A question regarding mixing toms and recording samples

[acappa]

Heya you all!
I have two questions for ya:

1. How do you mix toms (jajaja): what I use to do, is:
- I gated and miximized them in Soundforge with L2, to get all the peaks at 0.
- Eq´ed them separately, usually scoop some mids in 400-600 area and hi pass in 90 Hz. Then I send them to a bus.
- In the bus I put BBE Maximizer, Compressor from Liquid mix and a L2 (only brickwall)

This is all I do, and I wonder what´s you chain.

2. I´d like to record some samples from my drummer´s gear, a Mapex Pro. I do have a FMP PB6 compresor, BBE maximizer hardware and some mikes. When you record samples, do you use a compressor, or later on mixing?? Don´t know exactly which mikes will make the work better, I guess Audix i5 for snare and rack toms, and Beta52 Replica for bass drum and floor toms. I have also a 57 replica.

Well I wish you could help me!! Thanksssssss

 

[ruckus328]

Don't ever use a compressor on your input. If you do then you're stuck with it. Don't like how much you compressed it when you listen to it the next day, ohh well tough s$!t....... lol

You can always compress afterwards.

My 2 cents.

 

[acappa]

thanks for replying!

 

[ahjteam]

my signal path is usually only mic -> preamp -> DAW -> cleanup (manual silence removal) -> gate -> eq -> comp -> limiter -> reverb (send)

http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/bigtoms.mp3

 

[darthjujuu]

+1 for hand-gating. every project. does not take that long at all. i can get it done in like... 85% of the real-time play length of the entire project. helps a TON. no need to waste time tinkering with gates that still eff up on some hits

 

[jval]

sounds like you're doing a bunch of stuff without really knowing what's going on...

stop hi-passing at 90
and stop L2ing your toms.

sometimes 300-400 is good to cut but try a huge cut around 800 or 900, and boost 100ish (depends on size of tom)

 

[nwright]

mic > pre > DAW > manually strip silence/gate > sample blend/replace (if needed) > comp > eq > aux send to FX track for reverb

(also, I group the toms with the kick and snare on a drum buss that has an aux send to parallel comp.)

 

[::XeS::]

OT
Do you manually strip silence also in the snare tracks?

 

[nwright]

OT
Do you manually strip silence also in the snare tracks?

I do not. I do not gate the snare either (well, I haven't had to yet). I try to position the mic to get good enough rejection of the HH's and rest of the kit to avoid it. Since I've just recently been able to track in decent spaces, in the past I often augmented snare tracks with samples, so the need to gate isn't as big.

I have gated the bottom snare mic in the past, but I did it more to control the "rattling snares" sound because the dude had the snares too loose.

 

[acappa]

sounds like you're doing a bunch of stuff without really knowing what's going on...

stop hi-passing at 90
and stop L2ing your toms.

sometimes 300-400 is good to cut but try a huge cut around 800 or 900, and boost 100ish (depends on size of tom)

What´s the issue in hipassing in 90 Hz?? I thought there´s nothing interesting in the "boom" from below 90 Hz, I have no intention of making frequencies from floor tom and bass drum collide. Anyway, it isn´t a good cut for a rack tom??

And what´s the problem in L2ing toms? Don´t really want to make a discussion, just to understand those negatives, thanks!

 

[denizdurdag]

Muting the bottom snare track while tom hits helps a lot.

 

[jval]

What´s the issue in hipassing in 90 Hz?? I thought there´s nothing interesting in the "boom" from below 90 Hz, I have no intention of making frequencies from floor tom and bass drum collide. Anyway, it isn´t a good cut for a rack tom??

And what´s the problem in L2ing toms? Don´t really want to make a discussion, just to understand those negatives, thanks!

I think even smaller toms have some useful low end down there. I wouldn't hi pass above 60 or 70. Floor toms usually sound good boosting around 80.... just gate your toms, they are not hitting with the kick drum so you don't have to worry about freqs colliding. of course it all depends on size of tom and tuning, but take a narrow boost and sweep it around the low end to see where the boom really is before cutting anything out.

Limiting drums, especially with an L2, will kill all of the attack.

 

[acappa]

I think even smaller toms have some useful low end down there. I wouldn't hi pass above 60 or 70. Floor toms usually sound good boosting around 80.... just gate your toms, they are not hitting with the kick drum so you don't have to worry about freqs colliding. of course it all depends on size of tom and tuning, but take a narrow boost and sweep it around the low end to see where the boom really is before cutting anything out.

Limiting drums, especially with an L2, will kill all of the attack.

Understood, thanks!

 

[Line Level Recordings]

hey man

dont compress toms
if there are some tiny / rare hits
loop that LOWEST volume hit only ( yea it will be annoying to listen to while doing this technique)
and put your fader up untill its as loud AS IT HAS TO BE FOR THE MIX
and automate all the other hits to match the volume of the lowest hit
but if your mixing fake or real toms, always automate each hit to me louder then lower

for example: hit1: -4db hit2: -5/6 db hit3: 4db hit4: -5/6db

and once your done that
if its not loud enough
your toms might not be loud enough
use a light limiter

 

[Metaltastic]

You should NEVER need to use a limiter simply to make an individual track louder, just turn down all your faders simultaneously to give you more headroom (most DAW's allow you to do this while preserving the volume ratio between them) and turn up the volume knob to your monitors

 

[AEL89]

"Don't compress toms" when you don't need to compress toms. Yes, automate as you usually would. If they need compressing - compress them. I like a high ratio and slow attack and very slow release to really fatten them up. Sometimes I won't compress or I might just compress to just bring out the transient a little. Whatever's needed.

I always cut out bleed by hand though. It can take a while but it gets rid of the resonance caused by other drums and helps if you do compress.

 

[beyond dead]

I automate out bleed by hand. i usually use a bit of compression to kill some overtones if it needs it. sometimes i use parallel compression on the tom bus as well. blending with samples helps with lower quality kits, or older skins.

 

[KeithRT99]

I do not. I do not gate the snare either (well, I haven't had to yet). I try to position the mic to get good enough rejection of the HH's and rest of the kit to avoid it. Since I've just recently been able to track in decent spaces, in the past I often augmented snare tracks with samples, so the need to gate isn't as big.

I have gated the bottom snare mic in the past, but I did it more to control the "rattling snares" sound because the dude had the snares too loose.

same here.

At most, i slap an expander on the snare and toms with maybe 6-8dB of reduction when the sound is below the threshold. The only thing i ever gate hard is kick, and most of the time there's not enough bleed to warrant it. sometimes though if there's alot of bleed, i will strip silence ( or manually cut) the noise and apply fades to the tom hits, if the bleed is too much i will lay a sample on it.

Also, don't listen to what these people say about never this or that. there's no rules in my opinion, just be careful how you do things like compression to tape. The only exception i can think of is don't gate to tape.

 

[Line Level Recordings]

Also, don't listen to what these people say about never this or that. there's no rules in my opinion, just be careful how you do things like compression to tape. The only exception i can think of is don't gate to tape.

agreed
im just trying to share some advice