Love ya glenn you never stop learning. Learn so much from your drum vids. There is nothing wrong with trying to sound like the black album! Bob Rock created a masterpiece with the drum sound on that record.
That ability to tune the EQ to the drum's fundamental and then automatically targeting the overtones is GENIUS. Consistent EQ curves for toms are always a frustration and this is a game changer! These AiXDsp plugins are super smart and sound excellent, you really do find awesome shit Glenn.
What would you recommend here? Saturn by Fabfilter maybe? You can distort individual frequencies, instead of the entire signal with it. Great for sub bass.
LisaHöfl Nolly uses a lot Saturn, it's one of his go to plugins. So when you listen about Nolly distorting a part of the source or some frequencies in particular his 99% using Saturn
This is the way i eq my toms even without this plugin , but one knob moving the whole eq seems very useful. I actually start with a hi pass filter and i move it till i hear the bottom end going out then i dial it back and boost the low end there, now i know my fundamental (by filtering and boosting i have a precise low end like using a vog), then i multiply this frequency to find the harmonics , boost and cut accordingly for my mids, for upper mids and highs i boost at frequencies that give me that snap but also space for other boosted areas of other instruments, i set the floor and then copy the eq to the toms and i move the low and mids accordingly the high and high mids are the same almost in all toms so i have the same snap all around, and for more punch and ''body'' i parralel compress them using a overdrive or distortion and sometimes a plate before the compressor while having a high pass(sometimes set very high) to move out fighting frequencies of the mix
The neatest thing was when you pulled each frequency band of the tom separately so we can hear the boxy and resonant bands and how that relates to the overall sound and punch. I run tape and analogue so plugs don’t really work for me but I found your tuning of the EQ to be very enlightening and I am excited to try it using a couple of parametrics. Your tuning really smartened up the sound. Thanks!!!
walking away or "sleeping on it" is the single greatest problem-solving tool in ANY profession. I can't even count the amount of times I've been struggling to get the right drum sound or the right guitar arrangement and the solution is ALWAYS walking away.... even if just for a brief "smoke break" or whatever. if THAT doesn't work... I just start over. Take away all the mikes, retune the kit, swap cymbals, room placement, and re-approach the miking scheme... sometimes it's just a matter of reevaluating "which microphones are doing what" for the overall mix, especially once you've dialed in the sound you want in the room. Underrated.
Just got audio interface. Came with Pro tools. I'm a classical guitarist with 0 computer skills. Let's see where this goes. Thanks for all you info on this stuff. I'll need it.
This really came in handy, as I'm currently working on a mix/recording that has a quite a thin tin-like Tom 2 14" and a too boxy, slightly muddy FloorTom. Didn't want to replace them by a sample.Was using the StudioEQ in combination with the Scheps Omni Channel to get quite a decent result, but the AIX that I just downloaded got a better result faster. Did buy it straight away. Thx for the tip.
Vættr Official Why should it be? You can clearly see how wide the band is and how much gain he adds to the frequencies, very simple to convert in my opinion.
Mixing toms always baffled me. Thank you for "cracking the code." I don't know if I can get mine to sound quite like the thunder of the gods as you do though, but they'll be a whole lot more impressive. Thanks!!!!
Well, the Drum EQ is a dynamic EQ, so it's completely different from the SSL one and allows you to do things SSL isn't even designed for. Though you're not using the dynamic part at all so i think it's fair comparison. It does have nice tools for those resonances etc. so it's clearly designed for drums... that's really handy! Thank's for the tip!
Glen it occurs to me that this would be an excellent plug in to train the ears with for EQ in general. Focusing in on those frequencies, and matching them would be a great way to learn to pick the individual frequency assets or liabilities out of an audio tracks spectrum,
You can achieve this with any graphic eq that allows you to sweep around manually after the resonance freq. Just turn it WAY up, an sweep around to find the frequency, then scoop off anything that doesn't sound like a cannon.
Damn Glenn this was so helpful! I love your in depth videos and I always learn a lot about what to listen for. Not gonna let being hard of hearing stop me. Keep killing it!
Using a specific plugin is not really a trick is it? This is an EQ that adjusts all bands with a single knob so that you are always working in octaves. I'd say the real trick here is to use octaves on a parametric EQ. Just make sure every band you use is exactly double the frequency of the last one. Also might as well share my favorite trick for mixing toms: Copy the kick EQ and adjust the frequencies accordingly (and change the lowest band to a bell curve if you're using a shelf on the kick). Gives you very quick and consistently great results.
Interesting point here but I'd argue that your method would do the same thing, but it would take much longer to first of all find the fundamental, then to make adjustments to each band. I'd also argue that most Parametric EQ's (especially outboard ones) don't necessarily have that many bands. I'd also argue that using a specific plugin is a "trick" but it's definitely not a mixing "technique" per say as your approach would be. I don't necessarily want to get caught up on semantics here but rather make conversation! I hope all is well and I hope you're making awesome tunes!
I'm a huge fan of the UAD Pultec EQP-1A on my toms, and my "secret" is an Andrew Scheps technique of bussing all my toms together then applying some EQ into some compression with a limiter at the end to keep the red lights off. I've been a huge fan of some FabFilter > EQP1A > CLA76 (then maybe) > FabFilter again to just clean up a spot or two the compression brought up. I sometimes don't even compress the Toms if they were recorded really well.
