evildonkeymaster said:
Well it depends on what you are trying to get to "stick" out of the mud. If it is the snare (I keep losing it as I listen) it could be that the "room/overhead/ambient" channels (not sure what you used) are turned up too loud and the snare track is phasing out. Try flipping the phase on the snare track then solo the OH and the Snare together flip it in mono and see if it stays loud or disappears. Oh and the cymbals and/or room mics sound great man what did you use and where did you record the drums. If they are samples I am fucking nuts ha ha.
I noticed that with the snare too and would actually like it to be a bit more present, but thought it was just getting buried because of the overall dynamics of the tune, however, thanks for the tip, I'll take a listen to the phase, although when the bus I have drums going through is solo'd, there's no loss of snare.
The OH's were miced with a pair of MC012's, and recorded in a patio room at my house. I hung piano blankets to create a "room" about 15'x10', with no blankets at the face of the drums.
Also the compression on the snare may not be set to capture the snap at full volume.
I'm going to need to start playing with compression more. I find that by the time I'm done tweaking the compressor, I've destroyed the attack and sound of the instrument.
If it is the kick you want to clear up (I can hear it but if feels more like a rock kick then a metal kick) then you need to EQ it like a metal kick. Try pulling the EQ down at like 200-300 (choose a band maybe start at 250) about -15dbs at a fairly wide Q. then pull a high shelf at about 7500HZ about 10 db and finally search for the click (between 3500-8000) at a tight Q about 1 or 2 dbs above the high shelf. Now this is not a for sure setting but it is a starting place for a nice clear metal kick.
I do want the kick to sound a bit more "metal," but wasn't sure how to get there. This kit is a vintage Rogers set, so it's not "metal" to begin with. The EQ may just do it for me!
I'd like a bit more beater sound too and have a question about that. Is it common to place a mic on the beater side too so that there's a lot of that click (I know phase could be a big problem...), or is it common practice to just mic inside the kick(s) and use a sound replacer and add samples to bring in the beater, bottom end, etc.?
If it is the rumbly hum in the low end you are concerned with I am 99% sure it is the Bass. toooooo much low end on that bad ass. You can really really tell when the second riff kicks in that the bass is driving the mud. If you filter out everything but the 60-90hz range (the highest peak in db of the whole mix) 70% of it is bass 20% is kick 10% is rhythm guitars. Fix the bass and solve the boomy overall sound.
Yeah, there's rumble on the bottom end that to my ears, is causing the groove and percussiveness of the bass/kick to be lost. I'm going to do like I mentioned above and dump the modeler on the bass, then compress and EQ the direct track to see how that sounds.
Thanks for all the input!