How To Mix BIG and PUNCHY Drums! (Metal Mixing Tutorial)
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the creator demonstrates the process of transforming raw drum tracks into a polished mix. They detail their approach to EQ and compression for each drum element, including kick, snare, toms, and overheads. The video also explores the use of parallel compression to enhance punch and sustain while maintaining the tracks' vitality. Additionally, the creator discusses blending room tracks with snare for a fuller sound and the importance of processing individual tracks with a purpose in mind.
Takeaways
- 🎙️ The video is a tutorial on mixing drums for a song, emphasizing that there are multiple ways to achieve good sound.
- 🔊 The kick drum track starts with an EQ to remove dullness, using high-pass, cuts at 100 Hz and 200 Hz, and a low-pass filter.
- 🗜️ A compressor is used on the kick with slow attack and fast release, aiming for 3 dB of gain reduction.
- 🎚️ Console saturation and high-end boost are applied to the kick for additional warmth and clarity.
- 🥁 A secondary kick track is used to subtly reinforce the main kick, with similar EQ and compression settings.
- 🪘 Snare tracks are mixed with a purpose, focusing on body from the top track and high-end crack from the bottom track.
- 🔄 EQ on snare tracks removes ring frequencies and boosts certain frequencies to enhance body and crack.
- 📈 Compression settings vary between snare tracks, with fast attack used for the bottom track to enhance sustain.
- 🏷️ Room tracks are considered part of the snare sound, with close and far tracks providing different smack characteristics.
- 💥 Saturation is key in processing room tracks, adding depth and character to the snare sound.
- 📉 A parallel compression track is used to add punch and sustain to the drums without over-compressing individual tracks.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video?
-The video focuses on demonstrating the process of mixing drums for a song, transforming the raw drum tracks into a polished mix.
What is the first step the video creator takes in mixing the drums?
-The first step is to disable the processing on all tracks and start with the kick drum, adjusting its EQ to eliminate dullness.
What is the purpose of using a high pass filter at 45 hertz on the kick drum track?
-The high pass filter at 45 hertz is used to remove low-frequency content that is unnecessary and can make the kick sound muddy.
How does the video creator approach the snare sound?
-The video creator mixes each snare track with a specific purpose, extracting different characteristics like body and high-end crack from various tracks.
What role do room tracks play in the snare mix according to the video?
-Room tracks are considered part of the snare tracks and are used to capture the small and big smack sounds of the snare.
What is the reason for using multiple compression settings on different drum tracks?
-Different compression settings are used to control the dynamics of each track, aiming for specific amounts of gain reduction to achieve the desired sound.
How does the video creator use saturation in the drum mix?
-Saturation is used to add warmth and character to the drum tracks, enhancing their tonal quality and presence in the mix.
What is the function of parallel compression in the drum mix?
-Parallel compression is used to add punch and sustain to the drums by compressing a separate set of tracks heavily and blending them with the original tracks.
Why does the video creator use different EQ settings for the overheads track?
-Different EQ settings are used to balance the brightness of symbols from different drum kits and to cut out unnecessary frequencies that may clash or muddy the mix.
How does the video creator handle the processing of the hi-hat and right spot mics?
-The hi-hat and right spot mics are processed to give the hi-hat more presence and percussiveness, with similar plugins as the shells group track to integrate them into the overall drum sound.
What is the final step the video creator takes to complete the drum mix?
-The final step is to listen to the mix and ensure all the drum tracks work well together, providing a cohesive and polished sound.
Outlines
🎶 Mixing Drums: Kick and Snare Processing
The speaker begins by explaining their personal approach to mixing drums, emphasizing that there is no one-size-fits-all method. They start with the kick drum, using EQ to remove dullness by applying a high-pass filter at 45 Hz, cutting at 100 Hz and 200 Hz to eliminate boominess, and boosting highs. Compression is applied with a slow attack and fast release for about 3 dB of gain reduction. Additional saturation and high-end boosting are used for further shaping. A secondary kick track is used for subtle reinforcement, also processed with EQ and compression. The snare tracks are discussed next, with the speaker focusing on extracting specific characteristics from each track to achieve the desired snare sound. The top snare track aims to provide body, with EQ adjustments to reduce ringing frequencies and boost at 150 Hz, while the bottom track uses fast attack compression for more sustain. Room tracks are included in the snare mix, with EQ and compression applied to enhance the smack of the snare.