This sound relys alot on the reverb, scooped dry drum sounds can sound a little bit weak, of course I agree if this was a review of this plugin but seeming its for getting this kind of sound the reverb is needed.
I use this method live too. I'll check the toms with a tunebot, write down the fundamental and go set all my eq's ahead of time. Boost fundamental and cut the two octaves above it. Simple math and amazing starting point every time. Depending on what type of top end snap you want, bump anywhere from 3.5k to 8k. And yes, I did learn it from Glenn haha! 🤘
The best trick that I've ever seen to make, not just your toms, but the entire kit sound great was the use of bubble wrap. You get those large rolls of bubble wrap from Walmart or such. You then leave it in its rolled form. For those larger drums, even the bass drums, you may need to get a larger roll. Then you unwrap the bubble wrap roll so that it fits really snug into the drum itself, unwrapping the roll as needed. Then you carefully push the roll as close as you can to the head. You may need to either tape it into place or leave more bubble wrap on the roll for a tighter fit. Your snare will take some disassembly and trimming to do this. This works every time and it's pretty cheap on top of that. When we did this to my neighbors kit it sounded absolutely amazing from my living room.
Looks like a very cool plugin. As for compression, I'm totally stoked with the Pulsar Smasher. It turns my drums into monsters! I'm also using rear buss compression on the rest fo my mix. Not on the drums though. You should check it out. It's an Andrew Shep trick that I learned from Chris Selim's channel, Mixdown online. Another source for great info. Thanks for another killer video, Glenn!
really? in solo yes but who cares about that, it sounded like a perfect kick for the genre when the full mix was playing)) im listening on genelecs?? kick sounded fucking sick in context with the full mix! maybe a taste thing
Agree, can hear an annoying audible click of the drummer burying the hard plastic beater into a hard plastic patch. Just mic a damn e pad at that point lol. Or stop burying the beater so bad
@@oblivionwalker8613 We recorded it the same day that we did the test of changing different beaters and different kick patches. The clickiest one just happened to be what was on the drum when we recorded this. Its a bit too clicky for sure. But thats what happens when you experiment. In that video, I mentioned specifically that this is what happens when you bury a wood beater into a danmar impact pad, which is why I use the Falaam Slam.
I don't know anything about recording and mixing music, but when I get to the point in my life where home recording is a possibility I'll gladly rewatch any video.
Thanks mang...great stuff as always. I've said this before, but your intro music ROCKS !!!! I actually gave up coffee and now I just play your intro 3 times a day !!!!! lololol
Great idea. It seems taking out 2 octaves above seems a sweet spot, so I think we can use that on our own Equalizers. but it looks really easy with that EQ!
That Avenged Sevenfold album was mixed by Andy Wallace and has very characteristic A. Wallace Signature Sound. There is a great mixing session on Mixing with Masters where Andy Explains in details how he gets his sounds. The man who mixed Nirvana, GNR , Rage Against the Machine, Velvet Revolver and billion others -cant be wrong :) You would be surprised how much he is achieving just by using SSL desk only, with a few outboards exclusions: please Check Rick Beato's video on A. Wallace, Symphonic effect yamaha spx 90 mostly on bass( or a guitar -Come as You are-)and stereo bus- smart compressor C 2 . Anyways, when it comes to Andy its all about riding faders( including ambience tracks), shaving/shading frequencies. What i recall for the drums sounds is that he gets massive fills by riding ambient faders down so they are very dry and articulate. And yes , he is using samples - mostly kick and snare, described as kick that its punching in your chest on and a snare sample- mostly as a laye for that 80s snare white noise verb, My fav mixer of all time ! ua-cam.com/video/F916ioSWdts/v-deo.html R Beato video , ua-cam.com/video/bX6LcB-WObw/v-deo.html A. Wallace
Hello from S.C.,U.S.A. Mr. Fricker, just wanted to say THANK YOU!, for this awesome tutorial video. Well done as always. I never miss any of your YT posts.I usually stay out of the “comment” section but this video was so killer I had to chime in. I’ve been in the “business” a loooong time and I totally understand and feel for you when you receive all the ridiculous text and comments from all the wanna be’s/posers in the world. It’s a tough business that most youngsters don’t have a clue at all about how much hard work, money and headaches it takes to get anywhere. I hope you and your family are well at this “crazy virus” time we all are trying to get through. Please keep up the great work and again Thank you for all that you do and have done with educating the masses on just how important production and engineering is to this business. Being a guitarist, I’m sad to say, musicians are a dime a dozen. It’s the producers and engineers that really define how your band sounds. Keep up the great work and, Thanks again.
I think you should fix your reverb on your drums, it has a lot of highs and long decay. Try Waves Rverb's Tiled Room preset and cut the highs up to 3khz.
on my old computer i had the CLA collection, and one of the EQ programs had a "metallica" EQ sound, i added it to the toms and room mics and holy fuck did it give me a hell of a sound! i'll probably try this program once i get back up to recording and mixing on my new comp :)
Thanks Glen for the inside info! they used to say that even the best (vinyl) records hardly came close to the sound in the master tapes (and more so I guess when all the equipment was top end and the engineer first class) but now those bad old days are fading with todays tools and song files.
Yeah, that album from Avenged Sevenfold was their homage to the Black Album. "This Means War" and "Sad But True" are pretty similar, from being in the same or very similar keys to the tempo lining up pretty closely.
