Experimenting with raw vs processed drum recording

[yukon3000]

Lately I’ve been experimenting with recording acoustic drums at home and comparing how they feel when kept completely raw versus running them through some dirtier processing (saturation, compression, bit reduction). It’s interesting how the “clean” versions sit differently in a mix compared to the more degraded ones — almost like two different instruments.

I also tried layering in some chords from synths and electric pianos to see how they interact with both versions of the drums. The contrast ended up creating a kind of lo-fi / underground vibe I wasn’t really expecting.

Just for fun I organized the results into a few small packs and uploaded them on Gumroad under the name lostmedia.wav (free, donation-based). But mainly I’m curious:

– Do you usually prefer keeping recordings as natural as possible?
– Or do you tend to go straight into heavy processing?

Would love to hear how others here approach this balance.

[morphex]

It depends on the context, and the style of music that I’m making. I tend to like a lot of processing on drums, but I try to keep as much of the natural swing from the drummer as possible. And if the drums are sequenced via the piano roll, I’ll adjust the quantizing for a more natural feel.

I’ve noticed that transients tend to be the first element of a drum mix that starts to disappear with a lot of effects. I have a few different options that I use to make sure that I retain an edge that cuts through.

Mr Bill’s Slap by Yum-Audio, and both Articulate and Punctuate by Newfangled Audio are some of the tools that I have for managing transients in a dense mix.

If I’m working on progressive house or other forms of dance music, then I’ll keep the timing a bit tighter. I’ll focus more on creative processing techniques that add some character, and a dramatic twist to engage the listener.

Infiltrator 2, BEAM 2, Enrage, and Synestia are some of my favorite multi-effects that work really well on drums. Each plug-in is capable of radically transforming drum loops (or anything else for that matter) into rhythmic ecstasy.