New some help on where I am going wrong.....

[K Odell]

Hey guys, so here is the deal. I have been trying my hands at getting better at drum programming. Basically I am just trying to figure out what could use fixing and what I could do to get it to sound bigger. Like most bands cds I listen to I notice how big the drums sound and when I listen to my mixes it just sounds thin. The guitars sound terrible in this mix due to the fact that my pod xt went down and now all I have to work with is this shitty Boss ME-30 *shoots self*.
But anyways if you guys could offer up any advice it would be super appreciated as I pretty much look up to all you guys in how you engineer and makes things sound so good.

heres the link:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=738374

P.S. Sorry for the terrible grammar

 

[AStacy2]

I'd try some more reveb (room) and maybe some parallel compression. Also remember that drums are all about low end. Get some low end going on in the kick/toms/snare.

 

[JonWormwood]

I'd try some more reveb (room) and maybe some parallel compression. Also remember that drums are all about low end. Get some low end going on in the kick/toms/snare.

I'd say compress each track respectively, set the levels up there, then parallel compression to to it off.

 

[Unavailable]

Yeah, I don't think you did this, but I used to hi pass the snare drum at like 800hz. I had no idea that the low end was so important in getting a punchy snare. Get some oomph in those drums and I think you will be much happier.

 

[K Odell]

Thanks a lot guys! I am gonna try putting a little more balls into it.

 

[Djabthrash]

I'd try some more reveb (room) and maybe some parallel compression. Also remember that drums are all about low end. Get some low end going on in the kick/toms/snare.

+1 except that adding parallel compression and reverb won't make an average kit sound huge suddenly. It's just a way to improve already good sounding drums IMO.

For me :

-as already said : more low-end in kick/toms/snare (snare needs some EQ-ing here cuz' it doesn't sound right to me at now... if it's still average after hours of EQ-ing try a different snare then)

-reverb on the snare helps a lot.

Then you should get a decent sound.

And remember that your drums will sound better with a badass bass and badass guitars in the mix also (and you were right about this ME-30... it sounds like shit )

The key for good drums is :

1) good samples

2) good EQ-ing and panning/levels, + reverb on the snare

3) good programming (quite OK for you)

4) see if it works well with the bass (especially kick hits and bass notes together)

5) see if it works well in a decent mix (= decent guitars and decent bass)

6) at that point you should have a badass sound already... so it's time to make it even better... with reverb on the whole kit and parallel compression


EDIT : As you have good programming skills and the kick drum and cymbals sound decent, i think the things to do in priority here are :

- a tad more low-end on kick/toms (at now the kick sound suite good aside from the slight lack of low-end)
-more low-end on the snare and different EQ-ing and if it still doesn't work try a different snare (the free Slate snare for instance)
-reverb on the snare

and just with those 3 things i think your drums will already kick ass

then get your podXT back and rerecord guitar tracks and throw some bass in the middle and it wil kick ass !

 

[fatalforce]

I found that layering your drum samples with other drum samples really gives it a bigger sound. By doing this you can highlight certain frequencies in one sample and then the other.

 

[Djabthrash]

I found that layering your drum samples with other drum samples really gives it a bigger sound. By doing this you can highlight certain frequencies in one sample and then the other.

Going with a snare that sounds badass on its own (with EQ + reverb) works great also

I like simple things

 

[K Odell]

+1 except that adding parallel compression and reverb won't make an average kit sound huge suddenly. It's just a way to improve already good sounding drums IMO.

For me :

-as already said : more low-end in kick/toms/snare (snare needs some EQ-ing here cuz' it doesn't sound right to me at now... if it's still average after hours of EQ-ing try a different snare then)

-reverb on the snare helps a lot.

Then you should get a decent sound.

And remember that your drums will sound better with a badass bass and badass guitars in the mix also (and you were right about this ME-30... it sounds like shit )

The key for good drums is :

1) good samples

2) good EQ-ing and panning/levels, + reverb on the snare

3) good programming (quite OK for you)

4) see if it works well with the bass (especially kick hits and bass notes together)

5) see if it works well in a decent mix (= decent guitars and decent bass)

6) at that point you should have a badass sound already... so it's time to make it even better... with reverb on the whole kit and parallel compression


EDIT : As you have good programming skills and the kick drum and cymbals sound decent, i think the things to do in priority here are :

- a tad more low-end on kick/toms (at now the kick sound suite good aside from the slight lack of low-end)
-more low-end on the snare and different EQ-ing and if it still doesn't work try a different snare (the free Slate snare for instance)
-reverb on the snare

and just with those 3 things i think your drums will already kick ass

then get your podXT back and rerecord guitar tracks and throw some bass in the middle and it wil kick ass !

Thanks for the info. I have been messing around with it today. I will upload a new mix later on when I get a chance to record guitars with that dreaded me-30(told ya that thing was garbage). I wish I could record my recto but this is what happens when you live in an area where the houses are close together haha. But anyways thanks a ton for the help guys.

 

[Djabthrash]

Thanks for the info. I have been messing around with it today. I will upload a new mix later on when I get a chance to record guitars with that dreaded me-30(told ya that thing was garbage). I wish I could record my recto but this is what happens when you live in an area where the houses are close together haha. But anyways thanks a ton for the help guys.

I think you can tweak the ME-30 a bit more to make it sound better (less gain, etc maybe?)

OT : are you a member of the band Bloodjinn ?

 

[K Odell]

Yeah I am the guitar player Kyle. And yeah I am trying to get this processor sounding decent, its just not the same as my pod xt.

 

[Djabthrash]

Yeah I am the guitar player Kyle. And yeah I am trying to get this processor sounding decent, its just not the same as my pod xt.

ok.

I asked cuz'... guitars are great on your last album !

 

[K Odell]

oh thanks dude! I dont know whats gonna happen with this new record. Whether or not the playing will be good who knows haha. I guess I will just hammer out some stuff and see what happens.

 

[incoldbloodmetal]

hey man whered you get your samples from? you record them yourself or is it a VST? the only major thing id change imo is the snare, give it a bit more low end then what I do is put bout 1 - 1.5 sec reverb on it. Id wack a little reverb on the toms aswell. With the guitars what I find when I DI mine is take the mids out on the effects pedal then put them back in after recording with Q filter in cubase then put a little reverb on them. I also double track guitar parts and have them hard left and hard right. Im still pretty new to recording check out some of mine on.... www.myspace.com/incoldbloodmetal and ive recently been trying to mic up my amp which you can check out at www.myspace.com/silencedstudios (which is a dummy page for my band space)

Tony

 

[K Odell]

I use battery 3 for drums. And thanks for the info. I just picked up the POD X3 yesterday and I am absolutely loving it.