Also the main riff from Sheperd Of Fire sounds kinda like Enter Sandman. But don’t get me wrong, I love both albums, Its great that they got inspired by such a classic.
John Paul Hare And I also noticed that the rythm guitar part in the intro of Sheperd of fire is similar to For Whom The Bell Tolls. Might just be a coincidence tho.
Decapitator! It's my secret (not so secret) weapon for toms - makes them sound huge a beefy. Sometimes follow it with an L2 if they're still too attack-y.
Glenn, you have taught me so much. I bought a tascam 102i interface about 2 years ago, but I never used it. It's still in the original packaging it came in. I hope I haven't made a bad choice because there's almost no "how to" videos, but I am a huge fan of tascam. I have a dp24 SD, and it's just great, but I want to advance to the interface. Do you think I should have gone with something else? I got the tascam because you can turn the phantom power on or off on each individual channel. Plus, I really love the sound of their preamps. I guess it's all just a matter of personal opinion. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge with us!
While its not as easy to do this specific thing, I have been using Infinity EQ by Slate for doing this because you can really dial in and the graphs are great.
Sounds great!!! I just thought the kick drum needed a little more sub kick with a bit more attack on top . Just to get in the same family with toms and kick. Hear great kick drums with bad toms and the other way round. Just my opinion, but the tweaks you made were killer. New drum heads and tuning help..... Thanks for the vid...😎
You're right for sure, but we had just finished doing a video on changing beaters and impact pads, so the kick was setup for that. This video was just an afterthought as we were finishing up. I asked him if he could make the toms sound like Shepherd of Fire. So we messed with the positioning of the mics for about 5 minutes and then did this one.
I just got it and i feel like that would be so sick If it also came with different presets because as a beginner with new software as well it’s tough to mess up
Do you have a preset for Drumq based on the sounds you got? I know I need to use my ears but with the way you can shift the eq for each drum a starting point would be amazing.
Hey Glenn! Cool to hear that you liked Avenged Sevenfold's drum sound for their Hail to the King album. Its weird to hear that massive tone they had on that album and then listen to their next album, The Stage, which sounds i dare say thinner. My personal thought is the mastering got carried away with compression. Got any thoughts on this? Or is it just a bad trend with popular modern metal bands to overly compressed?
Seems to be a bad trend to be overly compressed... As I Lay Dying’s new album was a good example and pretty much anything from Memphis May Fire after The Hollow is compressed to shit. It’s just the way metal’s being mixed now and I hope it stops because it doesn’t sound good at all. Causes ear fatigue and it’s just so damn boring to listen to :/
When The Stage came out in 2016, engineers weren't convinced that the Loudness Wars were over, so streaming platforms loudness limits ended up smacking things down quite a bit. Thats why I switched to using Tidal, they have lossless quality streaming and downloads that makes a HUUUUGE difference. @zach O'Hara I am the biggest homer for As I Lay Dying. I love their new album but I was completely baffled by the asthetic decisions on that album. "My Own Grave" sounded perfectly mixed and mastered, and the rest of the album.... did not. The opening 2 seconds of "Shaped By Fire" sounds so stupidly fake, like straight up programmed drums, which I just can't understand because Jordan Mancino is an absolute MONSTER drummer :/
Hey, man, thanks for posting! Unrelated question: got any idea what crash cymbals Narada Walden used on the Gladys Knight, "License To Kill" 007 title? One of those sounds amazing! Thanks, bro for any help on this.
Just amazing, Glenn. One thing I noticed, too - those toms were tuned very well, and sounded like they had fairly new heads. It all works together, though - why, o why do you tempt me to spend more money on plug-ins?
Does having a second Tom mic for the rezo head matter? One of my favourite engineers, Brendan O'Brien, has his toms mics up with a Y cable, with one of the wires out of phase. He puts two different mics on both sides of the tom, and connected to one channel. I'd love to see a video comparing the differences between micing the top, bottom, both in different channels, and both in the same channel! Thanks, and keep up the awesome work Glenn! -Teo
Yes it can be done and it does sound good, but he uses two 421s, which are $400 each. And then you need more mic stands, more cables, more inputs, you have to spend an hour getting the phase right. Its more trouble and cost than its worth.
@@BeatsAndMeats from what I've watched and read, he uses a Y splitter cable, which goes into one channel. Plus the cable is designed to have one wire out of phase.
Yes but they need to be almost perfectly out of phase. And 421s are VERY difficult to position. The clips are terrible, and the mics are heavy. So you need very sturdy, expensive stands and if they sag or move slightly, they end up sounding like ass. That's why hardly anyone uses that technique... Too much work, too expensive, too many things that can go wrong. The drummer hits the mic once, and you have to start all over
As unfortunate as it is that Lars' snare on the Black Album used samples, in the clips from A Year and a Half there's some room clips and the snare sounds... pretty much the same? I've heard someone somewhere (probably Rick Beato) say it was sampled but it almost sounds the same, despite being a camera microphone instead of the actual recording mic. Considering Lars constantly pounds on the snare as hard as fuck-all possible, he hardly has any dynamic anyway so it might just be hard for me to tell. But I do wonder how the record would've sounded without the sample
DrumQ link is dead Glenn, please update with valid link so you get credit. Actually I'm buying the whole Drum Producer Pack so I'd like to see you get the credit. As always great great stuff, thanks!!!!
