I can't get to your mp3. Is it still posted?

steve wrote:
without buying new gear. i just got my first acoustic set a
month and a half ago and all this recording gear three weeks
ago so i'm still getting used to all of it, i took a drumless
track i found kicking around somewhere and went to the
practice room and dicked around on it a bit last night, its
really sloppy but it should be good enough for the purpose
of this post. i had a nu metal band blasting on one side
and a death metal band blasting on the other.. i seriously
need to pick up some vic firths cause i couldn't hear anything
in my headphones (yes i had earplugs in). also the kit is out
of tune because i haven't learned how to tune yet, oh and i do
my "mixing" in my bedroom with computer speakers..

http://www.geocities.com/quixotle/Mixdown-beta52-3.mp3

anyhow, talking strictly on the quality of the recording, how
do the drums sound? whats good? whats not? too much what?
too little what? y'know? i need some guidance. is it just me
or does everything sound a bit dull? i didn't eq anything other
than the kick, took a little off the bottom and boosted it 10db
around 4k so it would cut through a bit more.. does the kick
sound alright? i tried to brighten the snare up a bit but i have
a lot of hi-hat in my snare track and anything i did that made
the snare sound better made the hats sound crappy. well, i have
no idea what i'm doing here but i wanna learn, so any advice
would be great!

thanks

steve wrote:
anyhow, talking strictly on the quality of the recording, how
do the drums sound?

-Good guitar sound, good bass sound.
-Snare and toms pretty boomy.
-Cymbals are pretty low and, as you said, kinda dark. Especially your
left crash cymbal.
-Kick is probably too loud, needs more definition. Sounds clipped when
you hit it hard - check levels.
-Drums too loud, but then, you're the drummer
-Not a lot of room information, sounds like a fairly small room.
-Your timing is great for 1 1/2 months.

Johann
--
Verschwinden sie endlich in ihren Laufstall und geben Sie ruhe, denn
das, was von ihnen in den letzten Wochen und Monaten zu lesen war, ist
kaum noch an Peinlichkeiten zu ueberbieten.
(*Tönnes über Andere in )

Compressed Drums


Drum compressing and limiting is often used to control dynamic problems
and/or create a desired effect when I mix. When using a live
performance I tend to get excessive dynamics. For example: when the
drummer hits a kick drum and crash cymbal on the downbeat of a chorus,
even though the transient is of short time duration it will limit you
into how much level you can translate to a CD in mastering. This
transient causes headroom problems in getting them to sound even in a
mix and maestering effectively. Because the duration of the transient
is so short (2-8ms) it is hard to correct this dynamic problem through
manual fader riding. A good solution for this is to bus all the drums
to two tracks and bring this two track stereo sub-mix of the drums back
into 2 more additional inputs. At this stage you can insert limiting
to control the transient. I often incorporate an attack time of less
then 1millisecond due to the transient nature of the envelope. The
release time will also be very fast (10-15ms) so the only transient is
affected and the rest of the performance is left untouched. A limiting
ratio of 8:1 or higher usually works for me. Remember to allow
headroom so some amount of the transient will pass through, rather than
being hard limited, which will maintain some dynamics. The signal that
I am limiting is usually 2-8ms and is really only mid-high end noise,
not much tone happenning yet. Some people say that the musical or
resonance part of a signal does not kick in until about 20ms. I do
this by fiirst setting a limiting ratio, with a fast attack time and a
fast release time. Next, I set the threshold to a setting where the
limited audio information is engaged so that I know that it is working
but sounding transparent to the ear. The goal here is to limit only
this fast transient without affecting the resonance of the drum sound.

Another advantageous use in dynamic control is getting my drums to
sound punchier. This is achieved by first eliminating the random
transients and then inserting compression with a ratio 4:1 to 8:1. The
attack time is anywhere between 20-50 ms which allows the louder
attacks to pass hrough unaffected. Once the attack is cleared the
compressor will kick in, lowering the sustain part of the drum signal.
Next, I set the release time (100-200ms) so the sustain part of the
signal is compressed and decays until the approach of the next
transient. When I sub-mix the drums, I also insert the stereo link
function on the comp/limiter.

In dealing with dynamic control on separate drums allow yourself to
create a certain characteristics to achieve great sounds. With snare
drum a common problem is getting a good attack but with no sustain
which causes the drum to sound inconsistent and weak. The problem here
is that even though the attack of the drum is heard on a consistent
basis the length and level of the sustain changes randomly. In dealing
with this problem split the snare drum over two input channels. Over
the first input try to maximize the transient quality of the snare drum
by utilizing transparent limiting and EQ in the mid range and high end.
On the other channel first gate the signal so all you hear is the
snare drum. Next insert a limiter with a very fast attack and very
fast release time. The goal here is to limit the attack of the signal
heavily. This allows the sustain to be consistent in level and adds
more length in duration. To add more body to the sound, EQ in the low
mid range and low end. Now mix in this signal with the more transient
snare drum signal which will allow you to add in more body to the snare
drum that will make it sound bigger and more consistent. In effect,
you are decreasing the dynamic range between the level of the transient
nature of the drum and the sustain properties of the drum.