Drum Track Processing Tips, Part 6: More Equalization Guidelines

Drum Track Processing Tips, Part 6: More Equalization Guidelines by Thai Long Ly

This is the sixth installment of my article series on the subject of processing drum tracks. Today’s focus is on equalization of overheads, toms, hi-hats, and rooms.

OVERHEADS. Where do I begin? Applying EQ to an overhead track depends entirely upon the artistic approach you’re employing for your song and their respective drum tracks (I suppose this is true for anything, but stay with me here). If you’re simply using the overheads as cymbal mics, then you’ll want to roll out most of the bottom end using a Hi Pass Filter. Simply dump everything below 500Hz or thereabouts and sneak the track up in level so that the cymbals sit in a proper place (with the drum tracks and the song in general) when struck. You may want to boost above 10kHz for some “air” as well.

If you’re looking for the overheads to convey location of the individual elements of a kit, as well as to capture the kit overall, then a fairly broad cut centered around 400Hz-500Hz is all that’s needed to pull some honk out of the kit to make room for the rest of the drum tracks and other instruments. Again, some lifting above 10kHz is nice to bring out some presence and sparkle and you may want to dip down towards 7kHz for more snap out of your snare drum track.

TOMS. “System of a Down”-type toms? Kill the bloom and resonance (below 250Hz) and accentuate the stick hit and attack (1kHz – 4kHz) of the tom drum tracks. Modern R&B? Bring up the resonance of the shell and let them ring. Find the resonant frequency and boost until they’re howling. Now fit that in with the Overheads and see what happens with the drum tracks in relation to the song. What seems like overkill when soloed now feels right when the rest of the track is playing doesn’t it? Good. That’s what it’s all about to begin with! Always take that into consideration regarding your drum tracks.

HI-HATS. Dump below 500Hz unless you want the sound of the session drummer’s foot thumping away. Adding air above 10kHz can work too. Just don’t overdo it and end up with overly sizzly sounding hats. That sounds terrible, and can ruin your drum tracks (and therefore your song).

ROOMS. Just mangle the snot out of these. Or don’t. Filter them. Effect them. Or don’t. Make ‘em dull. Or don’t. Make ‘em bright. Or don’t. See where I’m going with this? Good. Use your ears to decide what is best for you drum tracks.

CONCLUSION
So there you have it. A basic set of concepts to get you up and rolling towards amazing sounding drum tracks. And as if it hasn’t sunk in by now… EXPERIMENT! Find your own voice and signature sound when mixing drum tracks. Copying someone else’s sound is cool for about a minute… but ultimately what will set your project apart from the pack is what you discover on your own. Remember, the drum sounds you create in a mix will dictate the power and presence of your recording. What sets a demo apart from a master? Drum sounds! Good luck processing your drum tracks, and have fun.

Drum Track Processing Tips, Part 3: Parallel Compression

Drum Track Processing Tips, Part 3: Parallel Compression by Thai Long Ly


This is the third installment in my series of tutorials on processing of drum tracks. We focus here on parallel compression.

So… your guitarist has decided that he’d like to triple track all nineteen of his brilliant ideas using his Mind Bleeder distortion pedal and your keyboardist wants to layer every cool Moog and Nord patch he’s ever programmed since the 80’s. Your bassist insists on playing nothing but chords he learned in Bass Frenzy magazine on his custom Booty Humper Low F# seven string. So how do you deal with trying to get your drum tracks to punch through this sonic wall?

You may want to experiment with parallel compression of your drum tracks. Simply put, you’re blending a compressed drum track with an unprocessed track for more “oomph”. I don’t generally care for this technique on anything Jazz related but if you’re dealing with a wall of mud and you can’t carve out the proper space any other way (or don’t have the time), this technique is worth exploring. So here’s how…. get your drum tracks sounding amazing utilizing the techniques described above. Done, right? Call your girl and tell her you’re coming home early and that you’re feeling frisky!

