Rate my drum sounds!

[chrisadvocate]

Just bought Joey samples of the black/gold truth kit and put some free cymbal samples along with it til I can afford the shoulder city cymbals. I'm extremely new to all of this, so it might not sound great. Anyways, they're completely unmixed seeing as i have no idea how to mix them, but i was curious as to how they sound realism wise.

I added Goldverb and space designer in logic to give some reverb and just kinda messed with the settings. I'm curious if I should be using them for reverb, or other plugins, and what else I should use. Any eq'ing tips would be greatly appreciated as well, i have no idea how to make my kick/snare sound beefier at all. Thanks a lot!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8879741/Drum test.mp3

EDIT: I decided to add guitar so i could practice mixing a bit. I put some eqs on each of the drums, just the default "punchy kick" and "rock snare" and such and edited them a bit. I also put compressor on the drum bus and the cymbals. Let me know what you guys think of the mix. Once again, I am extremely new to recording and the music in this was literally wrote on the spot, it's not meant to be anything special.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8879741/ mix test.mp3

 

[oroinvictus]

It's hard to gauge/rate how the drums will sound until they're in a mix. I think they need a lot more punch, and the cymbals need to be less robotic. I don't think you're going to get a crazy amount of punch out of these particular samples, but start with good ol' compression and EQing.

 

[OneDaySky]

It's hard to gauge/rate how the drums will sound until they're in a mix.

I Agree

 

[chrisadvocate]

It's hard to gauge/rate how the drums will sound until they're in a mix. I think they need a lot more punch, and the cymbals need to be less robotic. I don't think you're going to get a crazy amount of punch out of these particular samples, but start with good ol' compression and EQing.

Any suggestions on mixing/compression? I'm taking shots in the dark at this point. Also, I can't figure out how to get my guitars to sound better, they sound so claustrophobic to me, like not in your face at all.

 

[oroinvictus]

For these particular samples, I suppose I'd try the default compressor in logic first (I also run logic). The amount of compression would depend on the track so if I needed some loud, slow drums, I'd use a pretty quick attack and a long release, and a very quick attack and short release would give me poppier, faster drums. Mess around with each setting to taste. If you don't like the compressor in logic, try another one. You usually can't go wrong with the Waves SSL comp. As for EQing I'd throw in a bit of low-end and scoop some mids just a bit, but as I said before the EQing also depends on the track in question. What are you using for guitars?

 

[AdamG94]

I think that the cymbals/OH's could do with more high end, to give them that 'sheen'. Also using a clipper (use bitcrusher in logic with drive at 0, 24 bit and then clip the waveform to taste) on the snare would help with the impact. Also maybe EQ'ing in some click (3.5k?) would help give the kick more presence.

Also what I like to do is after giving each part of the drum kit it's own compression, send the whole kit to a bus and compress the living fuck out of it and then blend it in. It makes it a bit easier to get those punchy in my opinion.

 

[oroinvictus]

Also what I like to do is after giving each part of the drum kit it's own compression, send the whole kit to a bus and compress the living fuck out of it and then blend it in. It makes it a bit easier to get those punchy in my opinion.

+1

 

[chrisadvocate]

For these particular samples, I suppose I'd try the default compressor in logic first (I also run logic). The amount of compression would depend on the track so if I needed some loud, slow drums, I'd use a pretty quick attack and a long release, and a very quick attack and short release would give me poppier, faster drums. Mess around with each setting to taste. If you don't like the compressor in logic, try another one. You usually can't go wrong with the Waves SSL comp. As for EQing I'd throw in a bit of low-end and scoop some mids just a bit, but as I said before the EQing also depends on the track in question. What are you using for guitars?

I'm using the basic Joey sturgis patch in podfarm on guitars with an EQ my friend gave me as well as a multipressor, compressing the 90-280 range. No idea how to "un-murk" them though.

I'm gonna give what you said with the drums a shot now, I'll post soon.

 

[oroinvictus]

I use pod farm, too, and I barely do anything to it. Post up some guitars and we'll have a listen.

 

[chrisadvocate]

I did what both of you suggested. As for compressing the crap out of the drum track, i put two of the regular logic compressors on it...is that the right way to do it or should i do something else? and boosting the 3.5k on the kick helped a lot. Here it is with guitars.

Also, how do I get the snare to sound "fatter"? It seems to cut fairly well but i feel like it's just a crack and really thin sounding.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8879741/New Demo.mp3

 

[chrisadvocate]

This is my mixer if this helps..

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8879741/Screen shot 2011-04-24 at 4.18.07 PM.png

 

[oroinvictus]

That sounds pretty good to me. The kick is a little slappy in the high range. The guitars sound like they could also use some high-end. I'll listen to this on my monitors when I get the chance.

 

[chrisadvocate]

That would be great. Thanks a lot.