🥁 Snare and Tom Processing in Drum Mixing
Continuing with the snare bottom track, EQ adjustments are made to reduce ring frequencies, with a fast attack compressor for sustain. The room tracks, considered part of the snare, are processed to bring out the smack of the snare, with EQ to cut ringing frequencies and boost lows and highs. Compression is used for sustain and saturation for warmth. Dedicated reverb tracks for the room tracks are set up with a band pass and low decay time to give the snare a bigger sound. The toms are then addressed, each with individual EQ and a group track for further processing, including EQ, compression, saturation, and limiting. The parallel compression track is introduced to add punch and sustain without over-compressing the individual tracks, using heavy compression and EQ to achieve this effect.
🎚️ Final Touches: Overheads, Hi-Hat, and Mix Integration
The video script concludes with the processing of overheads, hi-hat, and right spot mics. The overheads track includes EQ to cut ringing frequencies and boost highs, with compression set to respond to the snare. A reverb is added to the overheads for a wider sound. The hi-hat track is processed for more presence, and the right spot mics are included for additional percussiveness. All these tracks are then routed to a symbols group track, which has similar processing to the shells group track. The final mix is played, showcasing the integrated sound of all the processed drum tracks, demonstrating the effectiveness of the mixing techniques discussed throughout the script.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mixing
💡EQ (Equalization)
💡Compression
💡Saturation
💡Kick Drum
💡Snare Drum
💡Tom Drums
💡Parallel Compression
💡Reverb
💡Group Track
💡Cymbals
Highlights
Disabling processing on all tracks to demonstrate the mixing process from scratch.
The importance of mixing drums to achieve a desired sound for a song.
Different approaches to mixing drums are acknowledged, emphasizing the subjective nature of the process.
Starting with the kick drum, using EQ to remove dullness and enhance clarity.
Applying a high pass filter at 45 Hz to the kick drum to eliminate unnecessary low frequencies.
Using a compressor on the kick drum with a slow attack and fast release for a traditional sound.
Adding console saturation to the kick drum for warmth and depth.
Reinforcing the main kick with a secondary track for a fuller sound.
Mixing snare tracks with a purpose, extracting specific characteristics from each track.
Using EQ to remove ring frequencies and enhance the body and crack of the snare.
Room tracks are considered part of the snare tracks, adding to the overall snare sound.
Applying fast attack compression to the snare bottom track for better sustain.
Using saturation on room tracks to enhance the snare's smack sound.
Adding reverb to room tracks to give the snare a bigger sound.
Processing toms with individual EQ and sending them to a tom track for a cohesive sound.
Using a parallel compression track to add punch and sustain to the drums without losing their life.
Applying aggressive EQ settings on the parallel compression track to achieve heavy compression.
Overheads track processing includes EQ, compression, and reverb to blend cymbals and other elements.
Hi-hat and right spot mics are used to add presence and percussiveness to the mix.
Final mix includes all tracks, demonstrating the transformation from dull to polished.
