Trouble Free Drum Mixes

Drums - Miking and Mixing

Drums can be one of the most aggravating things when you are mixing a full band, but many times people make the entire drum miking and mixing process much more complicated than it has to be. There are several different methods of miking drums, and each has it's advantages and disadvantages.

Close Miking

Close miking the drums involves putting a condenser or dynamic mic next to each piece of the drum kit, with additional mics close to the cymbals. This gives much more control over the individual components of the drum kit, but demands much more time in the mixdown process. For certain situations the additional control over the individual drums, especially when it comes to adding reverb and other effects.

There are many companies that offer mic kits for this, and these are usually a mix of dynamic and condenser mics.

'Jazz' Miking

Jazz miking or room miking the drums generally involves 3 studio microphones, usually large diaphragm studio mics, although some other mics can successfully be used (such as the AKG C1000). With this set-up, one mic goes in front of the kick (typically 12 - 16" away from the hole in the front kick drum head) and 2 overhead mics, usually placed 2 - 2.5 feet above the cymbals. Experiment with the placement of these overheads for the best result.

Reverb can still be added to the overhead for ambiance, but the main advantage to this type of mic set-up is the fact that it is very easy to get a very good, organic drum mix as the overheads pick up everything - the snare, the cymbals, and toms. And the stereo field is still good, just pan each over-head mic to the left and right.

For kits with lots of drums the overhead system generally works best, but of course there are many times when you will use some combination of the two, such as a standard 'jazz' miking technique with an additional snare mike for extra control over the snare.

 Which mics to use? 

I am a big fan of buying the best mic you can comfortably afford - but all recording engineers, especially those just beginning, need to realize that most people listening to your final mix won't have any idea what microphone you used to record anything. 

Don't let the perfect get in the way of the possible - there are a lot of amazingly capable mics right now for relatively small purchase prices, like the Apex 415 Large Diaphragm studio mic pictured above (available at James House of Deals for just $149.00 bucks!) that do an excellent job; there are even some in the less than $100 range that work quite well as overheads, such as the Audio Technica 2020 and the Apex 435B.

Once you have the song on 'tape', I like to start with the kick drum as the basic starting point on any song. Put compression and EQ on it, but just get it the general 'shape' that you want it to be - don't spend a lot of time working to get the perfect kick sound.

This goes for the other drums too, and we will talk about why in a few minutes!

After you get the kick sounding good, this will help set the volume for the rest of the song. Bring up the other drums after applying compression, but don't even bother EQing these drums yet. Once you have spent literally just a few minutes getting the drums up, bring up the bass guitar - it should be mixed about equal with the kick drum as far as volume levels go, sometimes a bit louder. 

Then bring up the rhythm and melody instruments.

Now, the reason you don't want to spend a lot of time getting that elusive 'perfect' drum sound is simple - you can't. I have seen engineers banging their heads against the walls getting the perfect drum sound by spending 15 - 20 minutes on each mic on the kit, and this can take up a lot of time if you are miking each individual component. Even with the room miking technique, doing this can take an hour!

The problem is, as soon as you start bringing other instruments and especially the bass guitar into the mix, it will throw off what you have done with the drums. 

In mixing a song down, everything affects everything else; this is simply the way frequencies work once everything is up and running. Instead of thinking of the drums as a single unit, always consider them as part of the whole. If the kick drum is obscured, instead of turning that drum up more take some of the bottom end out of the bass guitar (between 50 - 125 Hz is a good place to start). If the bass isn't punching through loudly enough over the kick, try enhancing the mid frequencies of the bass guitar to make it stand out more in the mix without in turn obscuring the kick drum.

Only after you have a good overall mix started should you begin listening to the drum mix and; you might need to add a bit of high end or mid-range to the snare to make it pop more, or roll off mid's or lows on the overheads so the toms don't interfere with the bottom frequencies of the kick and bass guitar.

Reverb and Drums

This is another area that you need to approach with caution - don't add a lot of reverb before you get a good mix on the song as a whole. Generally, the faster and busier a song is, the less reverb you will want to use. Keep in mind, you should always 'solo' the channel that you're working on,l and switch back and forth between soloing the channel and letting he whole mix play so you can here what you are changing in relation to the song as a whole. 

Slow songs have a lot more room for reverb, but many engineers have a tendency to turn the reverb up too much - use it sparingly, it should barely be noticeable in your mix!

Follow these simple rules, and keep in mind that quite often with drums, less is better - adjust the drums to the needs of the song, striving for a good, clean, clear mix where you can hear everything.

This song is one I used the Jazz Mic method on, and spent only about 25 minutes mixing the whole song. Have fun, and always remember you are mixing for the song - this will help to keep you from spending hours getting the 'perfect drum sound' only to realize that as soon as you start adding the bass guitar and other instruments you have to undo a lot of what you did.

