a bunch of off the net kits that are already compressed, and hey compress them b!tches some more.

The last track I made I didn't have to do more than pan my drums. If you have to process every sample you have, your using the wrong drums.

Thats as far as I'm going to go if all your going to reply with is a sarcastic comment. Keep compressing, I could give a flying fluck.
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stop assuming - none of my kits are "free" or from the internet.

Hell, I don't even own software. Not one shred of it. Everything I use is hardware, from sequencers, to synths, to effects boxes to sound modules etc.

and like I said, if you think your kicks and snares sound good to YOU then fine, but the fact is without adding a high end boost like a compressor there is no way they can stand out in the mix the way that Dr Dre makes them stand out (which is what this thread is about) unless you have your other instruments turned down to very low, and what is the point of that.

You are trying to make us all believe that making your drums stand out is as simple as panning? Quite simply, you are a moron if you want us to believe that, either that or you just don't know what you are doing.

No one will buy or use a beat like that unless they are making a kids nightime bedtime CD.
 
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now as much as im down with you noble, and you too derranged, i have to agree with sparrow on this one. Ive tried using straight shots from reason, no compression, no eq, and it just wasnt cutting it, i even layered like 3 kicks. Nowadays, after studying compression, and eq, i can make some pretty nice drums now, and i could not do it w/o my good buddies compression and eq
 
the thing is its really not needed.. though

very slight compression...

its not necessary

when u say COMPRESSION.. it leads to people OVERCOMPRESSING there tracks.. which makes em sound like crunchy crap..

panning, eq, and slight compression.. very very very slight.. i actually dont use compression at all on some drums..
 
Sparrow said:
stop assuming - none of my kits are "free" or from the internet.

Hell, I don't even own software. Not one shred of it. Everything I use is hardware, from sequencers, to synths, to effects boxes to sound modules etc.

and like I said, if you think your kicks and snares sound good to YOU then fine, but the fact is without adding a high end boost like a compressor there is no way they can stand out in the mix the way that Dr Dre makes them stand out (which is what this thread is about) unless you have your other instruments turned down to very low, and what is the point of that.

You are trying to make us all believe that making your drums stand out is as simple as panning? Quite simply, you are a moron if you want us to believe that, either that or you just don't know what you are doing.

No one will buy or use a beat like that unless they are making a kids nightime bedtime CD.
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All hardware runs software, its just dedicated. Unless your equipment is run by little pixies, then its another story.

Your not listening to what I'm saying, having good drums isn't all about the drums alone its about what else is going on its about picking sounds that compliment your other instruments. Its why recording 50 years old still sound good, because they knew good instrumentation and how to properly play the music.

Good quality sounds from reputable company, good sequencing and good playing is going to get you a lot further than anything else.

Believe what you want. No need to be insulting.
 
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noblewordz said:
All hardware runs software, its just dedicated. Unless your equipment is run by little pixies, then its another story.

Your not listening to what I'm saying, having good drums isn't all about the drums alone its about what else is going on its about picking sounds that compliment your other instruments. Its why recording 50 years old still sound good, because they knew good instrumentation and how to properly play the music.

Good quality sounds from reputable company, good sequencing and good playing is going to get you a lot further than anything else.

Believe what you want. No need to be insulting.
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Yeah dude, I didn't know that hardware has operating systems, wow, thanks for that. You knew what I meant. I don't own a single daw or plug in for Mac or windows, and less than one percent of my time is spent with a mouse.


as far as sounds 20-50 years ago do you know why their stuff sounded so good. 1. It was live instrumentation 2. It was made on analogue gear - ie expensive tapes.

In the digital era it requires a little something more to make you drums smack like Dr Dre's <which is the point of the thread>.



you still miss it
 
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Sparrow said:
what engineer would say to stay away from a type of compressor that can be contolled for high, mid or low end sound balancing, ie more mix controll over the sound?

Thats just dumb.
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I won't adress any other craziness that was said in this thread, but I'll definetely adress this.

Most real seasoned veteran engineers only use Multiband Compression when they have a stereo track that's too screwed up to fix by any other means, or when they want the sound of an MBC to be present(which is very rarely). There's tons of cleaner ways around situations than Multiband compression. Chaining in EQ and a regular Compressor usually does a much better job. As a producer, you have access to all your sounds tracked out, so the tool is absolutely unnessesary.

