March Mix Competition - Its Voting Time Again!!!!

[butlerk02]

I'm really struggling with the drums again. Can't seem to make them big and meaty without using samples, and I don't want to go down that route with this track.

Any suggestions any would be greatly appreciated.

Really like the track and the guitars sound great btw.

[cheddatom]

When mixing drums, I generally get the overheads sounding nice, which might take a bit of EQ and compression, and then I solo each individual close mic and work out where a mid-cut should be. So, on the snare top, a cut around 600Hz might sound good. On the bottom, a cut around 1K or 5K. On the kick around 200Hz etc etc.

Then I like parallel compression on the whole kit, and probably individual compressors on the kick and snare

Edited March 19, 2013 by cheddatom

[Twigman]

My drums just ended up being a muddy mess......drummers going mental on the kit are not my usual fodder.

[butlerk02]

It also sounds like the drums were recorded in a very large room, so the overheads sound more like room mics than overheads. Think this is why i'm finding it hard to add any beef to the drums.

It could also be that I'm crap at mixing and I'm getting my excuses in : )

[cheddatom]

yeh it's a massive room with huge reverb sorry!

[51m0n]

Big rooms for drums are a thing of beauty, embrace the spill

Nah, I've not even listened yet - they could be well tricky for all I know, I'm just trying to sound cool

[cheddatom]

well I love the sound, but I record a lot and it took me about 6 months in that room to get happy with my mixes.

Now i'm looking at moving to a smaller/drier space and that's scarey - I'll have to find reverb plug-ins that I like for drums!

[lurksalot]

I like reverb so big roomy drums are ok by me

[butlerk02]

No need to apologise fella, I personally just find it challenging. I'm happier dealing with stuff that's recorded dry, then adding reverb later. But these challenges are all what this thread is about.

Hopefully I'll get better at it.

[51m0n]

Had an hour at this. Just got the project set up and started cutting some of the yurchh out with eq.

Drums sound great to me - nasty hihat though!

Edited March 19, 2013 by 51m0n

[Twigman]

I have listened back on something other than my studio monitors and can safely say my mix SUCKS big time.

It's awful!

Ha Ha

but I enjoyed it and am already looking forward to next month

[cheddatom]

I don't think I used the hat mic at all Si. In fact for the whole album I recorded a hat mic but didn't use it 'cos it didn't add anything. Is that my positioning do you think?

[51m0n]

I think its a mix of the mic used, the position of the mic and the hats themselves, although they dont sound too bad on the overheads. But thats micing at a distance, which is a very different thing from trying to get a mic to sound good tight on a hihat without a load of spill. Not an easy task, and if the mic tends to exacerbate some nasty frequencies in the instrument and you dont notice it whilst tracking then you are stuffed

[cheddatom]

it's ont of the Red Audio overhead thingies that come with the drum set... always sounded fine as an overhead. I wonder, would a dynamic mic work better on the hats? What do you use?

[51m0n]

Ha, by the time we are talking hi hat mics I'll use whatever there is available

I've used all sorts from a Rhode NT3 (not at all bad, but maybe a bit too 'splatty'), to a crapped out old ribbon mic (sounded rather fabulous actually, lovely chick sound when closed without ever sounding harsh as the hats opened).

The trick is to listen to that mic soloed when you are placing it, you have to hear what it is picking up, most hihats sound terrible close miced and position becomes super important, a hypercardioid mic can really help because you can turn it off axis and lose some of the worst of the bite. When ever you place a mic like this you obviously also need to bring up the other mics and check for phase and spill issues, you can build a little spill shield out of a 5" disc of heavy mdf and some acoustic foam too (it can help, honestly!).

If you are recording super dry drums (can we say 70s funk) a great hi hat mic can be really important, although you can do at least as well with a ribbon mic off the side of the snare drum sharing duty with the snare and the hi hat (search for George Massenburgs tips on drum micing on youtube, the guy is a bona fide legend!).

If your drums are soggier than a biscuit at a public school then all you want from that hi hat is to get a little more presence to the attack of the hihat sound in the OHs, and for that you really just need a sound that doesnt totally wreck the timbre of the OH hihat. This hihat track is really fighting the 'real' distance timbre of the hihht in the mix though (its got horrible resonances in it which is why this is happening), I havent entirely given up on it yet, but if I cut much more out with eq it may as well not be there

[cheddatom]

oh dear, I hope everyone else has submitted their mix, they're getting some great tips here!

I'll have to play about with a hat mic once i'm in my new space, which should be nice and dry

[51m0n]

Here you go...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZOVZQgXl9k

[Skol303]

So... when's the deadline for entries this month?

I've got some way with mine, but won't have chance to work on it again until Sunday (although hoping to have it 'finished' that day). Currently trying to suck some of the mud out of all those guitars without them losing their [i]oomph[/i]. All good fun and games

[oggiesnr]

I'm having fun with this but it's a huge learning curve. I've never tried to do this before and so I'm learning as I go. Probably won't get a useable result this time but maybe another month.

I've had four false starts so far and I'm just about to go back and start with the drums.

I'm using Cubase LE4 and by the time i finish I may know my way round their manual

Steve

[51m0n]

I would think we will be wrapping up on Wednesday.

I can't get much done before then...

[Skol303]

I'm in! PM sent…

[cheddatom]

Thanks for the George Massenburg video Si, I got around to watching it yesterday, it's very interesting

[51m0n]

Right all the mixes are in (mine was last, but I havent listen to any of them I promise.

Link here to all your efforts:-

https://soundcloud.com/bc-mix-competitions/sets/bc-march-mix-competition

[Skol303]

Well done Si! Sterling work in getting these all downloaded and re-uploaded, etc.

I'd advise putting a big, fat link to the SoundCloud page in the OP of this thread. Took me a while to find the link in other posts. But then I am a bit thick

[b]EDIT: just realised there already [u]is[/u] a link the SoundCloud page in the OP of this thread. My bad! Maybe make it a wee bit bigger and fatter for the mentally-challenged, such as I.[/b]

Edited March 28, 2013 by Skol303

[butlerk02]

Thanks again Si.

I have some decent stems for next month. Just let me know if they are needed.