any advice on these raw drums?

[bryan_kilco]

Second time recording a full band (our own) and took some time (trying to) make the drums sound best with what we have. Kit is a Peal Export, not sure of exact dimensions and all that...but if you guys could give me a few pointers on this that'd be awesome.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6443251/Drum Mix Test 1.mp3

Mics were:

SM57 on snare top and 3 toms
Beta 52 on kick
SM58 on snare bottom
C02 condensers

Pardon the rough mix, just did it quick here off a shitty computer speaker and this track is just the drummer jamming by himself while I was setting levels. Some reverb on snares and H/L Pass on about everything except toms. Slight eq on kick and snare. Thinking about blending a sample with the kick...but that's sorta new to me. I also (tried to) parallel compressed. Any feedback is welcome.

 

[RevoltStudios]

Dunno if the mix is what you want pointers on but here it goes....cut around 500 hz on the kick and possibly snare to taste. Gets rid of that boxy sound. Bring the OH's down and comp the fudge outta the snare with a quick release to make it pop. Kick with some EQ'ing shouldn't be a problem really. Just too much OH really.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Thanks! Kick still sounds boxy...hard to get rid of it. When I try to replace it with a sample it just sounds funny, and I dont know about multisampling quite yet. I added comp to the snares and they sound sweet. I have 8-9 db boost around 6kHz though that seems unnatural but helps the snare crack.

I just wanted to hear some of your guys' opinions on the raw tracks. I have one question about overheads....should I be making the record input in Reaper stereo or mono, since they are stereo condensers? Or do I just do one mono track for each overhead?

Is it normal to master the drums as a group, then record guitars etc? Or just let them sit in the mix and master everything as a whole?

 

[Morgan C]

Highpass your OHs at 5-600hz if this is for metal. That's #1. They don't sound great and are drowning out the closemic sounds, which you can replace or augment with samples to drastically improve the sound you've got.