How much additional mixing do you do outside EZdrummer mixer?

[Stephan_8]

Sometimes I feel like it’s redundant to mess with what comes out of EZdrummer with additional processing in our DAW. I’m using Pro Tools and I recently noticed I didn’t have to do much, if anything, to shape my drum sounds within the DAW, applying things like reverb, delay, eq, etc. It seems that, unlike Superior Drummer, EZdrummer sounds are already mixed, and all we really have to do is find the drum sounds that fit our tracks, balance the levels with the rest of the instruments, and we’ve got our mix. Could it be it’s as easy as that?

Topic

[Scott]

Mixing is…mixing. It is combining sounds together (drums, bass, guitars, keys, vocals, whatever else). The geniuses at Toontrack, however brilliant they are, have no way of knowing what instrumentation you are using when ‘mixing’ the EZD2 drums. They can’t hear your bass to make their kickdrum ‘fit’. They don’t know how your guitars sound to mix their EZD snare ‘fit’ in your mix.

So, yes, if you feel it necessary, you should mix the premixed EZD2 sounds to fit your mix. If not, that’s ok too.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Stephan_8]

@Scott said:
Mixing is…mixing. It is combining sounds together (drums, bass, guitars, keys, vocals, whatever else). The geniuses at Toontrack, however brilliant they are, have no way of knowing what instrumentation you are using when ‘mixing’ the EZD2 drums. They can’t hear your bass to make their kickdrum ‘fit’. They don’t know how your guitars sound to mix their EZD snare ‘fit’ in your mix.

So, yes, if you feel it necessary, you should mix the premixed EZD2 sounds to fit your mix. If not, that’s ok too.  

Oh, sure. I was just curious to know how much further mixing do you guys (anybody reading this) do… I wasn’t asking about advice about a specific mix I’m working on.

I wonder if some of the more experienced users just leave it the way EZdrummer is or tweak only in the EZD2 mixer. Sometimes I feel like I overproduce things by mixing it with the EZD2 mixer, then doing more mixing work outside it, in Pro Tools.

[David George]

I route all of the mixer’s tracks to separate tracks in my DAW (Pro Tools) and mix those as I would any other instrument. I tend not to make changes in the EZD2 mixer: I leave that as given and make the changes in the DAW.

I agree with Scott 100%. Context is everything.

[Nicholas DiFabbio]

Well said Scott, and why I feel I need to cross grade

[David George]

Actually, one aspect that I almost always change in EZD2 is the velocity (I turn it down quite a bit).

[Author]

Replies