MBC's are harsh on audio to say the least. Once brought into the mix incorrectly, they're one of the hardest things to correct(say someone wants to use your beat right then, and all they have is a CD with the track on it).

Professionals rarely use MBC's, but companies who make them will convince consumers they're the industries best kept secret the same way KRK convinces you RP5s are "industry standard monitors".


Again, there are acceptions to every rule. There are a few pros out there that can get amazing sound out of an MBC and include them in their arsenal regularly. But most avoid them whenever possible. If I had to throw out an educated guest, I'd say maybe 1 out of 20 pros who know what they're doing rely on MBCs regularly for mastering, and even less for mixing.

I'm sure there's tons of net stuff on the subject if you can get pass all the B.S. hype. Same B.S. hype they put behing Compressing drums, Paralell compression(mind you we're now in the digital age) and a million other "urban Mixing Myths". If RZA never said he compressed drums, you guys would realize how much vol & pan does matter in a mix. It makes no since to only put compression on a kick. Now if you chain all of your lower sounds thru the same Compressor(Bass, Kick, toms maybe, ect.)you may get some interesting results, but if you wanna talk tweaking, f**k a compressor, at least learn enough to know adjusting/cutting frequencies will take you way further. I rarely do that, but at least that will actually filter out the lows or whatever you want to bring out of your mix.

I'm game tho, somebody post a clearer beat than the ones I posted using your methods?
 
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deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
I won't adress any other craziness that was said in this thread, but I'll definetely adress this.

Most real seasoned veteran engineers only use Multiband Compression when they have a stereo track that's too screwed up to fix by any other means, or when they want the sound of an MBC to be present(which is very rarely). There's tons of cleaner ways around situations than Multiband compression. Chaining in EQ and a regular Compressor usually does a much better job. As a producer, you have access to all your sounds tracked out, so the tool is absolutely unnessesary.

MBC's are harsh on audio to say the least. Once brought into the mix incorrectly, they're one of the hardest things to correct(say someone wants to use your beat right then, and all they have is a CD with the track on it).

Professionals rarely use MBC's, but companies who make them will convince consumers they're the industries best kept secret the same way KRK convinces you RP5s are "industry standard monitors".


Again, there are acceptions to every rule. There are a few pros out there that can get amazing sound out of an MBC and include them in their arsenal regularly. But most avoid them whenever possible. If I had to throw out an educated guest, I'd say maybe 1 out of 20 pros who know what they're doing rely on MBCs regularly for mastering, and even less for mixing.

I'm sure there's tons of net stuff on the subject if you can get pass all the B.S. hype. Same B.S. hype they put behing Compressing drums, Paralell compression(mind you we're now in the digital age) and a million other "urban Mixing Myths". If RZA never said he compressed drums, you guys would realize how much vol & pan does matter in a mix. It makes no since to only put compression on a kick. Now if you chain all of your lower sounds thru the same Compressor(Bass, Kick, toms maybe, ect.)you may get some interesting results, but if you wanna talk tweaking, f**k a compressor, at least learn enough to know adjusting/cutting frequencies will take you way further. I rarely do that, but at least that will actually filter out the lows or whatever you want to bring out of your mix.

I'm game tho, somebody post a clearer beat than the ones I posted using your methods?
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good post and to clarify, I dont use it in the mix. I use it whe nIm building a drum kit patch only. In the mix I use 4 band EQ and a single compression unit.


all hardware like I said.


Your post is fairly accurate as far as mixing and mastering for the entire sound goes though. i can definately tell you know your shyt.
 
Interesting talk about multiband compressors. I only use it on some of my instruments. Never on kicks. It all just comes down to theory and if u have the ear
 
General rule about compression. Only use it when needed. Especially on drums it squeezes the lows out of the sound
 
because he uses a mixing technique that allows the bass drum to be the focal point of the track.

I use the same technique when I'm mixing/mastering..

A_Eberts said:
yeah and you buyed those plugins

:cry::cry::cry:
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"bought"

and agreed.

co-sign
 
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deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
I'm sure there's tons of net stuff on the subject if you can get pass all the B.S. hype. Same B.S. hype they put... Paralell compression(mind you we're now in the digital age) and a million other "urban Mixing Myths".
Click to expand...

would u mind explaining why paralell compression isn't necessary in the digital age?
 
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