Transcripts
today i'll show you how i take my drums
from something like this
to this
i'll be mixing the drums for the song i
wrote for this video if you haven't seen
it yet you can click in the upper right
corner to go to that video so let's
disable the processing on all of the
tracks and walk through how i mix each
track one by one small disclaimer of
course this is only how i mix my stuff
of course there are a million ways to
mix and no way is necessarily better
than the other if it sounds good it
doesn't matter how you got there but
okay let's start with the kick let's
listen to what this track sounds like
without any processing
sounds kind of dull so let's do
something about that first up there's an
eq here starting with a high pass at 45
hertz and then there's a very small cut
at around 100 hertz and next up there's
a very large cut at 200 hertz to
eliminate some of that boominess and
then cutting some mids and then cutting
some high mids and also boosting some of
the highs and also a low pass here so
this is what the eq looks like for the
kick next up there's a compressor here
with some fairly traditional settings so
slow attack and fast release and the
four to one ratio aiming for about three
decibels of gain reduction next up we
have some console saturation here as
well as a small boost to the high end of
the track and lastly we have some more
saturation so let's listen to what each
plugin does to the sound of this track
[Music]
i also have another example here
reinforcing the main kick track i think
this is actually steven slate trump's
kick 10. so this is what it sounds like
unprocessed
as you can hear it's very low in the mix
it's only there to reinforce the main
kick in a very subtle way as with the
main kick track it starts with an eq
here with a high pass cutting out some
mud also cutting out some of the mids
and high mids and also boosting some of
the highs and it also has compression
with similar settings as well as console
saturation and a bump to the heist and
also some more saturation so let's
listen to what each plugin does to this
track
and this is what the two tracks sound
like together
[Music]
by the way if you're new here don't
forget to hit the subscribe button and
ring the bell so you don't miss any of
my future videos but okay so let's take
a look at the snare tracks i think an
important thing to realize when you're
mixing the scenario is that most likely
each snare track is gonna sound quite
awful on its own you are unlikely to get
the snare sound that you have in your
head from just one track i find what
works for me is mixing each track with a
purpose so i'm trying to extract a
certain characteristic with each track
that i want in my snare so for the snare
top track i'm trying to get the body out
of the snare and from the snare bottom
track i'm trying to get the high end
crack out of the snare and i kind of
consider the room tracks to be part of
the snare tracks as well as they have
mostly the snare in them so for the room
close track i'm trying to get the small
smack out of snare so to speak
and from the room far track i'm trying
to get the big smack but okay let's take
a listen to what the snare top track
sounds like unprocessed
first up there's an eq here that
completely demolishes some ring
frequencies i noticed let's see if you
can hear what it eliminates
and then i have another eq press the
high pass and then a very small boost to
150 to get a bit more body out of the
snare and then the small cut in the
lower mids another cut in the mids and
another big cut in the high mids and the
small boost to the heist let's listen to
what this eq does
[Music]
it sounds kind of dull but again the
idea here is that this track should
provide the body of the snare so it's
okay and again we have a compressor with
the same settings so slow attack fast
release four to one ratio aiming for
about three decibels of gain reduction
we have some console saturation small
boost to the highs and some more
saturation so let's listen to what each
of these plugins does to the sound
[Music]
let's go over to the snare bottom track
starting with an eq again cutting out
some of the ring frequencies of the
snare and then another eq which kind of
mirrors that of the snare top track and
again a compressor but here i actually
have a fast attack as i found that
worked better for this track and i
actually have another compressor here
that gives this track a bit more sustain
and again some console saturation and
small boost to the heist and also some
more saturation so let's listen to what
each plugin does to the sound of this
track
let's actually go straight to the room
tracks now as those contain mostly the
snare so this is what it sounds like
unprocessed
so let's go over the plugins on this
track first up again there's an eq
cutting out some of the ringing
frequencies of the snare and then we
have another eq that is very similar to
the snare top track boosting some low
mids here also cutting out some mud and
some mids and also a fair bit of the
high mids and also boosting some highs
again we have a compressor set to fast
attack and fast release to give the
track a bit more sustain and also
another compressor also aiming for about
three decibels of gain reduction we have
some console saturation and also small
boost to the eyes and some more
saturation saturation actually sounds
really good on the room tracks so
there's a fair bit of it here so let's
listen to what each plugin does to this
track
[Music]
and the processing on the room far track
