Your Ultimate Guide for Mixing Drums!

Get a great sound from your acoustic drums.

Your drum sound is one of the most important aspects of your mix. Mixing drums is therefore a
number one priority for laying that solid foundation to your tracks, guaranteeing you a solid
rhythm section.
Drums can be one of the most problematic instruments to get right in a mix. The complexity of
recording drums is eually complex !hen it comes time to mix them.
"f you find it easier to learn about recording and mixing drums #ia #ideo, check out the $eThink
Drums series here.
"f you did a great %ob recording the drum kit, then mixing your drums can only be a pleasurable
experience.
&ut !here to start'
(ick Drum )ound
Mixing drums starts !ith the foundation of the kick drum. The sound of the kick drum, along !ith
the snare !ill be the defining factors of your drum sound. "f you lea#e the kick drum sounding
bad, the !hole foundation of the song !ill lose its footing. The kick drum needs to be tight and
punchy, !ith enough lo! end to fill up the bass range and enough mids to cut through the mix.
*+
mixing kick drum"t,s important to emphasi-e the lo! end of the kick !ith *+. "f you feel there isn,t
enough bass to your kick drum, a lo! shel#ing boost around ./ 0 1// 2- normally does the trick.
3 boomy kick drum can also cloud up the clarity of your kick drum sound, so it,s normally a good
idea to cut around 4// 0 45/ 2- if you feel there is too much muddiness in your kick drum sound.
3 boxy kick drum sound is also a common nuisance, !hich can be fixed !ith *,ing out the
boxiness that resides in the aread around 6// 0 7//2- or so.
"f your kick drum is all thump and no snap then !e need to bring out the sound of the beater. 8e
can usually find it around the 4 0 9 (h- area. Depending on the genre of the song, and the type of
beater used, different freuency boosts in the beater area generate different sounds. 3 boost at
4.5 (h- is more of a typical rock sound as opposed to a narro!er boost at around 9 (h-, !hich
results in a 2ardcore Metal type snap.
:ompression
8hen mixing drums, along !ith e#erything else, using compression is a sub%ecti#e sub%ect and
e#eryone has an opinion on ho! things should be compressed. That said, there are a fe!
guidelines you can follo! to get a steadier kick drum sound.
2o! much gain reduction you !ant from the compressor depends on the genre, the steadiness of
the drummer and the feel of the song. " usually start !ith a ratio of 9;1 or 7;1 and lo!er the
threshold do!n until ",m compressing around 7d&s.
Then " ad%ust the attack and release depending on !hat sort of sound " !ant. 3 fast attack clamps
do!n on the transient of the kick drum, dulling the initial attack do!n some!hat, but a slo!er
attack lets the attack of the beater break through before the compressor starts !orking.
" try to time the release in time !ith the beat, so that the compressor has stopped compressing
before the next hit. "t,s easy to do this in modern D38s because you are able to see the gain
reduction meter !orking, enabling you to t!eak the release perfectly in sync !ith the song.
*+ and :ompression are the fundamental processors for any mix session. "f you understand ho!
these t!o processors !ork, then you,#e sol#ed at least ./< of your mixing problems.
=or more information about learning about compression and *+, check out Understanding
:ompression and Understanding *+ here.
)nare drum sound
>artner in crime !ith the kick drum, the snare drum is the other defining rhythmic factor to the
song. ?"t,s all about the snare@ an experienced engineer once told me, because it,s !hat supplies
the song !ith that steady backbeat. )ince it,s such an important aspect of mixing drums, there
needs to be a lot of care taken !ith getting the best sound possible.
*+uali-ation
snare drum sound*+A!ise, there is not an a!ful lot you need belo! 1// 2-, so you can start by
highApass filtering all the lo! end a!ay.
The body of the snare can be brought for!ard !ith a little boost at around 15/2-, if you feel like
it,s lacking some thickness.
" like thick snares so " often catch myself adding a little !eight to the snare around that area.
"f your snare has ringing freuencies that you find annoying you can try pinpointing them by
boosting a specific freuency band !ith a high + and s!eeping the spectrum until they pop out. "
find that sometimes the snare needs a little cut in the mids, either resulting from boxiness at 5//
0 .// 2- or too much of a nasally attack from the area around 1 (h-. *nhance the attack of the
snare !ith a broad boost around 4 0 9 (h- and search for the si--le of the snares in the higher
freuencies.
:ompression
Bike " do !ith the bass drum, " try to make the snare compress in time !ith the song. &y timing
the attack and release " can get a nice steady snare sound that breathes !ith each hit. " normally
lea#e the attack at a medium to slo! setting so that the snap of the snare is unaffected, and time
the release so that it stops compressing %ust in time for the next hit.
" start !ith a ratio of 6;1, often going !ay higher as it depends on the genre ho! hard " !ant the
compressor to be pumping. You can ad%ust the threshold so that it is only lightly compressing the
peaks for a subtle sound, or you can push the threshold do!n harder for a hea#ily compressed
sound.
)nare compression is perhaps one of the most argued about sub%ects in audio production. *#ery
engineer has a certain method to mixing drums, and " think it,s up to you to experiment and get
acuainted !ith the knobs and sliders on your audio compressor so that you can create the
sound that you !ant.
The 8orld,s Most 3lternati#e )nare Drum )ounds!
$e#erb
You can create a completely different snare sound by %ust applying an interesting re#erb to it.
8hether that,s a rock arena re#erb, subdued room or e#en a spring re#erb, different re#erbs can
transform the sound of your snare drum.
Go through your re#erbs and see !hat type of re#erb sounds best !ith the song you,re mixing.