Well , the hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows It's no stranger to you and me [flails arm around frantically on air drums] Is that sound even usable for anything nowadays ?
For your next Q and A: Not really a Metal Recordingthing but, how do i deal with hughe natural reverb in Recordings. I mean empty Church 1 Guy singing and playing Guitar massive Hall Scenario.
Hey Glenn, how come you don’t color code? Just something you never really thought about? We use reaper as well and it makes things worlds easier for us to know what everything is and where at a glance, as well as makes it WAAAAY easier for people who’ve never even looked at a DAW (aka bassists and drummers) to kinda figure out what’s going on. Also makes the screen all around more pleasant to look at for hours at a time lol
Hey Glenn, Looking for some advice relating to EQ/comp for toms. More specifically octobans/cannon toms. A song I'm mixing utilities 3 out of the drummers set of 4. I just can't get them to sound nice a snappy like you'd come to expect, there seems to be a lot of flubby low end ring after the hits. I've tried gating them but to no avail. Any ideas?
Not related to audio at all. Noticed you have a good amount of camera shake in some of these shots. are you using a stabilization effect in your video edits? if not, it may help. I believe there's one built into Resolve, but i don't remember where it is or how to use it
You could literally do this in any EQ plugin, it would just take a little more work. He's showing you what he does with the tools he uses, I don't know what else you expect.
Reg Rock Ok, then I want to hear your music... I‘m pretty sure your mixes also have a realistic Kick sound? I mean it’s basically the same thing yk, and I‘m pretty sure you have that clicky kick sound like every modern rock and Metal record ever.
When my boy was 4 I would be watching AC/DC live at donnignton. When the cannons would fire at the end I told him cannon balls hit people in the back of the crowd.
Hey FU Glenn! This video made me wonder; When you're working with clients and they have a certain sound in mind, how do you approach this? Im not talking about when someone is like "i wan my band sound like tis and this band", but more like in the general direction when it comes to mix, tones, timbres and stuff. Would you recommended getting some examples of songs that sound like that? And as a producer, are you thankful for those kind of informations, or do you feel like reproducing something?
Hi Glen! So my dog ripped my brother’s “Got polio, me neither” shirt, I was wondering if I could order another for him. I noticed it’s been removed from the website
Love ya glenn you never stop learning. Learn so much from your drum vids. There is nothing wrong with trying to sound like the black album! Bob Rock created a masterpiece with the drum sound on that record.
Absolutely. And I believe they got that idea from hearing Tommy Lee's drum sound on Feelgood.
That ability to tune the EQ to the drum's fundamental and then automatically targeting the overtones is GENIUS. Consistent EQ curves for toms are always a frustration and this is a game changer! These AiXDsp plugins are super smart and sound excellent, you really do find awesome shit Glenn.
The best tom tip I ever got was from Nolly: Distort the upper mids and up
I'll have to try that out!
What would you recommend here? Saturn by Fabfilter maybe? You can distort individual frequencies, instead of the entire signal with it. Great for sub bass.
@@dracula7919 Is exactly what I am doing, gives me wonderful results!
LisaHöfl Nolly uses a lot Saturn, it's one of his go to plugins. So when you listen about Nolly distorting a part of the source or some frequencies in particular his 99% using Saturn
If you have the slate bundle with kilohearts, there is a multicomp plug-in that can do the same thing.
This is such an underrated video. Glenn…you NEED to remind people that this video exists! We need a short on mixing TOMS.
Watched an old video you uploaded from 5 years ago and wow! youre killing it with your diet glenn! Great video as always, thanks for the info!
This is the way i eq my toms even without this plugin , but one knob moving the whole eq seems very useful. I actually start with a hi pass filter and i move it till i hear the bottom end going out then i dial it back and boost the low end there, now i know my fundamental (by filtering and boosting i have a precise low end like using a vog), then i multiply this frequency to find the harmonics , boost and cut accordingly for my mids, for upper mids and highs i boost at frequencies that give me that snap but also space for other boosted areas of other instruments, i set the floor and then copy the eq to the toms and i move the low and mids accordingly the high and high mids are the same almost in all toms so i have the same snap all around, and for more punch and ''body'' i parralel compress them using a overdrive or distortion and sometimes a plate before the compressor while having a high pass(sometimes set very high) to move out fighting frequencies of the mix
Very interesting. How do you multiply? By what...
"Wow, that really is trying very hard to sound like the black album." That describes that particular Avenged Sevenfold Record to a T.
As much as I like that certain album, I have to admit it does sound a lot like that.
Must admit its still a great sounding album!
Yeah I hated that album
Seems like he meant the mix, not the content.
@@ALGband indeed
The neatest thing was when you pulled each frequency band of the tom separately so we can hear the boxy and resonant bands and how that relates to the overall sound and punch. I run tape and analogue so plugs don’t really work for me but I found your tuning of the EQ to be very enlightening and I am excited to try it using a couple of parametrics. Your tuning really smartened up the sound. Thanks!!!
A thousand thanks from an amateur producer (and bassist!), this tips made my toms sound awesome!!!
walking away or "sleeping on it" is the single greatest problem-solving tool in ANY profession.
