very interesting! kind of a general question on the effect drums, are there frequency ranges for each sound that are better suited for applying effects? I noticed when you isolated the effect channel and the drums sounded small - do they sound really big sometimes? and is that a choice to change the overall vibe within the mix?
man it is SO situationally dependent. I guess I'd consider everything from 5k and below to be fair game, things can get really harsh in the upper regions when you're doing this. but even then it really depends on the kind of distortion you're using; it might sound fine full range! generally I'm not even really thinking of the actual frequencies, I’m more focused on abstract feelings of “distance” and “size” as my two guiding principles. think of it this way, if I want to convey something that’s “huge” but “far away” I wouldn’t limit the range of the filter to the telephone-ish 1-2k region like I did here, I’d focus on a much broader area that includes a lot more of the big sounding low-mids while still cutting out a lot of the highs to push the effect “away” from me. if I want something small and closer up, I’d do the opposite. these are always snap judgements I’m making in the moment, but in most cases the goal is to contrast whatever the surrounding context is. if the song is already sounding big it makes more sense to me to shrink things down in a moment like this. when we did “up to here” I wanted the opposite! blown out, far away sounding drums looming in the background over the tight arrangement we had going on in the foreground. it’s a lot to think about!
very interesting! kind of a general question on the effect drums, are there frequency ranges for each sound that are better suited for applying effects? I noticed when you isolated the effect channel and the drums sounded small - do they sound really big sometimes? and is that a choice to change the overall vibe within the mix?
man it is SO situationally dependent. I guess I'd consider everything from 5k and below to be fair game, things can get really harsh in the upper regions when you're doing this. but even then it really depends on the kind of distortion you're using; it might sound fine full range! generally I'm not even really thinking of the actual frequencies, I’m more focused on abstract feelings of “distance” and “size” as my two guiding principles.
think of it this way, if I want to convey something that’s “huge” but “far away” I wouldn’t limit the range of the filter to the telephone-ish 1-2k region like I did here, I’d focus on a much broader area that includes a lot more of the big sounding low-mids while still cutting out a lot of the highs to push the effect “away” from me. if I want something small and closer up, I’d do the opposite.
these are always snap judgements I’m making in the moment, but in most cases the goal is to contrast whatever the surrounding context is. if the song is already sounding big it makes more sense to me to shrink things down in a moment like this. when we did “up to here” I wanted the opposite! blown out, far away sounding drums looming in the background over the tight arrangement we had going on in the foreground.
it’s a lot to think about!
I love watching these breakdowns! Since we don't track together, I'm missing out on all the mad science work you do under the hood!