Just wanted to gather up all the really good post's from the original "General
Tom Eq Tips" Thread for anyone who hasn't seen it.
Torniojaws Quote: Originally Posted by Torniojaws View Post If it sounds good, then you don't need to do anything. Never do something "just because", always listen to the raw thing first and only start adding effects if you *know* it doesn't work raw. First think what's wrong with it, and go from there. Sometimes it happens you don't need to do anything to something you recorded LSD-Studio Quote: Originally Posted by LSD-Studio View Post I usually compress them with a rather long attack (25ms or so) and a to get the hit thru and make them sound as if they would have been hit harder. eq: find the fundamental an boost, boost at like 3-5k, cut somewhere between 300 and 1k (all depending on the tom) sometimes I setup a group I send'em to for some upward compression, compress that one to fuckery and add to the original track joeymusicguy Quote: Originally Posted by ;6194376 start with compression -20 db threshold depending on the source 4:1 - 8:1 ratio with about 10 ms attack or less (the less the attack, the bigger it seems) and 50 - 100 ms release depending on the speed of hits on that particular song after compression and getting make up gain sorted out, start with eq (eq after compression, in the chain) cut some mids, do this with a scooped Q, try to use a good eq plugin that emulates a real hardware one, so you dont end up doing a radical eq that isnt very possible / pleasing to the ear listen closely to the tom on solo, and start by dropping 800 hz using a Q of 3. if its starting to sound better, raise it back up then drop 500 hz and listen. compare the differences between these two and decide which is best. some toms benefit from dropping 400 hz too, it just depends on how it was tuned, and how big the shell was... then for small toms, add 3db - 6db boost anywhere from 100hz - 150hz for mid toms, 80hz - 100hz for low toms, 60hz - 80hz use a small q for this, because wider q's will add too much bass to the toms. this will bring out the low octave of the tom's note, and pack some punch in the mix (they'll stick out!). do this individually for each tom on each tom track. after this, you're going to need a compression bus to send all of your drums too, kick, snare, and toms. you want to aux send out from your drum track channels to this bus, and do heavy compression on this bus. make it half volume, this will fill the void and make the drums huge. then you're going to definately need reverb to make the snare and the toms larger than life. if you dont, they're just compressed hits. reverb adds the necessary body and tails to the hits that make the kit bigger than it is on tape. do the reverb individually for each drum track (dont send from the drum compression bus!) key bass frequencies for drum tones kick: 60 - 80 hz snare: 150 - 250 hz hi tom: 100 - 150 hz mid tom: 80 - 100 hz low tom: 60 - 80 hz popular frequencies for attack: kick: 3khz - 8khz snare: 5khz - 10khz hi tom: 3khz (vintage) - 10khz (metallica) mid tom: same low tom: same if you are working with drum mic's and a real kit, watch the 800hz - 4khz area, this can make your drums sound cheap if you dont cut. depends on your mic's and mic pre's. If someone is having trouble bringing the toms to stick out, MORE ATTACK!!!!! and if they want it to sound more full (so to speak) more release. I pan my hi tom 35% to the left and mid tom 5% right and low tom is 45% you also should add a little reverb...more so on rack toms and not so much if none at all, on the floor toms. The reverb makes it seem to blend more in the mix better. I just compress, boost fundamental lows, cut low mids, boost attack i read on the slate forum if you give it a bit of a boost at 3k with a wide bell and some compression its a good starting point