Session Drums/ Compression/ Eq

[zeitaliesin]

Hi I am coming to mixing, and firstly want to start with drums and bass. I purchased session drums, and installed the first CD that has production ready stereo kits, and since they have processing already applied, I feel as I listen that I have no need to use compression or eq. Is this a good way to go about this? Cause they sound compressed and eq'd already and it would seem to be over kill. Also when I use Ableton midi instruments the same thing occurs, like bass or piano etc... I have a lot of mixing to do with guitar and vocals, so if its the case that I don't have to mess too much with session drums and midi instruments, via compression, eq...etc it would be great to know. Cause the mic'd instruments will need a lot of my time. Let me know if anyone here has experience wtith this.

[sdmiddleton]

The individual instruments may sound well compressed and EQ'd relative to themselves, but the minute you start adding any other parts, Bass, vocals Guitars or whatever you will need to start 'mixing' and adjusting EQ's because you will now have other elements potentially battling for the same frequncy range... EG, the Kick drum and the Bass Notes may start clashing if they're not given any seperation and so on...

You'll proabably find the Preset Kits will be mixed to the extent that nasty frequencies will have been filtered out, but this will only be enough to make the kit sound good by itself...

Have a fiddle with the spectrum analizer on each track, will give you an idea of frequencies a specific instrument will be at its most prevalent...

[Pasha]

AFAIK not all Session Drums presets have internal FX applied, only the ones with FX in the preset name should.
The same applies to Live 8 instruments library. Only instrument racks have effect applied the other ones are
dry versions of the same thing you can easily use in your own racks.
I record bass guitar,guitar & vocals and I really like session drums. I haven't installed the multi-mic version
because It was too cumbersome for me to understand because I'm no sound engineer..
Personally I use dry Session Drums presets so I can manipulate sound with compressor and eq.

- best
- Pasha

[UKRuss]

+1 to the Pasha approach for me.

I must get into those multi mic kist though...keep meaning to have a proper fiddle with em.

[zeitaliesin]

actually CD 1, the drums are processed, according to the ableton video. They may not have FX but they are processed. CD 2 is where all the engineering stuff seems to come in.

[UKRuss]

The real answer is: Your ears must dictate.

Your mix might lead you to consider you need to EQ or compress the drums further to acheive the effect you're looking for. Other times you might need nothing at all.

[Jekblad]

i fiddled with the multi mic kits first, and i much prefer the stereo kits, both for sound and CPU.

the multi mic kits are like, HOLY CRAP lots of chains. Difficult to mix but you can get used to it. The stereo kits have more normal sounds kits for me.

i've started using parallel compression every time on the stereo kits, even if there is already compression applied earlier. I'm just crazy like that i guess.

use your ears, don't be afraid if it's not "right"

[SubFunk]

The real answer is: Your ears must dictate.

Your mix might lead you to consider you need to EQ or compress the drums further to acheive the effect you're looking for. Other times you might need nothing at all.

SPOT ON!

[zeitaliesin]

You are absoltely right about letting the ears dictate. One can "over mix" Thanks for the replies!