is basically identical to the room close
track it sounds like this
[Music]
and each of the room tracks also has
their dedicated reverb track as well
they are fairly low in the mix but they
give the snare a bit of a bigger sound
let's just quickly have a look here at
the setup of the rev track so first up
there's just a band pass here and then
we have the reverb fairly low decay time
and we also have the center plug in here
to make it sound a bit more wide so
let's listen to the room far track here
with and without a reverb
[Music]
it's very subtle but i think it gives
the snare a bit of a bigger sound so
let's listen to all of the snare tracks
together that is the snare top track
snare bottom track
but also the room tracks as i consider
them to be basically additional snare
tracks
[Music]
alright let's move over to the toms so i
have four tone tracks here each of them
has an individual eq with a high pass a
small boost in varying places in the
lows and then they all get sent to a tom
track which starts with an eq so we got
a high pass cutting out some mud in the
lower mids again cutting out some mids
also cutting out some high mids as well
as boosting the highs we have the by now
fairly familiar compressor plugin again
aiming for about three decibels of gain
reduction we have some console
saturation small boosted eyes we have
some saturation and we have a small
limiter just to bring the volume up a
tiny bit we also have two reverb tracks
just to give the toms a bit of a larger
presence in the mix so this is what each
of the plugin does to the thomps
[Music]
track and all of the shell tracks is
actually piped into a shell's group
track where i do some additional bus
processing it starts with a very simple
eq just a tiny high pass and the low
pass also cutting out the tiny amount of
mud here in the low mids as well as
cutting out some sharpness in the higher
mids and we also have a compressor here
which adds a fair bit of nice saturation
but also brings down some of the peaks
which gives these tracks some glue and
also a bit more sustain and then we have
another compressor which has the same
role and again just basically repeating
the eq we had at the beginning so let's
listen to what these plugins does to the
sound
[Music]
so let's go to one of my favorite tracks
here the parallel compression track the
idea here is instead of compressing each
individual track so much that it
completely sucks the life out of the
tracks you send all of these shell
tracks to different tracks which
basically annihilates the tracks and
compresses them to hell and back and
then you blend that track in to give the
drums a bit more punch a bit more
sustain but still retaining the life of
the tracks so to speak so let's go over
the plugins that are on this track
starting with a familiar eq cutting out
some ring frequencies from the snare
then we have a basic eq here cutting out
some of the high mids and cutting out
some of the low mids because these
frequencies tend to build up when you're
compressing heavily and then we start
the compression chain here with fast
attack fast release and actually aiming
for about 10 decibels of gain reduction
here and then we have another compressor
again aiming for about 10 decibels of
gain reduction and then we basically
have the same eq here we have our
console saturation a bit of a boost to
the highs we have some saturation and we
have a limiter which further compresses
the tracks so this track sounds like
this
it sounds awful on its own but when
blended in with the rest of the tracks
it gives the drums a bit more punch and
a bit more sustain than mix let's listen
to the drums with and without the
parallel compression track
definitely gives them a bit more punch
so alright let's take a look at the
overheads track i actually have symbols
from both modern and massive and also
invasion so i route them to different
tracks here so i noticed that the modern
massive tracks are are a bit brighter so
to kind of level that out the modern and
massive track dials down the highs of
the symbols a bit while the invasion
tracks brings up the highs of the
symbols a bit and those are then fed to
the overheads track which sounds like
this unprocessed
[Music]
so let's go over the plugins on this
track starting with an eq cutting out
some of the ringing frequencies of the
snare then we have a simple eq here
fairly aggressive high pass also cutting
some low mids some mids some high mids
but also boosting some of the highs then
we have a familiar compressor here again
aiming for around three decibels of gain
reduction this compressor is basically
just responding to the snare here and we
have some console saturation boost to
the high and some minor saturation and
the overhead track actually has their
own reverb as well so let's listen to
what each plugin does to this track
[Music]
i also have tracks for the hi-hat and
the right spot mics so for the hi-hat
track this is basically just here to
give the hi-hat a bit more presence and
percussiveness to the mix and the same
goes for the right track and then all of
these are piped into the symbols group
track which has essentially the same
plugins as a shells group track so
that's all of the tracks let's listen to
what it sounds like
and this is what it sounds like in the
mix
[Music]
[Music]
thanks for watching this video if you
enjoyed it there might be another video
on the screen that might also be in your
interest and don't forget to like and
subscribe see you in the next video
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