KVR Mix Workshop - Week 4: Drum Kit

[p356]

When you say use saturation to crush the transients of the toms (slightly noob question alert), that's like adding some warm distortion, right. Isn't that what saturation does? Need to know as my toms are always boxy (don't know what to do except turn down lows and some mids).

Larry

[Kim Lajoie]

When you say use saturation to crush the transients of the toms (slightly noob question alert), that's like adding some warm distortion, right. Isn't that what saturation does? Need to know as my toms are always boxy (don't know what to do except turn down lows and some mids).

Larry

Saturation can often be like warm distortion, but not always! Sometimes it's quite harsh. Sometimes there's a compression-like response as well. Usually there's also a shift in tonal balance. The exact behaviour depends entirely on the sound you're processing and the device you're saturating.

If your toms are boxy, you might need to boost the lows and scoop the mids and lower mids. Then again, boxy toms aren't always a bad thing.

-Kim.

[No_Use]

Kill the transient of toms?!

Sweet, I definitely just learned something. I tend to do the opposite, and rarely like my tom sounds.

For me, the key characteristic that makes toms so awesome is their boom. It's how they speak (wheras the snare is all about the crack, and the kick about the thud). So if you're emphasising the transient of the toms, you're also de-emphasising the body. At an extreme, you could boost the tranisent so much that they aren't much mroe than a snap, which eats massive headroom (because short sounds are quieter, psychoacoustically, which means you have to turn them up more to get the same perceived volume) and simultaneously makes you turn them down because they're spiking out of the mix (which, of course, also turns down the body of the sound).


-Kim.

I also tended to do the opposite. Wow. Great insight.
Thanks for this.

[Optomadic]

I added some subtle (stereo) room reverb and compression. The reverb adds a little air around the drum kit - without it the drums sound a little like they're being played in a vacuum. It helps the kit sit better in the mix, making it less obvious that they're samples. The compression adds just a little shaping and "glue" to bring the kit together a bit. Usually I wait until the mix is almost complete before doing this though - it's very difficult to judge the correct amount before the rest of the tracks are in place. Reverb settings are particularly troublesome - sometimes a longer bright room is appropriate, sometimes a short dark "deep" room sounds better, but I never know this until close to the end. Often the right reverb will sound quite wrong when the kit is played in isolation, but it does the right thing in the rest of the mix. What I'm saying is - send the drum kit to a group now, not don't add any plugins to that group. Just keep it in the back of your head for now.
-Kim.

This is very useful as a reminder !

[damonvargas]

Hey Kim, i have a question regarding drum processing. I am using EZ drummer for my drums. AS you probably know, their sounds are minimally processed already. Also, you may choose to put a 'Room sound' on the drums if you want. My Question is: Will that room sound work fine for the reverb you recommend to put on the drums or should i use a separate 'Reverb plug-in" on the drums???
My 2nd question is: Should i still put a little compression on the overall kit as you recommend? Even though these sounds are already processed a bit..
So far in my mixes these drums seem to be a little to 'in your face' sounding. I need them to sit back a little but still be strong in the mix & this may have something to do with the 'Reverb & Compresing" setting that you are recommending.
Plz give me your recommendations,
thanx,

[Arglebargle]

I think its better to leave toms uncompressed. Like Kim said it's often better not to have a sharp transient on them.

[Kim Lajoie]

Hey Kim, i have a question regarding drum processing. I am using EZ drummer for my drums. AS you probably know, their sounds are minimally processed already. Also, you may choose to put a 'Room sound' on the drums if you want. My Question is: Will that room sound work fine for the reverb you recommend to put on the drums or should i use a separate 'Reverb plug-in" on the drums???

You'll have to try both and see what sound you prefer.

My 2nd question is: Should i still put a little compression on the overall kit as you recommend? Even though these sounds are already processed a bit..

Group compression is different to track compression. It makes each drum react to the dynamics of all the other drums. Again, whether this is a sound you want is something you have to make up your own mind about. I've provided instructions on how I got the drum sound in Flesh And Bone, and examples of how subtle drum group reverb and compression affects the sound.

Whether this is useful for your sound is up to you.

So far in my mixes these drums seem to be a little to 'in your face' sounding. I need them to sit back a little but still be strong in the mix & this may have something to do with the 'Reverb & Compresing" setting that you are recommending.

If you want to push your drums a little further back in the mix, try some of these techniques.

-Kim.