Drum Track Processing, Part 1: Gating
In this series of brief tutorials, I (eDrumSessions recording engineer Thai Long Ly) will outline several processing concepts. Bear in mind that if you ask 100 Engineers how to mix a drum track, you’ll definitely receive 100 differing opinions on what’s right and what’s wrong. The bottom line is that if it sounds good, it is good. Whatever you have to do to convey the emotion of a performance is the right thing to do with your drum tracks. I will also assume most of you will be using a DAW (Pro Tools, Logic, DP, Reaper, etc…) of some sort. Now that you’ve received your raw drum tracks as WAV files from a session drummer, how should you proceed when it’s time to mix? In this series of tutorials, I will outline several processing concepts.
Gating is very subjective. One can “clean up” the sound of drum tracks, as gating is essentially silencing sections of audio that have no pertinent information so as to present a more cleanly defined track. In other words, it reduces “bleed”. Some find gating to be a very useful tool, and even an artistic one. Others think that gating totally kills the vibe of a drum performance. I think that it is an artistic decision that works sometimes and sometimes not. Having said that, here are some tips on gating drum tracks.
Gating is essentially silencing sections of audio that have no pertinent information (aka bleed) so as to present a more cleanly defined track. For example, you may want to gate the tom tracks so that they are heard only when they are hit, as opposed to howling sympathetically whenever the snare is hit. If this annoys you, simply gate the toms. By silencing audio on the track when the toms aren’t being struck, you’ll produce a cleaner and tighter drum track overall. You can do this by using a noise gate as an insert (hardware or software plug-in) or by drawing down the volume via automation in a DAW or even muting whole sections in between actual hits. All of these techniques produce a different effect on the overall sound, so you should experiment with your drum tracks and see what works for you. Some will gate all of the drum tracks except the overheads, hi-hats and room mics. This can be great for R&B, Funk and Progressive Rock. Experimentation is key.
Conversely, some engineers feel that drums should ring freely and by gating you run the risk of killing the “vibe” of a drum kit being played by a real drummer in a real room. I won’t argue against this point as it’s a valid one. The decision to gate drum tracks depends entirely on the type of material being performed and what you’re going for aesthetically. Again, I wouldn’t gate anything for a traditional Jazz number or anything requiring a Bonham-esque vibe.
Here, the ringing and overtones produced by having all the microphones wide open contribute to the overall presence of the kit and the air that surrounds each element can make for a huge sounding drum track. No approach is ideal for all circumstances, but certainly this is the most “natural” sounding approach. Think of gating as tight and dry while not gating is big and airy. Experiment and have fun.
Look for more of my drum track processing tutorials on this site. These tutorials will cover the subjects of compression, parallel compression, ambiance, and equalization.
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