Mixed Drums For Your Reference

[Ermz]

I was finishing off some revisions on a record mix earlier today and remembered, while checking drums, that many people tend to ask about parallel processing, how to mix room mics, how to EQ individual drums etc. etc. I thought it would be a great case in point to just take the near-finished drums on the mix, and bounce them solo'd, so those of you who need to hear stuff in action can get a leg up.

The artist on this record requested a 'radio rock' approach, in spite of the music being, at heart, a lot more metal. So what you have here is drums that are very heavily parallel & serial compressed with outboard compressors, despite the fact that they're playing a lot of double-kick.

Here are the clips:

Drums - With No Artificial Reverb

Drums - With Artificial Reverb

I'll run through some basic things done to process them.

Kick: 100% replaced. Broad sculpting EQ done with a Millennia Origin to suck out low-mids, emphasize the click and bump the subs. ~6dB of compression done with a Distressor.

Snare: ~60% replaced. EQ'd with Duende Native strip. Serial compression with a DBX 160VU, and parallel compression with Distressor.

Toms: All natural. EQ and compression with Duende Native strip. Bus compression with CLA-76, and surgical EQ with eQuality.

Overheads: Compressed with Nebula SSL 4k channel compression. EQ with eQuality and Nebula.

All drums: Parallel compressed with Overstayer Stereo Compressor. Run through multiple stages of Nebula CLC saturation. Limited with L1. Run through GSSL on the stereo bus.

Hope this is useful to someone.

 

[Skinny Viking]

just out of curiosity, info on the reverb and how it was applied?

great sounding drums man, especially what with the toms being 100% all big bush

 

[KHE]

thanks emrin! steams like this are always helpfull and educating for newbies like me

 

[FIXXXER]

this sounds so damn good!

 

[Charles J]

i like the way you compress your kicks and snares... gives them a soggyness that keeps them behind the beat a bit almost....

the style/aesthetic/level of your OH's still sits wrong with me but thats just me being me, hahahaha...

great sounds all around.

and yes, WHAT reverb and how was it applied? I'm assuming it's a mixture of a few things, very akin to what I do...

 

[Mesa4x12er]

I like how smooth and controlled these sound. I also really like how there is a lot of body while not outright sounding like it if that makes sense. Great job dude.

 

[Ermz]

As you know, that soggyness is all in the analogue, Charles. Definitely doesn't work for all occasions, but I try to get it in there whenever I can. I find the 'rounder' attacks and more aggressive release envelopes more pleasing to listen to than the very abrupt and static attack envelopes of ITB compressors. The problem is that the outboard makes the drums sound more busy. You can hear how much headroom the sustain is taking up.... puts an additional twist/challenge on mixing a record, for sure.

There was some pretty cool salvage work on the OHs in this case. You gotta hear how much I managed to un-christrape the hats in the OHs. Still quite impressed with it.

In this case it's only a single reverb on the drums. I felt I was getting enough sustain from the room and parallel compression. I think it's either a Plate or a Hall of some variety.

 

[onemorelie]

Oh I thank, that guy will release a book!

 

[ArthurD]

Can't wait for the Systematic Mixing book!

 

[Morgan C]

How much of that ring on the snare is coming from samples, how much from the natural drum? Getting a nice ring with purely sampled drums is SO hard, you really need the inconsistency of a real drum I find otherwise it gets annoying.

 

[Ermz]

Just about all of it is coming from the samples. The raw snare is quite dry sounding.

 

[domingooo]

You are really a very generous guy. I always follow your post.
Thank you!

sergio

 

[domingooo]

hey ermz... what about a superior drummer preset pack from you??? i'll buy it in a blink!

 

[C_F_H_13]

I really like the way you deal with the verb/ambience. Sounds alot more natural then alot of verb'd up drums I hear.

 

[AllanD]

Clips in a mix? I find that the kick is impossible to tell how good it sounds outside of a mix.

 

[Ermz]

I really like the way you deal with the verb/ambience. Sounds alot more natural then alot of verb'd up drums I hear.

Cheers. I do always find it bizarre when I dissect mix stems (much like the one I sent you recently) and discover how fake the verb tails sound. Suppose it blends into the mix and doesn't matter so much.

Re: The Superior preset thing. Not sure it'd be any help to people. I process drums using external plug-ins and outboard compressors. Plus they seem much happier buying packs from guys like Misha et al.

The mastered product should start coming out in a month or so. You'll hear the full mix version then.

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

What a generous fellow you truly are, we need more of your kind.

 

[setyouranchor]

What verb are you using on that snare Ermz? Sounds lovely!

 

[rvs0002]

Thanks Ermz, always very giving with info and technique. It would be nice to hear the same clip without the samples just for comparison if you get the chance. Kind of a before and after to see what you are starting with.

 

[shredder10]

Awesome sounding drums!
Rock solid, yet with that characteristic Spread!
Great referencing mixes