I can't even count the amount of times I've been struggling to get the right drum sound or the right guitar arrangement and the solution is ALWAYS walking away.... even if just for a brief "smoke break" or whatever.
if THAT doesn't work... I just start over. Take away all the mikes, retune the kit, swap cymbals, room placement, and re-approach the miking scheme... sometimes it's just a matter of reevaluating "which microphones are doing what" for the overall mix, especially once you've dialed in the sound you want in the room. Underrated.
Just got audio interface. Came with Pro tools. I'm a classical guitarist with 0 computer skills. Let's see where this goes. Thanks for all you info on this stuff. I'll need it.
Good luck!
You're going to do fine. Your training and ears will lead you. Enjoy!
This really came in handy, as I'm currently working on a mix/recording that has a quite a thin tin-like Tom 2 14" and a too boxy, slightly muddy FloorTom. Didn't want to replace them by a sample.Was using the StudioEQ in combination with the Scheps Omni Channel to get quite a decent result, but the AIX that I just downloaded got a better result faster. Did buy it straight away. Thx for the tip.
Well, now I gotta replicate it with ReaEQ
Mikołaj Grabowski the struggle is real
Vættr Official Why should it be? You can clearly see how wide the band is and how much gain he adds to the frequencies, very simple to convert in my opinion.
Mixing toms always baffled me. Thank you for "cracking the code." I don't know if I can get mine to sound quite like the thunder of the gods as you do though, but they'll be a whole lot more impressive. Thanks!!!!
This is such a HUGE help! I’m learning (and applying) much of what I’ve learned from you. I can’t thank you enough.
Well, the Drum EQ is a dynamic EQ, so it's completely different from the SSL one and allows you to do things SSL isn't even designed for. Though you're not using the dynamic part at all so i think it's fair comparison.
It does have nice tools for those resonances etc. so it's clearly designed for drums... that's really handy!
Thank's for the tip!
Great vid Glenn as always man. Those folks at AIXDSP just sent me those plugins. I can't wait to try those out. Fantastic eq
Glen it occurs to me that this would be an excellent plug in to train the ears with for EQ in general. Focusing in on those frequencies, and matching them would be a great way to learn to pick the individual frequency assets or liabilities out of an audio tracks spectrum,
You can achieve this with any graphic eq that allows you to sweep around manually after the resonance freq. Just turn it WAY up, an sweep around to find the frequency, then scoop off anything that doesn't sound like a cannon.
Well!! That slider is a nifty tool ain't it?! Damn! And here I am after 20 years, still closing my eyes when I adjust EQ parameters.
Nicely done...like the difference this plugin makes!!
Damn Glenn this was so helpful! I love your in depth videos and I always learn a lot about what to listen for. Not gonna let being hard of hearing stop me. Keep killing it!
Using a specific plugin is not really a trick is it? This is an EQ that adjusts all bands with a single knob so that you are always working in octaves. I'd say the real trick here is to use octaves on a parametric EQ. Just make sure every band you use is exactly double the frequency of the last one.
Also might as well share my favorite trick for mixing toms: Copy the kick EQ and adjust the frequencies accordingly (and change the lowest band to a bell curve if you're using a shelf on the kick). Gives you very quick and consistently great results.
Make an A B video on it
Interesting point here but I'd argue that your method would do the same thing, but it would take much longer to first of all find the fundamental, then to make adjustments to each band. I'd also argue that most Parametric EQ's (especially outboard ones) don't necessarily have that many bands.
I'd also argue that using a specific plugin is a "trick" but it's definitely not a mixing "technique" per say as your approach would be. I don't necessarily want to get caught up on semantics here but rather make conversation! I hope all is well and I hope you're making awesome tunes!
I'm a huge fan of the UAD Pultec EQP-1A on my toms, and my "secret" is an Andrew Scheps technique of bussing all my toms together then applying some EQ into some compression with a limiter at the end to keep the red lights off. I've been a huge fan of some FabFilter > EQP1A > CLA76 (then maybe) > FabFilter again to just clean up a spot or two the compression brought up. I sometimes don't even compress the Toms if they were recorded really well.
I’d like to hear how the plugin works minus all the reverb. But that’s just me. Toms sound great both ways though.
Nah, not just you.
This sound relys alot on the reverb, scooped dry drum sounds can sound a little bit weak, of course I agree if this was a review of this plugin but seeming its for getting this kind of sound the reverb is needed.
I use this method live too. I'll check the toms with a tunebot, write down the fundamental and go set all my eq's ahead of time. Boost fundamental and cut the two octaves above it. Simple math and amazing starting point every time. Depending on what type of top end snap you want, bump anywhere from 3.5k to 8k. And yes, I did learn it from Glenn haha! 🤘
The best trick that I've ever seen to make, not just your toms, but the entire kit sound great was the use of bubble wrap. You get those large rolls of bubble wrap from Walmart or such. You then leave it in its rolled form. For those larger drums, even the bass drums, you may need to get a larger roll. Then you unwrap the bubble wrap roll so that it fits really snug into the drum itself, unwrapping the roll as needed. Then you carefully push the roll as close as you can to the head. You may need to either tape it into place or leave more bubble wrap on the roll for a tighter fit. Your snare will take some disassembly and trimming to do this.
This works every time and it's pretty cheap on top of that.
When we did this to my neighbors kit it sounded absolutely amazing from my living room.
Is this for dampening ?
