Toms

[jangoux]

So, besides heavy guitars, the thing i feel i need to improve the most is recording/mixing toms. I never liked how my toms sounded and never felt the thing everyone recommends (cut mids, boost hi mids/highs) works for me. The rack and floor toms never sound powerful, with that BOOM we hear on records. It just sounds like...something is being hit

We've got a great kit at the studio, some nice mics, but I always get this problem - so i figured out it might be my technique. Even with Slate toms i can't hear a nice low end when the toms are hit. So this week i was mixing some songs for a power pop band I decided to try something else. I lo-passed the toms at around 10K and started cutting hi mids and highs until i could listen to something powerful when the toms were hit. For the floor tom, i cut even more highs. It sounded better but I am not sure this would work with some faster music.

What do you think of this ? I never knew of someone actually CUTTING anything on the toms beside those cardbox sounding mids and the extreme low end, but this seems to be working for me right now, at least it is sounding better. Í've read most of the threads regarding toms, but most suggestions go against what I am doing now.

Ivan

 

[ahjteam]

my take: gate -> eq -> comp -> reverb -> multiband comp

in context: http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/freeware_mixproject_snip-03.mp3
just toms: http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/bigtoms.mp3 (dry, processed, effected)
mixer view: http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/freeware_mixproject-03.png

The original thread: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/483993-idea-compare-our-techniques.html

 

[Morgan C]

The problem is the low-end, no matter how much of it there is, is usually masked by the guitars and bass. You need to really extend the sustain of it a LOT to make it noticeable in the mix. See In Flames' Reroute to Remain for an example of this.

 

[ahjteam]

The problem is the low-end

Well the low end is the problem in heavy metal in general, not just toms. Even Andy says it in the first question of this video:

 

[crazykarl]

One thing you can try is bus out the sub frequencies from the toms and squash them a bit.

Toms > bus > aux track > low-pass around 100hz > compressor set to taste

 

[Dollarosa]

joey mentioned that he uses rbass and sends the toms to that buss, that and reverb are life savers for toms