Kidding. Seriously… once you’ve gotten your drums in a good place, take a few elements of the drum tracks… say your kick, snare, and toms and bus them to the input of a compressor in wait via an aux send. Remember your drums are still being bussed to the master out in addition to the aux send you’ve just created. Now smash the snot out of the compressor in any manner you deem fit and gently blend the output of this mangled signal with your original drum tracks until you start to feel the drums gaining weight. You may find that you won’t need much… just a “hint” is all it may take to cut through that wall of doom. Essentially, you’re increasing the perceived loudness of the drum track without resorting to radical EQ or unjustified levels of gain. Many Mixers have mastered this subtle art and have produced amazing drum sounds that we hear day in and day out on the radio. Play around with it and see if it works for you. Hell, if you’re really feeling frisky (audio – wise) mess around with some slight distortion on the snare and kick drum tracks, too.

Have fun experimenting with parallel compression on your drum tracks, and be sure to read part four of this series in which I will discuss ambiance.

Drum Track Processing Tips, Part 2: Compression

Drum Track Processing Tips, Part 2: Compression by Thai Long Ly

This is the second installment of my series of articles addressing the processing of drum tracks. Our focus here is on compression.

I tend to use compression for two distinct reasons – to color a signal or to control its dynamic range. Hardware is preferred, but software can get you there too. I won’t go into great lengths about how to use a compressor but will touch upon some desired approaches regarding drum track compression. Also, there are four different types of compressors: Vari-mu (Delta-Mu), VCA (voltage controlled amplifier), FET (field effect transformer) and Electro-Optical (opto). For drums tracks I’d recommend sticking with FET’s or VCA based designs, although you can get anything to work if you try hard enough.

First, let’s talk about color. By altering a compressor’s attack and release controls, one can alter how much sustain, attack and punch a track will exhibit. For example, by compressing a kick (bass drum) track, you can control how much beater “click” you hear versus how much “body” and thump is heard. If you want more “snap” out of a kick, simply slow down your attack to allow more of the initial transient through. Want more “shell” or “bloom” in the kick drum track? Crank up the attack and slow down the release. Now the initial click is caught and tamed while the tone of the shell is brought up. Think of this approach as a way to EQ the signal without resorting to using an EQ. You’re basically manipulating the attack and sustain of the drum tracks to produce more bite and punch or to round off transients for a softer mellower sound. Stylistically speaking, Modern Rock drum tracks seem to beg for massive amounts of compression, whereas Jazz and Folk tracks prefer to be untouched.

Ratio and threshold are also definitely important to drum tracks, but to me the key to proper compression is all in the manipulation of attack and release. If you’re using an LA2A, forget what I just wrote and carry on.

Okay, so the other reason compression is employed is to simply reduce a signal’s dynamic range. For instance, if you have a snare drum track that has varying intensities in amplitude (meaning the session drummer played some hits harder than others) and you want a more consistent level or placement in the track, you may want to slap a compressor on it to keep the output constant. You could also place a limiter on the snare drum track to keep from spiking into the red (overloading) while still preserving most of the original dynamics. Compressing or limiting overhead mics is a common practice and you may find that just a touch of compression here and there can help reign in unruly hits. If you’re looking to present a more honest and natural drum track, then slight hints of compression at low thresholds and low ratios will be the prescription of choice. Also, if you do decide to strap a compressor across the Drum Bus, I prefer to keep the compressor in Dual Mono, as opposed to linking the compressor in Stereo. Listen for yourself and do what you like, but Dual Mono seems more exciting and natural – allowing the drum tracks to sort of leap out of the speaker during fills and crashes.

Remember, experimentation is key with compression of drum tracks. Have fun and be sure to read my other articles in this series which address gating, parallel compression, equalization, and other concepts.
This is the second installment of my series of articles addressing the processing of drum tracks. Our focus here is on compression.

I tend to use compression for two distinct reasons – to color a signal or to control its dynamic range. Hardware is preferred, but software can get you there too. I won’t go into great lengths about how to use a compressor but will touch upon some desired approaches regarding drum track compression. Also, there are four different types of compressors: Vari-mu (Delta-Mu), VCA (voltage controlled amplifier), FET (field effect transformer) and Electro-Optical (opto). For drums tracks I’d recommend sticking with FET’s or VCA based designs, although you can get anything to work if you try hard enough.

