Members race81 Posted February 8, 2010 Members Share Posted February 8, 2010 drums in the mix........setting help please. I am new to running sound. But I do know a good sound person can make or break it for a drummer. I was wondering if theres is any helpful info on settings on the board as well as the eq's specifically for the toms and drums in general.....what to look for, and what not in good sounding drums. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted February 8, 2010 Members Share Posted February 8, 2010 EQ will change from room to room. Personally I like to set the whole mix off of the drums & bass. Use guitar as the filler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drummer_jay Posted February 8, 2010 Members Share Posted February 8, 2010 There are some "basic" guides on how to EQ toms but I can tell you they're not always right. It all depends on too many factors to really nail it down to something simple. Starting with your EQ strip flat is a good starting point. 3 - 6kHz is typically going to be your "attack" zone. Adding in high end and low end is a matter of taste and personal preference. I tend to add a touch of high end to help with clarity. Low end depends on what tom and what sound I'm going for. I like a lot of bottom end on floor toms. I love a floor tom that will sustain for a few seconds after being struck. Trust your ears! As far as where to put the drums in the mix. I like kick almost out front in the mix. Mix to taste, NOT overdone or too much. This is pretty important if it's a dance type band. Snare and Hi hat are pretty dominant in my mixes as well.. Considering these all play major roles in the entire foundation of the band. Toms are noticeably lower in the mix but they're loud enough to notice when a drummer does a fill. Obviously, you never want vocals being squashed by anything..especially drums! I think getting a good drum tone is probably the hardest thing to do as far as mixing a band goes. You can leave guitar, bass and vox flat and it usually sounds acceptable. Perhaps not "good" but acceptable. Once again, trust your ears! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phil Clark Posted February 8, 2010 Members Share Posted February 8, 2010 Unless you are doing 80's style arena rock don't feel the need to gate everything. Some music benefits from a bit of ring in the toms. Just a bit though, a little goes a long way, and too much leads to feedback. But you don't want them set too tight either. My rule of thumb is do as little as you can get away with, and try to let the drum tone come through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drummer_jay Posted February 8, 2010 Members Share Posted February 8, 2010 Unless you are doing 80's style arena rock don't feel the need to gate everything. Some music benefits from a bit of ring in the toms. Just a bit though, a little goes a long way, and too much leads to feedback. But you don't want them set too tight either. My rule of thumb is do as little as you can get away with, and try to let the drum tone come through. YES!!! I always start off pretending I don't know what a gate is! It's not until I start having feedback issues OR just too must ring will I insert a gate. Some guys start off gating from the get go. Nothing wrong with that approach, I just love natural, big open sounding drums. Of course, some music calls for that gated sound... or thin sounding drums etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members race81 Posted February 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 8, 2010 Another group I was with always used a compressor and a gate..........but one time we didn,t have the unit and the new sound man said it was ok, that we didnt need it anyway. when I first started running the soundcheck on the kit it sounded like crap....he tweeked a few knobs on every mic and the things sounded awsome. I wish I knew what he did, but I dont. So I know that my kit is capable of runnin full bore so to speak, if I can learn how to adjust the board and eq. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allexcosta Posted February 8, 2010 Members Share Posted February 8, 2010 I have a bunch of drum sounds in my "audio memory" and when mixing I try to match what's coming from stage with those sounds, depending on the style that's being played in that particular night. Sometimes it needs a little bit of kick in the PA, with minor EQ and no processing. Sometimes I'll mic everything, use gate/compressor/reverb and heavy EQ'ing to achieve what I'm looking for. Some important things: - In small/medium spaces you're already getting a lot of drums from the stage, so just add to what you're getting, don't fight it.- Mics are your friends, find the ones that work for the sound you like.- Find out if the drummer is open to a few suggestions on pillow placement, a little tape on the floor tom's head and stuff like that. Sometimes these small things make a world of a difference. If I'm not sure about the style or what to go for, I try to get the drums to sound like this: http://www.scarbee-downloads.com/demos/sid/carlsen_jive_drums_fx.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted February 8, 2010 Members Share Posted February 8, 2010 Sweepable mids that go down into the lower mid-bass area help a ton on kick and toms if they want to take off a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted February 9, 2010 Members Share Posted February 9, 2010 As far as where to put the drums in the mix. I like kick almost out front in the mix. Shows that you are a drummer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TimmyP Posted February 9, 2010 Members Share Posted February 9, 2010 With each drum: What's there too much of? Cut it (often between 150Hz and 400Hz.) Too thin? Dial in some bottom. Too cardboardy? Dial in some upper mid (often between 1kHz and 3kHz). I often hear too much stick attack. It helps accentuate the hit, but not the tone - it's just added noise. Dial back the top end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drummer_jay Posted February 9, 2010 Members Share Posted February 9, 2010 Shows that you are a drummer I think when I first started, I probably had the drums way to hot in the mix. Then I noticed, if the sound guy was a guitar player... the guitar was hot in the mix.. if he was a bass player, guess what stood out in the mix!! That was bar gigs back in the day... and since then, I make sure I mix the drums to where I think they sound good.. then pull them back ANOTHER few db's to play it safe! Most of the time when I'm the main FOH guy, there's no pro's in the crowd to evaluate my mix. That would be helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1tribe Posted February 9, 2010 Members Share Posted February 9, 2010 Cutting some mids can clean things up alot. Boxy or boomy kick drum sound? Try cutting around 500hz. (or sweeping in that region) You can cut around that area too for toms. This can free up some space for vocals or guitars. Try cutting the lows in the OH mic's. Just a few idea's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted February 9, 2010 Members Share Posted February 9, 2010 I think when I first started, I probably had the drums way to hot in the mix. Then I noticed, if the sound guy was a guitar player... the guitar was hot in the mix.. if he was a bass player, guess what stood out in the mix!! That was bar gigs back in the day... and since then, I make sure I mix the drums to where I think they sound good.. then pull them back ANOTHER few db's to play it safe! Most of the time when I'm the main FOH guy, there's no pro's in the crowd to evaluate my mix. That would be helpful! Yup, that's not uncommon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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