For recording gear in Lincolnton and musical gear James House of Deals is open 6 days a week - come down to see all that we carry!

MixDown and Mastering - Understanding Studio Monitors and Why You Shouldn't Use Headphones Or Home Stereos

The Skinny on Studio Monitors

Recording music is easier than ever these days (but still not so easy it rivals falling off a log) but the mixdown and mastering still hold a special place in the minds of many home recording engineers - mainly, that they can't do it.

I would never take anything away from a good mastering or recording engineer - they can do things which I still don't understand.

But that is not the be all and end all of making your stereo master tracks and then Mastering them; everyone has an ear, and mixing multiple tracks into a listenable song is a skill like any other. When you start out the results might not be so pretty, but stay at it.

Understanding the Difference

Understanding the difference between mixing your stereo master tracks and Mastering is crucial, but it is something that a lot of aspiring recordists don't fully understand.

For a moment we are going to assume that all the tracks are synced up in time, that there are not any phase issues and everyone has recorded their parts in the right key.

Recording the Stereo Master tracks are where the greatest part of your sound, good or bad, is going to come from. This is where you actually mix all your individual tracks (or stems) into a stereo master track.

Peresonus Studio One has some great mastering tools which make the process much easier!

Mastering, on the other hand, is when you apply a final stage of EQ and compression to the stereo master tracks which you have created during the mixdown process.

This final stage does a couple of things - it ensures that all tracks you are doing have a similar volume setting, and it applies a bit of final compression and EQ to your mix.

Mastering your stereo mix down tracks should not be thought of as a way to 'fix' a poorly mixed stereo track. The stereo track should sound excellent before the final mastering takes place.

WHAT YOU ARE LISTENING THROUGH

This can make a lot of difference. Actual studio monitors are the best thing to use when mixing as most studio monitors add very little shaping to the mixed music. 

It is possible to use home stereos in a pinch, but the problem with home stereos or good consumer headphones is that they shape the music, accentuating the bass and high frequencies and often scooping a bit of the mid frequencies out.

When using such systems to mixdown your tracks, though, this makes it very hard to accurately tell exactly how your music sounds on a base-line level; this results in a mix which might sound very good on a particular system or set of headphones, but when played through other systems you realize the bass is way to heavy or almost non-existent, or some of the instruments or voices are buried in the mix.

Use Different Sized Monitors

I always liked to run at least two different sized monitors; one fairly small set (Like the Presonus Eris 4.5's) and one set with a bigger speaker or a subwoofer.

The Presonus Eris 4.5 monitors are a great deal, just $199.99!

These Behringers are a 6" monitor, and have a good amount of bass response

Switching back and forth between the two different sized monitors will allow you to pinpoint any frequency problems, and it also helps to reduce the risk of tiring out your ears.

Keep in mind, you are trying to get a mix where the song shines - your goal with studio monitors is not to get the best sounding speaker you can afford, but it is to get a good, flat response so that you can actually hear what you are mixing.

An old trick, and one that works great, is to import a stereo track from a similar type of music into your project, and compare your mix to how the imported track sounds. This gives you a direct A/B comparison to music that you sounds great to you.

Reference, Reference, Reference

Once you have a good stereo mix completed, don't pat yourself on the back to quickly. First you will want to listen to it through a number of different systems. When I am mixing, I like listening to a track that we think is ready through at least three things - a small, cruddy boom box or little CD player, a  good quality home stereo, and a car stereo.

When your mix sounds good in all of these amplification sources, you can be assured that it will sound good in just about any listening environment.

Now, on to the next song!

Mastering - The Misunderstood Art

So, if you had eight songs in your project and they are now all mixed to perfection, now is the time for Mastering those tracks. Even if you are sending your mixdown tracks out to be mastered, you should still master your tracks yourself just to see what kind of results you can get.

Keep in mind, the whole point is to get your music in front of people - 
and being proud of it once it is!

Generally, in mastering a track there will be a bit of compression and some very light EQ involved - you SHOULD NOT have to make big adjustments here; if you find yourself doing that, consider remixing the song.

It does help to have a fresh set of ears at this stage of the process; the goal is to put a final polish on the songs, and to make sure all the songs in a project have a similar volume level, and that they have a volume level which is an average for released songs (you don't want your songs appreciably lower than other source material).

Sending your songs out for mastering can be worth the money, but never assume that the person you are using has the sole gateway to good sound. An engineers best piece of equipment is what is between their ears. That being said, a well mixed song that is properly mastered is going to have a bit more 'pop' than one which isn't, and the hardware and software tools and technology you have available can make this section of the process much easier.

For new and used recording equipment in Charlotte and the surrounding area, including Presonus, Apex, Audio Technica and more, come to James House of Deals, the newest music store in Lincoln County!