How is this drum mix? Need tips!

[MarkVG]

Hey Guys,

I was wondering if this drum mix sounds good to your ears. I need some tips to further enhance the sound, and make it fit for a proper band mix.

Here it is: http://soundcloud.com/until-the-aftermath/drum-mix1

This uses the sample Electric Red from Meshuggah. I want to use this kit for Metal, and was wondering if it all translates well to other systems/people.

Kind regards,

Mark

Topic

[VOLiTiAN]

Hi buddy,

As I’m sure others will tell you, having a drum mix without the rest of the instruments there is almost counter-productive.

You’re looking for a sound that’ll work in context yet you’re not actually providing that context 🙂

Plus there’s mastering etc which will inevitably show up more issues.

Overall, not a bad sound, I think when it’s put in situ you’ll find that it’s perhaps a touch roomy and the EQ’s will need to be worked on so that individual kit parts can cut through, the most notable first port of call from my ears would be the snare, I just don’t see that cutting through with any intensity given it has very little top end…

Get some other instruments in there and go from there….

Regards

D.

www.myspace.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundclick.com/VOLiTiAN www.reverbnation.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundcloud.com/VOLiTiAN

[MarkVG]

Thanks man, appreciate it!

So it’s better to work on bass and guitar first, and then mix the drums accordingly?
Any tips on blending guitar and bass? You know, like that wall of sound (think Digital Summer, Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin etc.) I’m having some minor issues with blending the two.

Soon though, my book about mixing and mastering by Bob Katz comes in. Will be pretty useful!

Thanks again,

Mark

[Hyparxis Productions]

I realize this is a month old post but since there were no replies and I am new here I figured I would chime in and answer the questions posed here, in case the user is still in search of the answer.

Overall the drum mix you listed has good tonal quality for each “sample” however, I agree with the previous poster that it sounds a tad roomy for a heavy rock/metal mix. Alone it sounds “big” of course but once you start adding in gits, bass and vox you will find that bigness starts getting jangly.

“So it’s better to work on bass and guitar first, and then mix the drums accordingly?”

While there are no actual rules of thumb so to speak, most engineers have a certain way they start out mixes. I personally like to get all the tracks loaded up and start by getting a basic drum mix, then I add in gits, then the bass and then I add in Vox which starts to determine where everything else will sit in the mix.

I don’t spend a lot of time mixing any one instrument to start, the goal is to just get the levels in a good place on the meters (allow for headroom) then after all the tracks are in the mix I fine tune everything and work it till it sounds good. It’s not the best idea to spend a ton of time mixing an individual track independent of the mix and here’s why.

You could mix a beast sounding guitar track and then toss it into a mix and go wow… that sounds horrible and you’ve wasted all that time just to have to re-mix it. It’s best to “mix” it in context with it’s surrounding instruments so you can make it blend or pop out or whatever you are trying to accomplish with that track.

“Any tips on blending guitar and bass?”

First off you need to keep them in their respective frequencies. This battle has raged on since the dawn of gits and bass. The main issue is that git players like fat sound and assume to get said fat sound they need to crank the bottom end on their rigs which makes them start to stomp on where the bass lives in the mix. This leaves the bass player scratching his head thinking to himself… “that bottom end is what I am here for..*sigh*”

So, for the best separation use EQ’ing and/or High pass filtering on the Gits. Cut off the bottom end of gits where the bass needs to be heard. Gits don’t need to be thumping out 80hz. Where you cut depends on where the git and bass tones meet. Keep in mind that perceived loudness can be achieved through boosting the EQ in the midrange, which coincidentally is where the gits thrive. So, you can also boost a little 2kish on the git to make it sound louder without hitting the levels harder with a fader.

The trick is to not keep pushing the faders up because you’ll start clipping, so try to cut back. Keep the headroom, you can make it loud in mastering. Make it clear and crisp in the mix.

I hope this helps.

-Hyparxis

[MarkVG]

Thanks a lot man, this was the kind of thing I was looking for 🙂

Cheers!

[Author]

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