Drums in the Mix question
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Posted on Sep 14, 2006 12:18 pm
mclir9
www.witchsmark.com
Member Since: Aug 13, 2006
Howdy all,
When we record we record with 7 drum MICS(Snare, Tom 1-3, Overhead lft & rght, and kick) After we record the other instruments (Vocals, keyboards, guitar and bass) giving a total of around 11-15 tracks when all is recorded. What is the best way to begin mixing these tracks as far as the drums are concerned... should I mix down the drums first and get them sounding good as a whole, and then mix the rest of the instruments with a mixed down drum track, or should I keep the 7 tracks of drums individual and mix ALL(11-15) tracks together??
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pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Sep 14, 2006 12:27 pm I'd mix them together first, adding eq and comp where needed. Then send all the drums tracks to a group, then you can adjust the group level, and all the percussion will change together. Adjust this group level against the rest of the instruments/vox.
Also, you can add another layer of compression, EQ or whatever to the group bus, thereby tightening the drum sound somewhat.
I wouldn't mix the ind drum tracks down to stereo, unless I'm running out of CPU power, and need to add more effects. Chances are, you'll re-adjust the ind drum levels after you get a good mix of everything, and the back and forth can be tedious.
my .02$us
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
Sep 14, 2006 01:24 pm ----I'd mix them together first, adding eq and comp where needed. Then send all the drums tracks to a group, then you can adjust the group level, and all the percussion will change together. Adjust this group level against the rest of the instruments/vox.----
When you say Group here, are you talking about a Bus??
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Sep 14, 2006 01:49 pm I think that's the same thing, just different name. You can control multiple individual tracks, with one main channel.
I've gotten into the habit of thinking of a bus as a signal channel in mixers, like the sub out bus. I guess some software use that term for a group of channels.
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Sep 14, 2006 03:20 pm I mix all my drums and route em through 2 busses, 1 for main volume and then another buss with 100% drumplate reverb. I use the sends on each drum track and adjust the volume accordingly (snare send is much higher than kick for instance). Once I have that up and running I mix in the bass guitar so that it matches well with the kick.
That way if I run into the bass or kick being drowned out later I can be almost sure it is the guitars or vox crowding them and not one another.
p.s. I have actually used the "Izotope Ozone 3" on the drum vol buss with great results. After I get the mix where I like it I apply this plugin and use one of their drum presets, it warms up, cleans up, and brightens em to taste. And oh yeah, I never mix my drums down to stereo unless I'm really happy with the sound, plan on making loops with em, or for online collaboration.
my .02
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Sep 14, 2006 03:22 pm Grrr.... dbl posted, sorry guys.
Sep 14, 2006 03:42 pm I almost bought Ozone Three "just for" my drum tracks, I liked the demo so much. As soon as I'm over the finacial pummeling I took buying some Waves stuff, I just might. :)
As far as drum mixing goes, I personally get them to sound good together as a whole, then mix in the bass, make eq adjustments, then on to the guitar and so on. It just seems to make it easier to scoop out the frequencies that are interfering with each other.
I always end up doing some tweaking once the instruments come in, of course, but usually just with the snare or kick.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Sep 14, 2006 09:39 pm miclr9, the best advie I can give you to get good control is to indeed mix your drums seprately to get them sounding as good as you can on their own. Then if your DAW has bussing options assing them all to a single buss and then you can control the over all level of the entire kit with one fader. If not maybe it has a grouping option with which you can group all the faders together to be controlled by just moving one fader and they all move together.
I do this for all instrument groups.
