Fixed it in the Mix | Season Six, Episode 20
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- Опубліковано 30 жов 2023
- There’s often a huge disconnect between the drum sounds you hear on recordings and what those drums sounded like in the room. This is the root cause of a TON of frustration when it comes to tuning- having an unrealistic expectation for your desired sound. We’ll show you how a lackluster sound can be “fixed in the mix” to create a passable sound within the context of a full recording.
PATREON:
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PRODUCTION PARTNERS:
GIK Acoustics (sonic treatment): sladl.ink/GIK
AKG Audio (microphones): sladl.ink/AKG
Evans Drumheads: sladl.ink/EvansDrumheads
ProMark Drumsticks: sladl.ink/ProMarkDrumsticks
Signal chain:
Mics - Focusrite Clarett 8Pre USB- Mac Studio w/Pro Tools 2022.5
Recorded at 48kHz / 24bit
Microphones: Pair of AKG C314 in Recorderman Configuration sladl.ink/C314Pair
Toms: AKG C518M sladl.ink/C518M
Kick Drum: AKG D12VR sladl.ink/AKGD12VR
Snare Drum: Lauten Snare Mic
Acoustic Treatment:
GIK 242 Acoustic Panels: sladl.ink/GIK242
GIK 4A Alpha Pro Series Diffusor/Absorber: sladl.ink/GIK4aAlphaPro
GIK Evolution PolyFusor Combination Sound Diffuser/Absorber: sladl.ink/GIKEvolutionPolyFusor
GIK Tri-Trap Corner Bass Trap: sladl.ink/GIKTriTrap
Drums:
Pearl Masters Maple Custom Extra w/60’s Ludwig Acrolite
Cymbals:
22” Jesse Simpson clone of old Zildjian A, 15" Zildjian Kerope Hihats
Drumheads:
Snare: Evans G12 coated / Snare Side 300
Snare Wires: PureSound Custom Pro Steel 20-strand
Toms: Evans G12 coated / G1 Clear
Kick Drum: Evans UV EQ4/ EQ3 Coated White Reso
Hosted by: Cody Rahn
Production & Consulting: Ben O'Brien Smith @ Cadence Independent Media
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When I began playing in the early sixties, I could often tell what drums and cymbal brands were on the records I listened to. These days... forget it!
You guys are doing so much for the future of drummers.
I just imagine being a kid again and discovering this channel.
It’s everything to get you on the right track and actually feel, touch and listen to the instrument.
Love it - big respect guys ❤
You guys do an awesome job at getting to the endth degree on all things drums. I enjoy your videos a lot.
This video and a couple of others that you have done have touched on how drums sound raw versus completed and released drums sounds. That single thing had been something that I have struggled with when trying to enjoy raw acoustic drums versus overproduced studio drum sounds.
Yes, they all have their place when creating drum sounds. Having said that, it can cloud the thinking of a drummer and other musicians when they try to get a sound they want.
Thank you for taking the time to share and explain in detail how you guys handle this.
I look forward to more drum learning greatness.
Great topic, guys! I agree, we hear post production drums, and we think our drums should sound the same. So, we dampen them, choke them, put different heads on them, buy the latest gadgets, etc. I, for one, am guilty of all of the above. I don't know what the answer is, but I suspect, in some far off future, we will go back to basics, and once again dig the sound of raw drums. Let's hope it's sooner, than later. Thanks for your posts, Cody and Ben.
Happy Halloween! Thank you for not making gimmicky holiday content every season. Such a breath of fresh air every year from you guys
I think what's especially noticeable in your example is the extreme shortness of the sounds due to muffling that in the end the processing/ production has to make up for.
While I try my best to tune and mic for the exact sound that I have in mind, I will allow the drums to sound longer than absolutely necessary. Because not only will some of that be eaten away or masked by other instruments in the mix - it's also a lot harder to regain needed sustain artificially than shortening a signal with a noise gate which (at least in rock/ pop production) will most certainly be used on that drum anyway for better isolation of the close mic.
This thing has tripped me in following tuning videos: I’d follow the steps in the video, amount of turns etc, and in the video it sounded good, my snare drum sounded like crap. Not even hearing the same thing as the video maker or not knowing if I am. Just the fact we interact a lot via microphones, preamps, maybe also eq, compression makes it harder to understand each other when it comes to sound production. I know there are other pitfalls with counting turns, and ignoring the fact each drummers hits their drum a certain way. This video reminded me of the microphone and preamp that is always between us on youtube. Great video! Very good points p.
Dig it. Very much a cautionary tale for recording drums - especially with how what we hear reflects what we’re exposed to. You nailed it, in that the better the drums sound without the studio magic, the better the sound it will be with it.
The good thing is that a lot of big producers even in the extreme metal scene, they have come back to ''as natural as possible'', with the use of samples only for re-enforcement because in that genre there's a lot happening that ''eat up'' the whole frequency spectrum like high gain gtrs for example.....
Source tone is EVERYTHING 🖤
Very interesting. My takeaway from this is "always make sure your drums are tuned to sound the way you want them to." While the post-production sound was *somewhat* better than the original truly crappy sound of the original, I don't think that much of anything could be done to fix that snare sound. Poor little Acrolite! Choked out in just about every way! One of the biggest reasons I have the takeaway that I do is that Pat Mastelotto is a friend of mine, and I know exactly how his kit sounds before recording, and it really isn't very much different from how his drums sound raw. Pat plays with a lot of power, and whether in a small, dead room or a larger concert hall, he manages to convey the power of his playing through meticulous tuning, and coordinating with the sound crew to make sure that he'd mic-ed properly.
Thanks as always, guys! Cody's groove that starts at around the 8:20 mark was a highlight, too.
Happy Halloween
4:34 "That doesn't mean you're crazy, it doesn't mean anything's wrong with you"
Why are you looking right at me when you say these things, Cody 🤨
I actually like the raw sound of the drums… except for the floor tom
In most live settings drums sound terrible in a room... I think recordings are its own form of instrument you could say. Real drums versus processed drums can’t really compare even; neither is better or worse etc.
Neither is better or worse…but live drums sound terrible? 🤔 If you haven’t been happy with the sound of live drums in a room then it sounds like there might be some work to be done.
what is the point of even living???? yikes
Cool vid!
Just one nuanced point from a sound engineer, when you mention "raw unadulterated sound" when it comes to drums, it's a bit tricky. To get to my point, lets just first acknowledge that putting mics on drums is already not the same as being in the room. Not just because of the perspective of the mics (you usually don't have the ear an inch away from the kick etc) But mainly because your ears will compress way sooner than mics will, that is to protect the hearing, and that will to my guesstimation equal to 10-15 db compression, sitting on the kit playing at a moderate volume. So there is a case for adding some compression to raw sounds to make them more authentic, authentic in realism that is. There is also a counter case to be made that, "this is what the changes will be from the recording perspective, pre mix" Which also is helpful, it's a bit of a parallel world, recorded sound and live sound.
You’re absolutely right. Our approach with hundreds of episodes across the last six years has been that “raw, unadulterated sound” in terms of the lack of any processing. We acknowledge that there are choices being made when it comes to microphone models, placement, etc. but those are maintained for the sake of continuity. In the end, our goal is transparency and consistency while reproducing what we’re hearing in the room. This came out of years of frustration from seeing countless videos about drum tuning and acoustic drum sound presented with digital reverb and hyper-EQ’d drum tones compressed within an inch of life. We also wanted to be able to say, “this is what the microphone is capturing- there’s no modification beyond the signal chain outlined in the description.” Thanks for watching!