New mixtest with gearbox, EZdrummer and impulses

[Dylan S]

Hey guys,

this is the first recording I've posted in this section of the forum, and the first I've posted in this site at all, so please be gentle. I am asking for opinions on basically anything and everything, but mostly need help with the drums.

I am giving a new mix a go, but I'm getting sick of EZdrummer fast. Please tell me what you think...it's just a short section of one of my songs I wrote for my band a while ago.



http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=817513&songID=7389047

 

[Ola Englund]

I can totally hear the ezdrummer sound going on and I know the feeling. You get bored as hell with it. I would really like to hear some vocals on this song, it definetly has potential.

 

[Dylan S]

www.myspace.com/celephai

It's the song called 'final hour' off our myspace. The mixes on the songs aren't great, especially 'tribulatio ex inferis' and 'arminius', which is why I'm working on a new mix so we can do them all to sound way better.

 

[Ola Englund]

Hey I really like the first songs on myspace! Gonna check them out some more but it sounds awesome

 

[Dylan S]

Thanks man.

Can anyone else give me help?

 

[Sean in Silence]

I also use Ezdrummer(Drumkit From Hell EzX) and run my guitars through my Pod X3 Live
Check out my band in my sig and let me know what you think
If you like it I'll help you out with what I know

 

[Dylan S]

Hey man,

Your drum sound is definitely much better (and much more what I'm after) than mine. I liked your songs too.

I'm more interested in mixing drums at the moment because I've been getting a fair few results I've been enjoying with my dual recto's pre-amp and using impulses to do the rest.

If you could please give me a reasonably detailed walk through on what you do to your drums, I would be very appreciative.

Keep up the sick songs too.

 

[Sean in Silence]

Thanks a lot bro
Yea
I want a dual rec soooooooo bad!
hahaha
But for now I'll have to stick with my pod x3

For the drums
I'm assuming you have all of the mics running to a different track through the mixer in Ezdrummer
Eq and compress the kick, snare, toms, etc. to taste
if you don't know general drum eq and compression check out this site
It'll tell you everything you need to know
http://www.benvesco.com/tonemonster
Now that you have it all eq'd and compressed
you can Parallel compress the drums if that's the sound that you're going for (also an article on that site)
ahjteam had a post awhile back that explained his process for getting levels and it's worked brilliantly for me
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...y-guitar-tracks-sound-bigger.html#post8065710
if you're having trouble getting your drums to stick out after that then type in Gclip and Slate on this forum and you'll find some info on using that Gclip plugin to get your drums to pop out more
unfortunately I can't use Gclip because I'm on a mac:/
Sorry that explanation was so vague but mixing is extremely dependent on the source so it will always be different
If you have any more questions just ask dude

 

[Sean in Silence]

I'll post a detailed explanation of what I do to my drums tomorrow hopefully (Just remind me. hahaha)
But
My way may not necessarily work for you
so you'll have to tweak with my process if it even works for you at all

 

[Dylan S]

Thanks so much for that info man.

Don't worry, I am totally aware that everything works different for different people. I know my stuff doesn't sound that great but I've been doing it for a while so I am reasonably experienced with how certain things work. The problem I find myself having is I get over my 'standard' mix, and then I try something new, and it ends up sounding much worse, and as a lot of us know, in death metal, there isn't much room for anything to move, so nothing sounds alive and it just sounds boxy instead.

Anyway man thanks again. I'll check the thread tomorrow, but if you want me to go through exactly what it is I do to my drums I can tell you incase I'm doing anything drastically wrong (that goes for everyone else too).

 

[Sean in Silence]

Yea
It'd probably easier for you to tell me what you do first
haha

 

[Dylan S]

Well this is how I went about this particular mix...but I'm about to post a mix I did after reading those resources you gave me and it sounds much better!

I was already aware of parallel compression on the drums, and I previously did it with a PSP vintagewarmer2 and didn't like my results, as I'd have the distortion turned up all the way. I also just found the 'loud' frequency in the low end of the snare and bass drum, and the 'click' of each, and boosted them with big spikes in the EQ, and maybe added or scooped little things here or there.

I'd just do a high pass at around 100hz and a low pass at around 10k for the guitars, and PSP them up too, and usually something similar with the bass.

Check out my new thread I'll make in two seconds if you want. I think the drums sound a lot more natural and the guitar tones are a lot better. It's a different song btw, and I used my dual recto with impulses instead of gearbox.