Tips on Mixing Drums

[KevWest]

Please help. I make beats and I have been trying to find ways to make my drums sound more professional. I feel the rest of my mix is up to par but sometimes my drums are just sound instead of clean and punchy like Id like them to be. A good example of how I'd like my drums to sound is Christina By Keith Murray. I also love Jermaine Dupri's drums especially his 808s I love any tips I can find on making my a more co hesive part of my music. I have samples of my music on my myspace page if needed but I have heard that you guys don't really care to use those Id upload actual clips but my modem is down and I'm waiting until I get my new one so I have no net at home to upload music with. Please help me
www.myspace.com/djkevwest

[khameln]

There's a BIG thread on this already... Do a search, it's pretty exhaustive :D

[KevWest]

i must have missed it ill take another look thanks i saw one a while ago but it was more pertaining to live drums and doing specifically rock

[sethdk]

start with good drum samples. sample them from the records u like if there is enough space in instrumental version to do that.

[KevWest]

90% of my drums come from samples off of vinyl of drums i like the problem I have isnt so much with the sounds themselves because I feel i have good drums I feel my mixing is really just not up to par my kicks which are the main problem are loud and boomy and a little muddy but i would like them to be clean and puncy and a bit more professional sounding i wish i had better net access so i could upload better samples of my music than what is on my myspace but thats really the best option i have right now to show u examples of what im working wtih please help


khameln i did an advanced search on both drums and drum mixing in the rap/hip hop forums and didnt get any results u wouldnt happen to have a link to the thread you were talking about or know of the thread title so i can search it out this is very frusterating for me well mixing that is and i am trying to take every step I can to improve my mixes until i get enough money to buy a pair of HS80s

[deuc647]

EQ compression limiting. to get the sound u want, use the EQ, to get them punchy, use compression, to get them to hit hard, use limiting. What plugs do u use? To make them mix with ur music better u can use a regular compression plug in to make ur music "glue" better.

[KevWest]

I have various free plug ins around the net which i use in combination with the fx in reason i really like the eqs in reason and the mclass fx and the rv 7k but i don't quite know all of what im doing i kind of just do it by ear and hope for the best but im not quite sure that im using my tools to the best of its abilities

[khameln]

Search "drums"... There's a fairly recent thread called "How do I get my drums to bang" or something like that that's loaded with goodies.

[KevWest]

im not asking how to make them bang i think my drums at time bang too hard

[Sirocco]

Originally Posted by xabiton

im not asking how to make them bang i think my drums at time bang too hard

Always think of your kick as another element of your composition rather than its own entity. If you have a kick going on, here is something i do. I cut the final kick i used into 2 peices.

One covers the lower half of the spectrum, and the other covers the higher half. I then tune my higher half peices to the main bassline/melody/theme to my track then compress it with the other un-tuned half (which should be in the key of your song anyway - so theres no musical collisions). This way u get a good balance between a nice big kick and some melodic content in it also - without sounding sappy (like a amatuer tuned 808). Think of it as a stealth tactic -- a final method to make your track more cohesive and united!

[DaKid]

Originally Posted by xabiton

im not asking how to make them bang i think my drums at time bang too hard

Originally Posted by Sirocco

Always think of your kick as another element of your composition rather than its own entity. If you have a kick going on, here is something i do. I cut the final kick i used into 2 peices.

One covers the lower half of the spectrum, and the other covers the higher half. I then tune my higher half peices to the main bassline/melody/theme to my track then compress it with the other un-tuned half (which should be in the key of your song anyway - so theres no musical collisions). This way u get a good balance between a nice big kick and some melodic content in it also - without sounding sappy (like a amatuer tuned 808). Think of it as a stealth tactic -- a final method to make your track more cohesive and united!

Or just buy Sirocco's drums. (great kicks and claps)

If you feel your kick is too bangin and too muddy try high passing till 40Hz or so... that might help clean it... then just sweeping through and taking out mud in the low mid range might help... (buss compression helps them pop too)

I really would suggest hitting up Siroccos website and at least downloading the free kit and check it out... I bought the bundle and don't regret that I did... A lot of great kicks and claps that sound great by themselves (without eq or comp)- or layer them for more fun.

[beat you down]

Originally Posted by Sirocco

I then tune my higher half peices to the main bassline/melody/theme to my track then compress it with the other un-tuned half

why don't you tune both?