That sounds really interesting... make a video on it!!
I think my neighbor did. Search "The Asshole Next Door". I'm sure I'm there somewhere.
Looks like a very cool plugin. As for compression, I'm totally stoked with the Pulsar Smasher. It turns my drums into monsters! I'm also using rear buss compression on the rest fo my mix. Not on the drums though. You should check it out. It's an Andrew Shep trick that I learned from Chris Selim's channel, Mixdown online. Another source for great info. Thanks for another killer video, Glenn!
All I can hear is "ticking" and "clicking." Lower the high-end EQ on that kick drum, geesh.
Agree 100%. Sounds like digital clipping to my ears.
really? in solo yes but who cares about that, it sounded like a perfect kick for the genre when the full mix was playing)) im listening on genelecs?? kick sounded fucking sick in context with the full mix! maybe a taste thing
It's metal, not indie rock.
Agree, can hear an annoying audible click of the drummer burying the hard plastic beater into a hard plastic patch. Just mic a damn e pad at that point lol. Or stop burying the beater so bad
@@oblivionwalker8613 We recorded it the same day that we did the test of changing different beaters and different kick patches. The clickiest one just happened to be what was on the drum when we recorded this. Its a bit too clicky for sure. But thats what happens when you experiment. In that video, I mentioned specifically that this is what happens when you bury a wood beater into a danmar impact pad, which is why I use the Falaam Slam.
I don't know anything about recording and mixing music, but when I get to the point in my life where home recording is a possibility I'll gladly rewatch any video.
Holy shit thats a great Tom sound! Thanks for the valuable information!
Helping me reconsider my workflow. Thanks for the insightful information Glenn. 🙏
Yeeeees! Thanks glenn that was awesome! Gonna need this in a future project. :D
Thanks mang...great stuff as always.
I've said this before, but your intro music ROCKS !!!!
I actually gave up coffee and now I just play your intro 3 times a day !!!!! lololol
Great idea. It seems taking out 2 octaves above seems a sweet spot, so I think we can use that on our own Equalizers. but it looks really easy with that EQ!
Sir, you nailed the topic again. Scary, funny, wise, talented and informative video. So...thanks again
Glad you enjoyed it
i am so lost mixing drums, but your videos are sending me in the right direction, couple good laughs during the drum vids you know me too well
I’d love to hear an Eq like this in a cover of “Run to the Hills” because of the sick drum part in that song (specifically the intro to that song)
That Avenged Sevenfold album was mixed by Andy Wallace and has very characteristic A. Wallace Signature Sound. There is a great mixing session on Mixing with Masters where Andy Explains in details how he gets his sounds. The man who mixed Nirvana, GNR , Rage Against the Machine, Velvet Revolver and billion others -cant be wrong :) You would be surprised how much he is achieving just by using SSL desk only, with a few outboards exclusions: please Check Rick Beato's video on A. Wallace, Symphonic effect yamaha spx 90 mostly on bass( or a guitar -Come as You are-)and stereo bus- smart compressor C 2 . Anyways, when it comes to Andy its all about riding faders( including ambience tracks), shaving/shading frequencies. What i recall for the drums sounds is that he gets massive fills by riding ambient faders down so they are very dry and articulate. And yes , he is using samples - mostly kick and snare, described as kick that its punching in your chest on and a snare sample- mostly as a laye for that 80s snare white noise verb, My fav mixer of all time ! ua-cam.com/video/F916ioSWdts/v-deo.html R Beato video , ua-cam.com/video/bX6LcB-WObw/v-deo.html A. Wallace
Love it! Tried to figure out what's the secret to that snappy drum sound for a while.... and whooops there it is thanks!
Hello from S.C.,U.S.A. Mr. Fricker, just wanted to say THANK YOU!, for this awesome tutorial video. Well done as always. I never miss any of your YT posts.I usually stay out of the “comment” section but this video was so killer I had to chime in. I’ve been in the “business” a loooong time and I totally understand and feel for you when you receive all the ridiculous text and comments from all the wanna be’s/posers in the world. It’s a tough business that most youngsters don’t have a clue at all about how much hard work, money and headaches it takes to get anywhere. I hope you and your family are well at this “crazy virus” time we all are trying to get through. Please keep up the great work and again Thank you for all that you do and have done with educating the masses on just how important production and engineering is to this business. Being a guitarist, I’m sad to say, musicians are a dime a dozen. It’s the producers and engineers that really define how your band sounds. Keep up the great work and, Thanks again.
Thanks very much, Lewis! Hope you’re well!
Those AIX DS Plugins are sounding great. Fantastic Tom sound
I think you should fix your reverb on your drums, it has a lot of highs and long decay. Try Waves Rverb's Tiled Room preset and cut the highs up to 3khz.
ive learned so much from you...youre an angel Glenn
You are one of the most entertaining people ever. I love all your videos so please keep them coming, just for me!
Finally!! Something to go practice. At least for me cause I will forever suck at playing guitar, lol. Thanks, Glenn. 😁
Thank-you. The learning never stops.
on my old computer i had the CLA collection, and one of the EQ programs had a "metallica" EQ sound, i added it to the toms and room mics and holy fuck did it give me a hell of a sound!
i'll probably try this program once i get back up to recording and mixing on my new comp :)
Thanks Glen for the inside info! they used to say that even the best (vinyl) records hardly came close to the sound in the master tapes (and more so I guess when all the equipment was top end and the engineer first class) but now those bad old days are fading with todays tools and song files.
