Making space for drums...

[AdamWathan]

This is something I really struggle with, everything seems to be fighting for space and my drum tracks end up getting buried... Here's an example of a recent mix, any advice..?

http://www.blindthevisionary.com/aftertheinvasion/song3june25.mp3

 

[Matthias King]

The drums don't sound particularly buried to me, but if you feel like they are, one really easy thing that you shouldn't be afraid to do is select every track except the drum tracks and turn them down 1-2dB. If the mix sounds good to you, with the exception of the drums being a little quiet, then it's easy to fix. Just turn everything else down a little bit.

Another thing you can do is tweak the EQ on your tracks to make room for the drums a bit more. This can be tricky because as you do it, you may lose something you liked from the sound of the tracks you're EQ'ing to make room for drums, so you have to be very careful and methodical and never forget the "undo" function if you do something you don't like.

What you end up doing will really depend on critical listening, and deciding what you think is really missing. Do the drums lack punch or clarity or sparkle? Or are they simply too quiet, but otherwise fine?

Just don't take the route of "just put a compressor on everything" or you'll be chasing your tail, wondering why everything sounds dull and lifeless.

 

[16S]

Yeah i think the drums are lost a little bit. The vox really dominate on this track. I think the drums could come up a tad and vox down slightly.

My problem is making space for toms - how do make space for toms (without killing bass and guitar lows...)??

 

[Moonlight_Seeker]

Well that "funkyish" beat during the verses, the snare does not seem very tight. And during the solo the snare is not tight at all. I would work on that before wondering about EQ and stuff. And the whole drum seems very dry but I guess it fits the punkish style. But when the drummer does the more "regular beat" I can hear all I need to hear.

 

[AdamWathan]

Cheers thanks guys. I think a lot of it has to do with the drum performance, the dude drags his stick after every snare hit so there is no sharp crack to it, like he leaves the stick on the head all the time when he isn't playing, left me with a lot of really messy snare parts. Maybe I'll try 100% replacement and see if it helps. It's not quantized or anything though and I can't quantize now that all the guitars/vocals are done :/ Not sure how 100% replaced drums will sound over a sloppy performance. Guess the only way to find out is to try it!

 

[Unavailable]

It's not quantized or anything though and I can't quantize now that all the guitars/vocals are done :/ Not sure how 100% replaced drums will sound over a sloppy performance. Guess the only way to find out is to try it!

You could, but it's a pain in the ass.

With this music I'd try not to replace if I didn't have to, but if he drags his sticks, it might be unavoidable.

 

[Moonlight_Seeker]

Meh, I guess one thing to think about would be to have 2 snare settings, one for that sloppy funkyish beat and one for the quite less sloppy regular punkish beat. I would make the funkyish snare much less dry and perhaps do something with the guitars cuz now things might feel weird. Dunno my brain is not entirely in my sole possession right now. :Smokedev:

 

[Fox Mulder]

Cheers thanks guys. I think a lot of it has to do with the drum performance, the dude drags his stick after every snare hit so there is no sharp crack to it, like he leaves the stick on the head all the time when he isn't playing, left me with a lot of really messy snare parts. Maybe I'll try 100% replacement and see if it helps. It's not quantized or anything though and I can't quantize now that all the guitars/vocals are done :/ Not sure how 100% replaced drums will sound over a sloppy performance. Guess the only way to find out is to try it!

Unless there's some out-of-time leakage of the kick/snare/blah in the oh mics you can go ahead with it. If there are some, you can edit the crap out of it and then sample replace everything.

If you're feeling scared you may give me a buzz. I just did that to a whole osdm EP. Took me 8hrs per track. Total of 5 tracks Cut up every transient of the hihat/oh mics and replaced.