3re you going to add a bright plate re#erb to make it stand out, or !ill you be mixing it into a
specific room !ith a small room sound' "f you are in a particularly ad#enturous mood, you can try
adding some gated re#erb to your snare.
Mixing the toms
*+ing
mixing drums toms"f the toms are playing a big part in your drum sound, mixing them so that they
sound punchy and po!erful is crucial to a great drum sound.
Get them punchy !ith *+. The best !ay to *+ toms is to find the unflattering freuencies !ith
your euali-er. Cormally, these are the middle freuencies, from 6// 0 .// (h- or so.
=ind the boxy and un!anted freuencies, cut them out and then add lo! end po!er and high end
punch as needed.
8hen mixing drums like toms, sometimes you need to finely cut a fe! ad%acent freuencies
instead of scooping out a big portion of the freuency spectrum.
:ompressing
&y adding a generous amount of compression to your toms you can get a larger than life sound
out of them. You can fatten them up considerably !ith some tight compression, and !ith the
addition of a little re#erb you can make them sound huge and po!erful. "f that,s !hat you !ant to
go for. The same rule of subtle compression applies as !ell to toms if you only !ant to control the
peaks and lightly color their signal.
2o! To Get a >o!erful Tom )ound in 6 *asy )teps
D#erheads
The o#erheads might be the most important microphones on the kit. The o#erheads are the
microphones that are supposed to pick up e#ery drum and gi#e a complete sound to your drum
kit. There are t!o !ays of mixing drums !ith the o#erheadsE you can either use them as the
primary sound, sculpting e#ery drum around the o#erhead sound or you can use them to primarily
accent the cymbals and air around the kit.
o#erhead mixing
&y adding the o#erheads to the mix early on, you can get a better sense of the full sound of the
kit, making your drum mixing easier. Fust notice ho! different a snare drum microphone sounds
compared to a snare that,s coming from the o#erhead mics.
&y ad%usting the o#erheads !ith the rest of the close miked drums you can get a different sound.
&y focusing on the o#erheads you can get a roomier sound, but if you !ant a close inAyourAface
drum sound you !ould rather use the o#erheads as complimentary to the rest of the drums,
mainly using them to accent the cymbal sounds.
The 2iA2at
Mixing drums is a selecti#e process, meaning that certain elements of the drumAkit only need
specific freuency ranges. You only need a specific freuency range from the hiAhat. :onsidering
that the hiAhat microphone is probably picking up a lot of bleed from other drums, some hea#y
highApass filtering is in order. =ilter up to 45/ 2- at least, e#en higher if you feel that you aren,t
losing anything from the hiAhat sound !ith higher filtering.
Co! if you feel that there is something lacking from the hiAhat, or that you !ant to bring out the
gong sound, you can find it in the 4// 2- area. )o if your hiAhat needs a little more gong to it, you
!ill ha#e to sacrifice that aggressi#e filtering. Bike e#erything else, %ust filter until you start hearing
the sound becoming compromised and then back off a little bit.
:utting at 1(h- can reduce the cheap %angly sound from the hiAhat, but you can enhance and
gi#e it some sparkle !ith a boost from G (h- or so. Use a high shel#ing *+ if you !ant to
enhance the high end !ith some air, but a parametric bell *+ if you %ust !ant to accent a specific
freuency area.
$oom mics
$oom microphones gi#e a different sound to the drum kit than the regular o#erhead mics. Due to
the distant miking techniue most room mics are recorded !ith, !e get a full sound of the drumA
kit as !ell as a great amount of the re#erb of the room it !as recorded in. 8hich, depending on
the sound of the room, can either sound ama-ing or horrible.
mixing drums
Mixing Drums 8ith a $oomy )ound
&ut let,s assume our recording room is great. 8ith a nice room mic picking up the complete kit !e
can try a fe! different techniues. 8e can apply some hea#y compression to the room mics to
get an e#en punchier sound. 8e can *+ the kit as to dra! out the most important elements, such
as kick and snare and !e can add it underneath an already great drum sound for that final touch.
Mixing drums into a room
"f the drums !eren,t recorded in a nice sounding room and sound uite dead !hen they come
from the recording stage, it,s time to add some space to our drum tracks.
3 good !ay to add some ambience to our drum tracks is to add a /.5 second drum room re#erb.
You can add a a nice amount to the o#erhead tracks, and maybe e#en a slightly different re#erb
to the snare to make it stand out. Go through your re#erbs to try to find the best sound to your
particular track.
Mixing drums 0 Drum $eplacement
"f you ha#e ended up !ith badly recorded drums that you can,t get e#en get close to a good
sound out of, maybe it,s time to look else!here. Drum replacement is a great !ay of mixing
drums in order to keep the dynamics of a real performance !ith the sound uality of ama-ing
sounding drum samples. 3udio recording soft!are such as >ro Tools and Bogic >ro ha#e great
drum replacement options !hen you are stuck !ith crappy sounding drum tracks.
conclusion
Mixing drums is a challenging but en%oyable aspect of audio production. )ince there are so many
different !ays of getting the drums to sound !ith *+, compression and other mixing tricks there
is no actual right !ay of mixing drums.
Bittle (no!n 8ays to 3dd >unch to Your Drum )ound
The only solid piece of ad#ice " can gi#e you for mixing drums is to experiment !ith all the tools
you ha#e on hand. Get e#ery element to sound as good as possible and then try to mold them
together to make them sound like a complete !hole.
3s al!ays, there are trends in the music industry as to !hat sounds good right no!, but being
able to get !hate#er sound you !ant, !hether it,s huge ./,s toms or a H/,s arena rock snare is an
important aspect of being a !ell rounded mixing engineer.
8e,#e gone through uite a long %ourney on the different aspects of mixing drums, !hich " hope
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