Im sure some A7x fan here has already told you but the goal with that album was to make an album that sounded like their influeces. Fantastic album.
Yeah, that album from Avenged Sevenfold was their homage to the Black Album. "This Means War" and "Sad But True" are pretty similar, from being in the same or very similar keys to the tempo lining up pretty closely.
Also the main riff from Sheperd Of Fire sounds kinda like Enter Sandman. But don’t get me wrong, I love both albums, Its great that they got inspired by such a classic.
@@dracula7919 oh definitely. Different time signature or tempo, but especially those toms sound a lot like Enter Sandman, you're right.
John Paul Hare And I also noticed that the rythm guitar part in the intro of Sheperd of fire is similar to For Whom The Bell Tolls. Might just be a coincidence tho.
Holy shit this sounded killer!
Decapitator! It's my secret (not so secret) weapon for toms - makes them sound huge a beefy. Sometimes follow it with an L2 if they're still too attack-y.
Glenn, you have taught me so much. I bought a tascam 102i interface about 2 years ago, but I never used it. It's still in the original packaging it came in. I hope I haven't made a bad choice because there's almost no "how to" videos, but I am a huge fan of tascam. I have a dp24 SD, and it's just great, but I want to advance to the interface. Do you think I should have gone with something else? I got the tascam because you can turn the phantom power on or off on each individual channel. Plus, I really love the sound of their preamps. I guess it's all just a matter of personal opinion. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge with us!
While its not as easy to do this specific thing, I have been using Infinity EQ by Slate for doing this because you can really dial in and the graphs are great.
Sounds great!!!
I just thought the kick drum needed a little more sub kick with a bit more attack on top . Just to get in the same family with toms and kick. Hear great kick drums with bad toms and the other way round. Just my opinion, but the tweaks you made were killer.
New drum heads and tuning help.....
Thanks for the vid...😎
You're right for sure, but we had just finished doing a video on changing beaters and impact pads, so the kick was setup for that. This video was just an afterthought as we were finishing up. I asked him if he could make the toms sound like Shepherd of Fire. So we messed with the positioning of the mics for about 5 minutes and then did this one.
I just got it and i feel like that would be so sick If it also came with different presets because as a beginner with new software as well it’s tough to mess up
Do you have a preset for Drumq based on the sounds you got? I know I need to use my ears but with the way you can shift the eq for each drum a starting point would be amazing.
Hey Glenn! Cool to hear that you liked Avenged Sevenfold's drum sound for their Hail to the King album. Its weird to hear that massive tone they had on that album and then listen to their next album, The Stage, which sounds i dare say thinner. My personal thought is the mastering got carried away with compression. Got any thoughts on this? Or is it just a bad trend with popular modern metal bands to overly compressed?
Seems to be a bad trend to be overly compressed... As I Lay Dying’s new album was a good example and pretty much anything from Memphis May Fire after The Hollow is compressed to shit. It’s just the way metal’s being mixed now and I hope it stops because it doesn’t sound good at all. Causes ear fatigue and it’s just so damn boring to listen to :/
When The Stage came out in 2016, engineers weren't convinced that the Loudness Wars were over, so streaming platforms loudness limits ended up smacking things down quite a bit. Thats why I switched to using Tidal, they have lossless quality streaming and downloads that makes a HUUUUGE difference.
@zach O'Hara I am the biggest homer for As I Lay Dying. I love their new album but I was completely baffled by the asthetic decisions on that album. "My Own Grave" sounded perfectly mixed and mastered, and the rest of the album.... did not. The opening 2 seconds of "Shaped By Fire" sounds so stupidly fake, like straight up programmed drums, which I just can't understand because Jordan Mancino is an absolute MONSTER drummer :/
Awesome tip, thanks for sharing, Glenn!
That’s a great trick! It’s almost as cool as using sampled drum sounds
i hope that is sarcastic. sample sounds are not cool.
Damn I just tried YOUR EQ settings and was happy!!!! Still getting the plug-in tho. lol
Hey, man, thanks for posting! Unrelated question: got any idea what crash cymbals Narada Walden used on the Gladys Knight, "License To Kill" 007 title? One of those sounds amazing! Thanks, bro for any help on this.
Wow! Sounds awesome
Great Video!!! Great Set of Ears!!! Thanks
Just amazing, Glenn. One thing I noticed, too - those toms were tuned very well, and sounded like they had fairly new heads. It all works together, though - why, o why do you tempt me to spend more money on plug-ins?
Money is a means for more plug ins
Remove to resonate heads, mic inside the toms, use a compressor, some eq, gated reverb and boooom 🤘
Sweet toms - fat and punchy! Thanks!
Does having a second Tom mic for the rezo head matter? One of my favourite engineers, Brendan O'Brien, has his toms mics up with a Y cable, with one of the wires out of phase. He puts two different mics on both sides of the tom, and connected to one channel. I'd love to see a video comparing the differences between micing the top, bottom, both in different channels, and both in the same channel!
Thanks, and keep up the awesome work Glenn!
-Teo
Thanks for the Brendan O'Brien info !
Definitely one of my favourite producers as well !
His drums are so punchy and in your face, he just knows his gear and how to create his sound.
