Ratio – 5:1; Threshold – -15dB; Attack – less than 10ms; Release – 170ms; Gain – Use makeup gain if your plugins support; Conclusion: Rap Vocals . Now lower the attack time to the shortest setting possible. and make cuts where other instruments need to shine. But what if I told you that you don’t have to be an expert (with years of experience) to make professional music at home? For a thicker sound, go with a fast attack time. Read: Best Mics for Drums After the overheads, then comes miking the kick drum. That might do the trick! This is a very valuable one as I use it in my mixing on vocals. You might not want to have any kick sounds in your snare mic, and vice versa. If so, then you’re going to love this new free masterclass. I’ll usually just add a gain plugin at the end of my plugin chain and turn the volume up by 5dB. Does it need to be brighter? Let’s move on to our tonal shaping. That usually does it. The low end? View Larger Image; Download our Controls and Features Cheat Sheet PDF! For example, if you want a natural kit with a little bite to it, you could dial in some heavy compression settings and mix it in to where it’s barely heard. Finally, add a little reverb to your snare. A consistent low end is important to a pro-level mix. Today we’re going to cover everything you need to know for mixing drums. Tips. Bonus: Download the Drum EQ Cheat Sheet. The final thing I tend to do on my drum bus is add a little saturation. So in other words, we’ll be mixing our entire drum kit first. If you’re struggling to craft drums that sound like the ones in your favorite records, you’re not alone. And with that, we’re done with our kick. And so on and so on. As annoying as this advice is, use your ears. What if I told you that you can make radio-ready music at home, even if you’re new to mixing? Too muddy? Everything else, however, can be panned however you’d like. The kick drum is the foundation of the drumset. Finally, add a little reverb to your snare. You might want to do some EQ and compression on the overheads. With that out of the way, let’s start our mix! Then, one-by-one, bring in everything else. If it’s too boxy, cut some of the low mids. . These setting can change depending on how aggressive or natural you want your tone to be. It’s a great tool for those who are learning to train their ears during mixing. Set up a send, get your settings the way you want them, and mix the channel into the original sound. It’s whatever the mix needs! If you’re wanting a tighter/cleaner kit, you might want to try gating your drums with a noise gate. Then bring up the most important elements one at a time. Now, there might be a few extra things to tweak, depending on the size of the set you recorded (and the sound you want). And if they’re not treated properly, they’ll actually make each other sound, If it doesn’t have a spectrum analyzer, just, boost an EQ band and sweep it around in that area. That will lead to a good balance between aggression and realism. So, if you want a shortcut to pro-quality mixes, watch this free masterclass now: But if you just want to learn all about Mixing Drums specifically, keep reading. Learn how to make radio-ready music at home… without wasting hundreds of hours on YouTube. If you need some help discerning where exactly to boost or cut, check out our article on EQ and the Frequency Spectrum. Use an EQ sweep to find where that range is. Using reference tracks makes your mixes sound more professional, balanced, and consistent. You should hear that the drum sample(s) are being horribly over compressed. fundamental frequency, but a range of them. Trust me – it’ll be a huge help when you’re trying to put this technique into practice! Otherwise, you’d have to mix each mic separately, taking up more time and processing power. We want to make sure we can hear enough detail of the snare without taking it out of the context of the mix. After that, I turn down the drive until the aggression is right where I’m wanting it. Just rumble and room noise that could muddy up the mix. By the time we’re done, you should have all the tools you need to. For more details, watch this video on parallel compression . The k… We’ll be using a system I call the, The drums are the foundation of a song. 15 Best Amp Simulators of 2020 (Most Realistic Amp Sims), How to Master a Song at Home (in 14 Easy Steps), How to Mix Vocals: The Definitive Guide [15 Steps], Before We Start: Send Everything to Busses, EXTRA STEP: Tweak To Your Heart’s Content, we’ll be mixing our entire drum kit first. We’re already doing that on our drum bus. For a punchier sound, go with a medium/slow attack time. Reverb is another option. Then, set up a medium attack, medium release, and 5:1 ratio. Why would I filter the low end on my main low end instrument? That’s one of the secrets to getting a pro mix. Set up a send on the drum bus and add your compressor to that new aux track. When the drums are balanced in an aggressive section, they’re more likely to be well balanced in the rest of the song as well. Now dial the ratio and thresholds back until your drums sounds natural again. For example, if you have two snare mics, then set the output of each channel to the same bus. Make a small cut in those areas (or at least avoid boosting there). That’s the fundamental frequency. ... Like in kick drums you want to make the tail ends of kicks more prominent then you should choose 1st option. The trick to mixing the kick drum is balancing it with the bass. Step 3: Snare. If you’re using a. , then send a little of your snare there. That tends to be the sweet spot. Once you’ve filtered the sub-bass, it’s time to use Range Allocation and make cuts where other instruments need to shine. It has some great techniques for finding problem areas in your instruments. Then set the input of an aux channel to that bus. If so, then you’re going to love this new free masterclass. We all want our drums to sound massive, hard-hitting, and larger-than-life. It’s probably somewhere between 40-100Hz. EQ Vocals Cheat Sheet . Mixing can seem overwhelming, time-consuming and downright frustrating… if you don’t have a process to follow. Listen to the references again. Next, let’s do the same for the bass. Maybe you want the cymbals to be pumping a. Want your mixes to sound pro? If you need a little guidance in your listening, check out our article on EQ and the Frequency Spectrum. The kick or the bass? Once I’m done mixing the snare, I’ll bypass this plugin. If it’s a rock or a metal tune, it’s likely the bass. Ideally, you want to use a compressor that has a mix knob. Mixing with references is extremely important! You can do everything just right and still end up with music that sounds amateur if you’re missing a crucial step. Try using 7-10dB of gain reduction with a higher ratio. So when mixing drums, you need to treat it with care. Songwriter and producer. Remember: you’re going to be mixing this into the original, uncompressed version. If you’re using a. , then sending your kit there is crucial to creating a cohesive mix. It’s whatever the mix needs! Once we know where our fundamental frequencies are, we can make pockets for them. This will allow you to mix the compressed sound in with the original sound. EQ, Compression, Reverb and Delay Cheat Sheets. We’re going to do this by listening to a few reference tracks and comparing their drum sounds with our own. We’ll turn on the filter and slowly move it up until the “thump” starts to dull. Just thread carefully on adding below 100hz if you are utilizing a sub bass and if you are making EDM as these areas tend to get really cluttered if done wrong. So before we start to work on the tone of the kick drum, we need to get our low end to sit better. It’s very helpful for getting rid of the mic bleed that happens with each individual drum mics. I use this to whenever I’m mixing drums, so I know it will come in handy for you. If you’re working with samples, don’t be afraid to leave them alone. In fact, I’ll often cut some of the frequencies in that area.