[Sirocco]

Originally Posted by beat you down

why don't you tune both?

you lose a lot more prominence and punch by tuning the thole thing

[beat you down]

so you'd have the low part in tune with the root and the mid/high part with something else still in key?

i mean, i always make sure my (whole) kick matches the root.

from what freq you'd split or lowpass the kick? 80hz? 60hz?

[Sirocco]

Originally Posted by beat you down

so you'd have the low part in tune with the root and the mid/high part with something else still in key?

i mean, i always make sure my (whole) kick matches the root.

from what freq you'd split or lowpass the kick? 80hz? 60hz?

depends on the other elements of the kmix. anywhere from 80 to 200 id make the cut

[Methlab]

You can tune an 808 to the root note as long as it's close to begin with. But that top end knock does not necessarily have to be the same note, as long as it is in the key of the song too.

I figured this out trying to replicate kicks I was hearing on records. I can tell some producers tune their high kick a little different, and that can make a big difference.

[Sirocco]

Originally Posted by Methlab

You can tune an 808 to the root note as long as it's close to begin with. But that top end knock does not necessarily have to be the same note, as long as it is in the key of the song too.

I figured this out trying to replicate kicks I was hearing on records. I can tell some producers tune their high kick a little different, and that can make a big difference.

yep -- its the best of both worlds imo - the low end keeps the punch while the hi end add to the cohesiveness of the song - it adds another element when the sub stays at the root note and the top half of the kick floats around - rather than the whole kick playing some sort of melody (which usually makes a track sound rather off or incomplete)

[KevWest]

thanks ill try some of this

[DanDolo]

Nice tips ! keep em coming


Sirocco when your new kits coming out man? that shit is fire


I downloaded the the demo made a beat, sold it the next day and bout the whole thing hells yeah!

[parkay909]

You could really write about 4 books on the subject...
Start with good samples, record them well, and mix them properly. Sounds simple but of course it isn't.
If you need some good software EQ for drums and such you really can't go wrong with the Waves SSL stuff.

[Lowas]

Originally Posted by xabiton

. I also love Jermaine Dupri's drums especially his 808s I love any tips I can find on making my a more co hesive part of my music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps9cCnW8wFI

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Lowas

YouTube - Jermaine Dupri - Talks Producing on MV-8000

ive seen this video 100 times. his old school tracks before the mv dont have the 808s that i am speaking of

[Sirocco]

Originally Posted by xabiton

ive seen this video 100 times. his old school tracks before the mv dont have the 808s that i am speaking of

he probobly switched house engineers

[Sirocco]

Originally Posted by DanDolo

Nice tips ! keep em coming


Sirocco when your new kits coming out man? that shit is fire


I downloaded the the demo made a beat, sold it the next day and bout the whole thing hells yeah!

hii!

very soon, its kinda hard making new bits of audio that last only 1/10th a second

its a dark art - but its coming along!!

[Lowas]

Do you use a hardware sampler?

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Sirocco

he probobly switched house engineers

what does his engineer have to do with it

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Lowas

Do you use a hardware sampler?

i have used hardware samplers but at the moment im just using reason im considering gettin a mpc or a asr10 maybe a fantom xa but havent decided what i want so until then i keep workin in reason

[Sirocco]

Originally Posted by xabiton

i have used hardware samplers but at the moment im just using reason im considering gettin a mpc or a asr10 maybe a fantom xa but havent decided what i want so until then i keep workin in reason

A lot. Once you here a common theme in a producers sound change overnight -- in some cases its a new house engineer that has been brought in. This isnt no stock 808 - i doubt jermaine dupree sits in his lab and layers 808s and adds distortion to them to punch them through the mix as they do.

-Sirocco

[Methlab]

Originally Posted by xabiton

what does his engineer have to do with it

Wow, are you serious?

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Methlab

Wow, are you serious?

why wouldnt i be? i dont get how the engineer could totally change the way a drum sounds itself. If that was the case then why even worry about sounds and sound quality in general as a cat who makes beats which is generally what i do. Im not an engineer and don't completely understand engineering. I understand sound design to some extent but blending and making a cohesive mix shouldn't completely change the sound right? if that were the case cats would just start usin $20 casio keyboards on everything and lettin the engineer handle the rest. Correct me if Im wrong I still have a lot to learn especially in the aspect of mixing