First, let’s talk about color. By altering a compressor’s attack and release controls, one can alter how much sustain, attack and punch a track will exhibit. For example, by compressing a kick (bass drum) track, you can control how much beater “click” you hear versus how much “body” and thump is heard. If you want more “snap” out of a kick, simply slow down your attack to allow more of the initial transient through. Want more “shell” or “bloom” in the kick drum track? Crank up the attack and slow down the release. Now the initial click is caught and tamed while the tone of the shell is brought up. Think of this approach as a way to EQ the signal without resorting to using an EQ. You’re basically manipulating the attack and sustain of the drum tracks to produce more bite and punch or to round off transients for a softer mellower sound. Stylistically speaking, Modern Rock drum tracks seem to beg for massive amounts of compression, whereas Jazz and Folk tracks prefer to be untouched.

Ratio and threshold are also definitely important to drum tracks, but to me the key to proper compression is all in the manipulation of attack and release. If you’re using an LA2A, forget what I just wrote and carry on.

Okay, so the other reason compression is employed is to simply reduce a signal’s dynamic range. For instance, if you have a snare drum track that has varying intensities in amplitude (meaning the session drummer played some hits harder than others) and you want a more consistent level or placement in the track, you may want to slap a compressor on it to keep the output constant. You could also place a limiter on the snare drum track to keep from spiking into the red (overloading) while still preserving most of the original dynamics. Compressing or limiting overhead mics is a common practice and you may find that just a touch of compression here and there can help reign in unruly hits. If you’re looking to present a more honest and natural drum track, then slight hints of compression at low thresholds and low ratios will be the prescription of choice. Also, if you do decide to strap a compressor across the Drum Bus, I prefer to keep the compressor in Dual Mono, as opposed to linking the compressor in Stereo. Listen for yourself and do what you like, but Dual Mono seems more exciting and natural – allowing the drum tracks to sort of leap out of the speaker during fills and crashes.

Remember, experimentation is key with compression of drum tracks. Have fun and be sure to read my other articles in this series which address gating, parallel compression, equalization, and other concepts.

Drum Track Processing, Part 1: Gating

Drum Track Processing Tips, Part 1: Gating -by Thai Long Ly


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. 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. I will also assume most of you will be using a DAW (Pro Tools, Logic, DP, Reaper, etc…) of some sort. With that said, lets get started with 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. Each technique produces a different effect on the overall sound, so experiment with your drum tracks and see what works for you. Some guys will gate all drum tracks but 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 this point as it’s a valid one and the decision to gate drum tracks or not depends entirely on the type of material being performed and what you’re going for aesthetically. With that said, I generally 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. Although no approach is ideal for all circumstances, this is the certainly the most “natural” sounding approach. Think of gating as tight and dry while not gating as big and airy. Again… experiment and have fun.

Look for more of my drum track processing tutorials on this site. These tutorials will help you with compression, parallel compression, ambiance, and equalization.

Drum track FAQs

Who owns the rights to the drum tracks? After payment has been received and you receive your drum tracks you own the rights to them and may do as you wish with them without my consent.

If I have added MIDI drum tracks to my song, can I have you play the same or similar pattern? Yes, just send two versions of the song: one with the MIDI drum tracks for my reference, AND a file without the MIDI tracks for me to record my drum tracks with.

Why do I have to pay a deposit? This is standard practice and is done to "weed out" less committed clients.

Will my information be shared with anyone? I will NEVER share your information with any third party, that is my policy. This is a secure site.

What is your standard microphone configuration? We have 16 high-quality inputs and generally use 12 of them: BD internal, BD external, snare under, snare over, tom1, tom2, tom3, HH, overhead R, overhead L, room R, room L. We can make any variation on that configuration that you request.

What if I have a large file but a slow internet connection? You can always send me the file through regular mail on a DV-R.

How can we communicate? Emailing me some info about your musical preferences is a good start, but beyond that we could communicate though Skype (a free download) or iChat.

Can I be physically present at the recording session? If you live in LA (or want to travel here) and want to be at the recording sessions, separate rates apply. Contact me at shaydrums@hotmail.com for further info on this.

How do I pay? With Paypal, of course! Most major credit cards accepted.