First time using SSD4 Essentials: Dead Bread mixoff.

[Erik Monsonis]

Hi all!!

It's been a reeeeeeeeally long time since I had the chance to mix something, and in this case as I'm at my parents' place right now, I don't have my setup, so I had to work with the SSD4 Essential pack that I just grabbed from AudioMidi.com

So far I find it really nice for quick demos like this one, but I'm sure it can also be used in professional mixes without much tweaking.



Enjoy!

 

[exzem]

Sounds pretty damn good! Is this the sound just out of the box? Didn't realize it was just $20, that's a pretty awesome deal!

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Updated, because I'm kind of deaf and the track didn't have high-end at all...

 

[AntonioPetrole]

Sounds great! Where have you been? You were practically my amp sim hero when I first got into audio engineering lol

 

[Erik Monsonis]

University kidnapped me and put a wall of books at my door

 

[kaamosprod]

Could you give some precisions please ?

Samples used ? 100 % replaced ? Parallel compression ?

I found the drum sound awesome for just a demo...

 

[HollowmanPL]

Nice work dude!
I'm glad you like the song!

 

[Erik Monsonis]

It's all the stock samples (I'm using my dad's laptop, so I don't have my stuff here). I never use parallel compression, just individually on snare and drum buss.

It is indeed a very nice sounding drum pack.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Goddamn I really need to get into learning more about MIDI programmed drums. Just really never had the $ to drop on Superior or any drum vsti. Been using single samples in FLStudio for years and, for what I'm recording, it works just fine. Still never got into piano roll shit, always just clicking the boxes in the Patterns and usually end up stuck on certain parts that have 6/8 feel to them or fast rolls that I just can't pull off.

 

[Erik Monsonis]

You sure have the USD 20$ for the SSD4 essentials. As I said, it's pretty good (although it's just like any other Drum VSTi, sounds like a robot if you aren't careful). I wouldn't say it's better than Superior 2, but it sounds less familiar, which contributes to the authentic feel.

For instance, if you hear Soen's album, it sounds totally programmed, but just because we're damn used to hear the default kit in superior 2. If they used other sounds within the same pack it would have sounded much more "natural"

 

[bryan_kilco]

You sure have the USD 20$ for the SSD4 essentials. As I said, it's pretty good (although it's just like any other Drum VSTi, sounds like a robot if you aren't careful). I wouldn't say it's better than Superior 2, but it sounds less familiar, which contributes to the authentic feel.

For instance, if you hear Soen's album, it sounds totally programmed, but just because we're damn used to hear the default kit in superior 2. If they used other sounds within the same pack it would have sounded much more "natural"

Oh wait, I thought the SSD4 Essentials was an add-on or something?

Hmmm......

*googles*

 

[Erik Monsonis]

No, it's the cheapest Drum VSTi ever.

http://www.no-brainer.audiomidi.com/steven-slate-drums-4-essential-no-brainer.html

 

[bryan_kilco]

Hey, sorry, I'm about to buy this, but can't find any info on if these kits are just shells or cymbals too?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Oh, Essentials is just 1 drumkit? Guess the sale goes till August 31, I'm going to research this a bit but I'm pretty sure I'll be buying this to start learning midi drums and piano roll programming.

 

[Erik Monsonis]

It's one full kit: shells and cymbals. Only one of them though, with 2 kicks.

 

[bryan_kilco]

So basically what I'm hearing in your demo above is how the drums will sound? Did you program them or play them on an EKit or something?

 

[Erik Monsonis]

No, I just humanized them using the tool in Reaper. The MIDI was done by it's creator, not me.
What you hear in the demo is how the drums sounded to me after a full mixing session.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Ahh, I have played with the Humanizer thing in Reaper....it's under the MIDI editor, correct? Does it only humanize the timing, or velocity too?

 

[Mashreef]

Sounds gr8 man \m/

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Thanks!

It humanizes both velocity and/or timing. I suggest you to use timing variations of less than 3%, as it can get sloppy easily. With velocity variations, anywhere between 10-15% will do.