drummers headphone mix

[money-pit]

Just wondering what some of you do when laying down the initial drum/rythym tracks, to get a killer drum headphone mix.
Wha'ts the entire signal chain to the drummers can's.

[Blindside]

Well, it depends how you do it, I guess...

For example, the guitar player in my band was having trouble playing to a click, so I set up a click in my(the drummer) headphones and we laid down a live scratch track for each song.

Then, when we go to track the actual drums, I'll have something to play to. For me personally, since I know the songs, I'm going to want mostly click, and some guitar and bass, no drums in my headphones. I find having the drums I'm playing in my headphone mix to be distracting and make it hard to hear the click and so forth.

If you are going without a click, I'd put mostly guitar and bass in the phones and blend some drums in underneath those so the drummer sounds good to himself. It may make him play with more confidence.

Keep in mind that I'm only speaking out of personal taste, and am not speaking out of tons of experience with how a lot of bands/drummers like to do it. Just my $00.02

[money-pit]

I'm specifically interested in what type of processing(compr,EQ,reverb,etc) if any,people do
to their drums to make a killer headphone mix.

[Jules]

Kinda whatever they want. The experienced drummers will let you know EXACTLY even down to requesting you automate parts to be lower or higher at certain points in the song.

Some guidelines,

Turn down musicians that aren't paying attention enough or are unskilled and leave the better players higher in the mix.

Turn UP the hi hat if they are playing it too loud...?

Plenty of click track..

Ask what pattern click track they want?

If the lead vocalist is really using a LOT of styling in their timing, perhaps mix that lower,

If the rest of the band are doing guides perhaps suggest they skip the soloing and stick to rythem

If the band are lurching fast and slow and its way too much for the song, ask them to play more robotically or to "smell the coffee" and "keep it tight for the drummer please"

Turn the best musos up and the worst down.

Establish if the drummer is experienced enough to ask for what they want if not - then YOU will have to make those headphone level decisions for them...

Use your noodle...

[joeq]

I'm specifically interested in what type of processing(compr,EQ,reverb,etc) if any,people do
to their drums to make a killer headphone mix.

I would not put any compression on anything in the drummer's headphone mix. What (this) drummer wants to hear most is the attack of each instrument and plenty of dynamics. It should sound raw and live - like a rehearsal.

Wait until mixdown to rob the music of its dynamic content.

sometimes a wee bit of a short reverb tail on the click itself can help define it, and I might add some 2-3k on the kick to brighten up the "click" - other than that, I prefer everything pretty dry.

IME, there is no magic processing, no killer headphone mix, there is only balance. If the drummer is not experienced enough to request the balance that he actually needs, you will have to find it for him. You can often tell by how he is playing,

When you have the headphones on, it is of course, hard to hear your drums. The cymbals and the snap of the kick disappear first, so I usually push those a little more.


some people like the click loud and some like it very loud. I have even met a few guys who like it soft. If you have it loud, be sure to automate it lower at the beginning, at the end, and during any tacets so it doesn't bleed onto the overheads when nothing is going on.


I often find that the very best musicians are also the ones least sensitive to poor headphone conditions. I had a guy come in to the control room after laying down an amazing drum track, and he said oh by the way, one side of the headset was out!

Meanwhile some other cat who is all fiddly with his headphone mix, can't seem to find the pocket no matter what mix he is given.

[money-pit]

thanx joeq
excellent post well said!

[Les]

We were having issues with the standard very short electronic default click the DAW put out. It had to be crazy loud to hear it. If the timing was good you you could not hear it at all, because it would have a snare or tom hit right over it.

So that kind of created a situation where you would only hear the click if you mistimed someting.

Solved the problem by using a click with fast attack but some sustain...
longer than the sustain of a snare. I made up some samples from pitch shifted cowbell hits.

Now we can easily hear the click track at much much lower volume.

Les
L M Watts Technology

[soundsundergroun]

click and scratch.

If they need anything else, they're not real drummers.

[jhall]

Originally Posted by soundsundergroun

click and scratch.

If they need anything else, they're not real drummers.

Absolutely!! +1