It was a long time ago I heard a song that was as well-balanced as this one. Nothing is screaming in my face and nothing is really too down-tempo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBn7bjy9c4U
As I am dissecting this song I am trying to understand what makes the drum pop so perfectly? What are the EQ/Mixing techniques being used?
It seems to me that the drums are from a basic kit. Or am I wrong?
DJ Snake - You know you like it (The Drums)
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 17 posts since 6 Jun, 2012
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- KVRer
- 12 posts since 31 Aug, 2015
You've probably already found out, given this was posted a month ago, but the drums in this song are mostly 808's. Maybe the hats are 909's, but they sound close enough to each other, so both would work. And the tonal kick is mixed in with a sub, probably FM, if I were to bet. I can be wrong though.
As for the mixing, to be able to have the drums cut through to clearly, you need to EQ away a lot of excess noise that's not needed. With the kickdrums, that would be almost everything above 1khz(although there are probably some "snap" tones in there that you would like to keep, which is what pierces best through the mix. It depends on the sample, but sweep a bell filter from 2khz to 5-6khz and listen to what sounds best).
an 808 snare is so snappy and thin that it'll most likely cut through just fine on it's own, but use an EQ and remove some unnecessary frequencies. (this is most important if you've sampled your own sounds though, most kits are pre-processed).
It's where you'll start filtering all the other elements in the mix that you can hear the drums coming through better.
It helps to use an EQ with spectrum enabled, so you will be able to see where the sound interferes with other important frequencies, and where that piercing "snappy" sound is. It can be hard to just know by ear in the beginning. Hope I made sense
As for the mixing, to be able to have the drums cut through to clearly, you need to EQ away a lot of excess noise that's not needed. With the kickdrums, that would be almost everything above 1khz(although there are probably some "snap" tones in there that you would like to keep, which is what pierces best through the mix. It depends on the sample, but sweep a bell filter from 2khz to 5-6khz and listen to what sounds best).
an 808 snare is so snappy and thin that it'll most likely cut through just fine on it's own, but use an EQ and remove some unnecessary frequencies. (this is most important if you've sampled your own sounds though, most kits are pre-processed).
It's where you'll start filtering all the other elements in the mix that you can hear the drums coming through better.
It helps to use an EQ with spectrum enabled, so you will be able to see where the sound interferes with other important frequencies, and where that piercing "snappy" sound is. It can be hard to just know by ear in the beginning. Hope I made sense