Yes it can be done and it does sound good, but he uses two 421s, which are $400 each. And then you need more mic stands, more cables, more inputs, you have to spend an hour getting the phase right. Its more trouble and cost than its worth.
@@BeatsAndMeats from what I've watched and read, he uses a Y splitter cable, which goes into one channel. Plus the cable is designed to have one wire out of phase.
Yes but they need to be almost perfectly out of phase. And 421s are VERY difficult to position. The clips are terrible, and the mics are heavy. So you need very sturdy, expensive stands and if they sag or move slightly, they end up sounding like ass. That's why hardly anyone uses that technique... Too much work, too expensive, too many things that can go wrong. The drummer hits the mic once, and you have to start all over
My go too tool is Smack Attack by Waves. You get a great sound every time with very little fiddling.
now get it without that. That is the skill./
Righteous sounding drums.
As unfortunate as it is that Lars' snare on the Black Album used samples, in the clips from A Year and a Half there's some room clips and the snare sounds... pretty much the same? I've heard someone somewhere (probably Rick Beato) say it was sampled but it almost sounds the same, despite being a camera microphone instead of the actual recording mic. Considering Lars constantly pounds on the snare as hard as fuck-all possible, he hardly has any dynamic anyway so it might just be hard for me to tell. But I do wonder how the record would've sounded without the sample
DrumQ link is dead Glenn, please update with valid link so you get credit. Actually I'm buying the whole Drum Producer Pack so I'd like to see you get the credit. As always great great stuff, thanks!!!!
Fuck that is the tom sound from Hell. Love it
I'd really like to work with you on a recording project. I enjoy your passion, your tenacity, and your ear.
Well , the hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows
It's no stranger to you and me
[flails arm around frantically on air drums]
Is that sound even usable for anything nowadays ?
This is what i was looking for holy shit
For your next Q and A: Not really a Metal Recordingthing but, how do i deal with hughe natural reverb in Recordings. I mean empty Church 1 Guy singing and playing Guitar massive Hall Scenario.
I actually really like the snare sound on the black album. But that is a great drum sound in general
was watching this video, and it hadn't even finished before I was on their site and bought the plugin. Downloaded it, tested it, loved it!
That first example sounded like Nick Menzas toms on Trust from Cryptic Writings.
Hey Glenn, how come you don’t color code? Just something you never really thought about? We use reaper as well and it makes things worlds easier for us to know what everything is and where at a glance, as well as makes it WAAAAY easier for people who’ve never even looked at a DAW (aka bassists and drummers) to kinda figure out what’s going on. Also makes the screen all around more pleasant to look at for hours at a time lol
Hey Glen, what mic are you using for your voice in this video? Thanks!
Hey Glenn,
Looking for some advice relating to EQ/comp for toms. More specifically octobans/cannon toms.
A song I'm mixing utilities 3 out of the drummers set of 4. I just can't get them to sound nice a snappy like you'd come to expect, there seems to be a lot of flubby low end ring after the hits. I've tried gating them but to no avail.
Any ideas?
Not related to audio at all. Noticed you have a good amount of camera shake in some of these shots. are you using a stabilization effect in your video edits? if not, it may help. I believe there's one built into Resolve, but i don't remember where it is or how to use it
their GATE is pretty amazing too!!!
glen the side camera angle shows the weightloss in your face really well... are you doing any kind of exercise in addition to the keto diet?
That EQ is a beast, definitely picking that bitch up !!
i was expecting an actual "lesson" or tips on mixing toms with this vid not a demo of a single plug-in
thanks anyway
Yeah same.
Nothing hes doing here that can't be done with standard eq and compressor though.
Just gotta adapt the info
Using that plug-in still translates to other EQ's and Compressors. You want to watch what he's doing in that plugin and adapt it to what you have.
You could literally do this in any EQ plugin, it would just take a little more work. He's showing you what he does with the tools he uses, I don't know what else you expect.
I think I’d rather have my toms sound like....toms.
Reg Rock Ok, then I want to hear your music... I‘m pretty sure your mixes also have a realistic Kick sound? I mean it’s basically the same thing yk, and I‘m pretty sure you have that clicky kick sound like every modern rock and Metal record ever.
Thanks, Glenn!
I might be wrong but Black album didn't have tunable EQ like this.
Sounds awesome and great heavy ass tune!
I might have to jump on this!
sending this vid to my drummer now
great tips !!
Awesome video !!!
When my boy was 4 I would be watching AC/DC live at donnignton. When the cannons would fire at the end I told him cannon balls hit people in the back of the crowd.
Yeah concerts were better back in the day if you lived through them. Lost a lot of good friends to AC/DC cannons
Hey FU Glenn! This video made me wonder; When you're working with clients and they have a certain sound in mind, how do you approach this? Im not talking about when someone is like "i wan my band sound like tis and this band", but more like in the general direction when it comes to mix, tones, timbres and stuff. Would you recommended getting some examples of songs that sound like that? And as a producer, are you thankful for those kind of informations, or do you feel like reproducing something?
I've never understood how he got such luscious guitars in that intro video.
Ok? What’s the problem?
Hi Glen! So my dog ripped my brother’s “Got polio, me neither” shirt, I was wondering if I could order another for him. I noticed it’s been removed from the website
It was a limited run, and I think shirt production has been suspended due to the outbreak