Episode 93 - Drum Mixing 303 - Additional Info

Hello Friends - 

Figured I would provide some additional info regarding Episode 93 - Drum Mixing 303. Let's start with the Tracking info one more time, but in more detail. Below is a list of all of the mics, mic positions, and preamps used for this setup [FYI - Channels 5/6 and 19/20 were not used for this setup]...

Channel	Mic Position	Mic Used	Preamp
1 + 2	Stereo Overheads	Neumann KM184, Spaced, 2' over crashes	API 312
3	Mono Overhead	Beyerdynamic M160, Over the Ride 1-2', pointed at snare	​API 312
4	PZM Overhead	CAD PZM...not sure on the model. It's cheap.	API 312
7	Snare Bottom	Telefunken M80* (too bright for this position IMO)	BAE 1073
8	Snare Top	Telefunken M80	BAE 1073
9	Rack Tom	CAD M179	Vintech X73
10	Floor Tom	CAD M179	Vintech X73
11	Kick In	Telefunken M82	AML 1073
12	Kick Out	CharterOak E700 (original model)	AML 1073
13	OTK	Rode NT2, right in front of the rim of the kick	AML 1073
14	HiHat	Gefell UMT70 in Fig8	Electrodyne
15	UTF	SM57 underneath the floor tom.	Mercury M76 (completely unnecessary for this...but hey, why not)
16	Mono Room* not used in final mix	Mojave MA300 in wide cardioid, 8-10' from kit	UTA MPEQ1
17 + 18	Stereo Room	AEA R88 about 15' from the snare, about 6' up.	AEA RPQ 500 series

This is a photo of the drum setup. I'm standing right behind the AEA R88 stereo room mic. The Kit is a custom maple kit, 22" kick, 13" rack tom, 16" floor tom, 14x6.5" Ludwig Supraphonic snare. The cymbals are Meinl Extra Thin Hammered Crashes, and a 24" Big Apple Dark Ride. Hihats were Sabian Evolution 16" Crash (top) and Zildjian Medium Thin Crash (bottom). Yes, you can use crash cymbals as hi-hats! Asy you can see, my room has a high ceiling (13' at the highest) and is treated well. The drums seem to sound best in this corner, as opposed to out in the room. The walls are not parallel in this space, so this corner is actually more like 110 degrees rather than 90 degrees - maybe that helps. The walls are treated with a combination of diffusion, deflection, and absorption. The floor is laminate over concrete, and it sounds great to my ear. I am always tweaking the space - it's so critical to getting a great sound on any instrument. 

Number of Plugins used total: 14

2 - Native Instruments Transient Designer (Kick Bus, OTK)
7 - Fabfilter Pro Q (Kick Bus, Snr Bot, Snr Bus, Rack, Floor, Stereo Room, Drum Bus)
1 - Soundtoys Decapitator (UTF)
1 - Kush UBK1 (OTK)
1 - Valhalla Room Verb (Stereo Room)
1 - Cytomic THE GLUE (Drum Bus)
1 - Plugin Alliance / ACME Opticom (Drum Bus Parallel)

To hear the comparison again between DRY drums (balanced / panned) versus the MIXED drums, listen below. Again, PLEASE excuse my mediocre drumming! 
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DRY DRUMS

​MIXED DRUMS

REMEMBER

A lot of this stuff can only truly be determined by the mix you're doing. These drums might be too compressed, or not compressed enough, too bright, too fat, too thin, too much kick, not enough snare, too much/too little WHATEVER... depending on the mix they're in. It all depends on context. However, you can tell that I didn't really have to do a lot to the drums to get them to sound good. Most of this is because: 

a) I have spent a lot of time over the years finding mic positions, mic choices, drum choices, cymbal choices, and room treatments that work for me. Sometimes they don't work. I often tweak based on the drummer, the song, etc. I don't play my cymbals very loud and neither does my primary session drummer, but if the drummer DID play their cymbals loud, I would have to adjust at LEAST the overheads, likely the room mics as well. 

b) I try to get 90% of the way there with my mic choices and balances, and my DRUM BUS processing. If things are recorded well, there's no "tricks" or "magic" or "special techniques" or "secrets" that I do. Lots of people out there are looking for the "secrets" to getting a good mix - I'll spoil it now: a good recording. Wanna know how to get a good recording? Good players playing good instruments in good rooms and all of this is being captured by skilled engineers. I know you've heard that a million times, but seriously....that's all there is to it. There are a lot of people out there charging a lot of money on their websites trying to get you to sign up for their mix technique skills classes and whatnot, but the truth is, mixing is easy and fun if the recorded tracks are solid. 

Moral of the story: 90% of the time, the problems you have are because of your recordings, not because of your mixes. Therefore: 

PRACTICE. GET BETTER. TAKE NOTES. RECORD CONSTANTLY. IMPROVE. REJOICE.

​ROCK! 
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- K