Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Share your favorite Ableton Live tips, tricks, and techniques.
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Toneless
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:22 pm

Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by Toneless » Tue Sep 21, 2010 3:27 pm

Hello everybody :)

At the moment i'm trying to learn some mixing techniques and i'm working especially on drums right now (eq, compression).

On the link below are mixed drums and i would like that you listen to it and give me some good tips/advices (like is there too much/too litle reverb, are kick, snare and tom ok, what could be louder/quieter, and so on), so i could do even better. Just tell me if i'm on the right path/way. For now i'm using the built-in Ableton inserts except the Waves reverb plugin.

Here is the link -> CLICK

I hope my ears are hearing properly :)

Thank you,
Toneless

FadY
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by FadY » Tue Sep 21, 2010 8:35 pm

well I will turn your question back... I'd love my drums to sound as good as these... How do you get this? Are some third party plugins involved or is it plain ableton?

Toneless
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:22 pm

Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by Toneless » Tue Sep 21, 2010 9:55 pm

FadY wrote:well I will turn your question back... I'd love my drums to sound as good as these... How do you get this? Are some third party plugins involved or is it plain ableton?
Hello Fady,

well here i use samples, so i have 6 different audio tracks (kick, snare, tom, closed hihat, congs and shaker), then i EQ every single track and after that i put default Ableton compressor, so everything is a bit cleaner and louder :)

At the end i put default limiter on the master channel so the volume isn't getting over the 0dB.

I have also created 3 different return tracks (reverb, filter delay, ping pong delay) and i've set sends for each track differently.

So it is plain Ableton yeah, except the Waves reverb plugin.

Thats all my friend :wink: I hope i explained your question :)

P.S. -> but still i'm wondering how do you get such a "rich" and "full" sound, like here for example -> CLICK (everything fits so good together). I'll have to practice a lot to get a result like this, but probably they use some other high quality plugins instead of default ones.

Cheers 8)

FadY
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by FadY » Wed Sep 22, 2010 7:40 pm

I find yours better! :oops:
which wave plugin do you use?

Toneless
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:22 pm

Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by Toneless » Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:50 am

FadY wrote:which wave plugin do you use?
This one -> Renaissance Reverb Plugin

Cheers :wink:

FadY
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by FadY » Thu Sep 23, 2010 4:15 pm

is it very different from the ableton reverb?

Apoplexia Music
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by Apoplexia Music » Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:31 am

DAMN!!!! that sounds great! i don't think you need very much help in mixing your drums, sir! :)

but a few cool tricks :

- did you know about parallel compression, where the dry signal is mixed with a heavily squashed signal (in a aux track), their sum being instant greatness?

- another trick being parallel distortion (distortion unit in an aux track), if you've got some pristine drum sounds and want to keep their clarity, but at the same need to rough them up a bit.

- tape distortion/compression is great on drums, as it brings out second order harmonics which make your sounds huge and warm. unfortunately, the only Tape distortion algorithms i know of are the Tape Delay in Logic (but used as a distortion device with no delay) and the Tape mode of Reason's Scream 4.

another cool trick if you like your huge washes of reverb, is to duck the reverb signal with the kick drum.

Toneless
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:22 pm

Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by Toneless » Fri Sep 24, 2010 2:35 pm

Apoplexia Music wrote:DAMN!!!! that sounds great! i don't think you need very much help in mixing your drums, sir! :)

but a few cool tricks :

- did you know about parallel compression, where the dry signal is mixed with a heavily squashed signal (in a aux track), their sum being instant greatness?

- another trick being parallel distortion (distortion unit in an aux track), if you've got some pristine drum sounds and want to keep their clarity, but at the same need to rough them up a bit.

- tape distortion/compression is great on drums, as it brings out second order harmonics which make your sounds huge and warm. unfortunately, the only Tape distortion algorithms i know of are the Tape Delay in Logic (but used as a distortion device with no delay) and the Tape mode of Reason's Scream 4.

another cool trick if you like your huge washes of reverb, is to duck the reverb signal with the kick drum.
Tnx for your feedback man, i'll try all the tricks you've mentioned :) I've heard of parallel compression and really, i must learn it :D cause i want to make good music :wink:

Tnx again and cheers,

Tone

eggnchips
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by eggnchips » Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:21 pm

Try a new Eq. Plenty say the Oxford is the best. I've been having fun with Fabfilter's newish one.
Casio keyboard with 48k ZX Spectrum, a couple of tambourines and a triangle.
MUHK RECORDS

Toneless
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by Toneless » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:28 am

eggnchips wrote:Try a new Eq. Plenty say the Oxford is the best. I've been having fun with Fabfilter's newish one.
I've seen this one, but haven't tryed it yet.

Tnx man,

Tone :wink:

FadY
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by FadY » Sun Oct 03, 2010 4:24 pm

your example is an almost plain vengeance samples loop isn't it? you almost got me :evil: :lol:

Logic8807
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by Logic8807 » Sat Jun 03, 2017 6:43 pm

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Check me out...let me know what ya'll think.

bilposey
Posts: 23
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Re: Mixing drums (tips/advices)?

Post by bilposey » Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:30 pm

I mix with white noise and it's great :mrgreen:

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