Systematic Mixing Series #2: In Soviet Russia, Drums Slam You

[Soundlurker]

I found myself nodding while reading and thinking to my self "yeah, that sounds about right". It must have been a lot of effort to put it all into a well-formed post, though.


I'd add that side-chaining is awesome (the kick to the bass and the snare to the guitars) but I know you don't feel that it's necessary.

[espartaco]

WOW! Ermz thanks for this man! really! i been trying this and the guitars mixing tricks in a mix since this morning and is unbelievable how the mix become 200% better. there are so much things i always overlooked, i always thought way my drums sound 2D and then i read :" 600 to 800hz: The 'flatness' region. Scoop this in order to add more depth to drums." i try it and do some cuts and bang!! it was a revelation to me. thank you so much for take the time to write this and share your knowledge.!

[gabriel g.]

I dont get your "Phase" chapter.

If you hit record and track the drums, phase-lock all the different takes before you start editing.

You are destroying all your room sound if you line up snare transients of room and close mics.

Phase is comming from the wave form and the time delay.

If you want a good drum sound without samples DONT line up everything, leave it as it was tracked (and lock the phase)
then you can edit, and the room and OH snare hits will always be behind the close mics.

You can also do this:
for a more roomy sound, you could bring the room mic or OH-mic tracks forward and use the close mics as push-mics.
In this way your drumsound will be defind by the room sound, but gets punch through the later arriving close mics.


Ps: I only read you post on the fly and maybe I understood something wrong

[Morgan C]

Natural snares are fucking IMPOSSIBLE to get right. For me, at least, it comes down to pure luck. There have been times where the snare has sounded pretty bad in the room, sounded even worse through the close mic, yet when it came time to mix it all.. it somehow worked, and I managed a totally natural snare that everyone loved. Other times I can spend an hour on the tuning, another hour on the mic'ing and still can't get it sounding anything close to passable, even though it's sounding far better in the room and through the close-mic.

Was surprised not to see anything about saturation in there. Do you not use any saturation besides Nebula?

Also, i highly recommend the SPL Transient Designer (the attack portion of it was released free, that's what I use). A lot of transient designers, like dominion, work well in increasing the attack, but SPL also brightens the attack, while leaving the decay portion unEQ'd. This means that once it comes to clipping and limiting and otherwise murdering your snare, the attack still pokes out a little more because it's brighter, rather than the snare as a whole becoming unnaturally harsh.

[if6was9]

Great idea on the end of tom fills. Never thought of doing that before and it's caused some problems for me in the past. I do something similar with cymbals when there's a break in the song and they count it on hats/stick clicks for everyone else to follow so no idea why I don't do it with toms more often.

[Ermz]

Glad it's working out for most of you guys!

Originally Posted by Steven Otto

Hey Ermin,

I really enjoy your Systematic Mixing Series. Is there any way I can donate, to stimulate your great effort? I can't make you a millionaire, but hey, even the little bits count!

And, do you mind if I save these tutorials on my computer in a document. Ofcourse, I won't distrubute it or whatsoever.

Yes of course you can save it. Since it's freely available on the internet I'm sure many people will, without asking.

I'm considering, at the end of this, depending on how large and expansive the guide gets, to perhaps compile an eBook. A more refined, well-formatted version of these guides with additional content. And perhaps charge $2 or $5 a pop, to cover the time I'll inevitably spend putting it together?

Does that sound reasonable?

The free versions I imagine will always be available to those here on the board.

[joelplagues]

Make it available for iPad and iPhone and I'll buy it

[greyskull]

nice.

[DanLights]

Originally Posted by Ermz

Glad it's working out for most of you guys!

Yes of course you can save it. Since it's freely available on the internet I'm sure many people will, without asking.

I'm considering, at the end of this, depending on how large and expansive the guide gets, to perhaps compile an eBook. A more refined, well-formatted version of these guides with additional content. And perhaps charge $2 or $5 a pop, to cover the time I'll inevitably spend putting it together?

Does that sound reasonable?

The free versions I imagine will always be available to those here on the board.

Well I already saved it and printed it out without asking, is that ok?

I would more than happily pay for a finished Ebook (PDF?) version after all are done, specially at such a reasonable price for such a good amount of useful information

[Ermz]

Yeah, it would be in PDF format, for sure. I assume iPhones and iPads are able to read them? Or is there a Jobs-ban on that format too?

[jipchen]

Haha no, PDF works fine on iPhones
I'd also buy an eBook / PDF version (not on the iPhone though, the screen is still too small for such long texts imho)

[DanLights]

Originally Posted by jipchen

Haha no, PDF works fine on iPhones
I'd also buy an eBook / PDF version (not on the iPhone though, the screen is still too small for such long texts imho)

I read the Count of Monte Cristo on my Iphone 3g, and on a 4 it´s much easier to read. So no problemo there

[Steven Otto]

Originally Posted by Ermz

Yeah, it would be in PDF format, for sure. I assume iPhones and iPads are able to read them? Or is there a Jobs-ban on that format too?

PDF can be viewed on Ipad standard.
Maybe if the book is completed in like half a year or so, I can help make an interactive version of the book as an Ipad App.

[shredder10]

I made like...Lots of screenshots of this lol
Lovely Guide Ermin! Word.

[jeid]

This is fuckin stellar advice Ermin. Thanks very much

[Geno_]

great effort and great information again!

off topic i wish i was as eloquent as ermz/alot of the guys around here.

[Jahbulon]

Thanks a lot Ermin. Your whole series compiled in a .pdf would be absolutely awesome. I have a .pdf of the reaper user guide on my Ipod for reading absolutely anywhere and I think it has helped me learn the program inside and out. I would definitely read your series all the time though.

[fitzrangerhoodngarb]

Mate, respect for going to the effort but you need to sort out the phase section. She not right.

[Terminus]

Wow, that's quite a bit of info! I appreciate the effort Ermz, I really hate mixing drums and can never get a snare going that i truly like. will come in handy for sure! :bowdown:

[Ermz]

Cool. Do we have a consensus on where the phase section is incorrect?

I knew the aligning close mic transients to OH business wouldn't be up everyone's alley, but is that the extent of it, or is there more?

[ahjteam]

Originally Posted by Ermz

Cool. Do we have a consensus on where the phase section is incorrect?

I knew the aligning close mic transients to OH business wouldn't be up everyone's alley, but is that the extent of it, or is there more?

time aligning != phase phase aligning. I learned that in this thread:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/p...al-micing.html

[koalamo]

Idk what the general consensus was but make a book man I'm sure people would buy it I would this is extremely good information

[Rupturemetal]

Thank god for bulb's superior presets, now I don't have to remember any of this

[Giacomo]

Thank you Ermin, you should really write a book! May I ask you how would you suggest to high pass the kick for fast stuff? Somtimes I high pass till 60 hz, when I feel there is too much sub, am I wrong?

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

If you're really wanting to align your overheads and room microphones with your close mic'd, you should consider moving the OH and Room tracks forward and align them to a central element of your drumkit (the snare or the kick), not the other way around (not moving the kick to the OH, then the snare, etc). Takes less time, sounds more natural, and is tighter (considering the drums have been already edited).

One more important thing to do though is to move the left or right oh and room microphones to make sure the snare is right in the center (if the microphones were not perfectly positioned you will have the snare coming up earlier in one of your track). Same applies to the volume of those.

Well, actually the reality of it is that you shouldn't physically move them but use your DAW's track playback delay to get this right. Two reasons for that: it's non destructive, and you have to do it once for your album instead of doing it for every song, at the risk of moving it slightly differently for each song.

Haven't finished reading though, it's sooooooo loooooooong