By cyrus
Sat Feb 05, 2005 5:54 am
ive had success with filters. IF you hit the drums right with them, you can get the to knock. Of course it also starts with a good sample too.
BUt anyways.......to get them to knock right, you gotta mix them right too, with the bass, and even the hihats.
Ive been trying differant ways of mixing. But recently whats been working for my tracks, is that I use the Kick drum as the referance point for all my other instruments.
Ill set the volume of the kick like 75%.....then mix everything around that, Usually ill set the hihats down, and mix everything else so the kick is the most dominant......ill set the bass so that you can feel it good, but it doesnt drown anything out (if you where to take away the kick, the bass wouldnt be as defined) But basically it ends up mixed so that you feel the kicks, and bass first, as if they were the most important part only second to the mc. The melodies bring everything together.......but its all mixed as if the drums where the main part.
I also think that hihats can get lost in a mix.....and they can hold back your kicks and snares.......if you mix the hh too loud, you cant really mix all your drums heavier than you melody because youll pierce yoru ears.....and you dont feel hihats so they can get anoyying to the ear and you might not realize it at first. anyways-try mixing the hihats pretty low, "just audible" then start mixing everything else....later bring up the hats if you need to. But my theory with hihats is that you can almost forget that they are there.......meaning, that they dont poke you in the ear, and they are not dominant, but they hold everything together. Sometimes you can get some very mis matched hihats with a melody, so try sculpting them to the melody, not neccesarily to the kick and snare(not always true) I mean, a good example is how the RZA uses his snares to cover up some light percussion in a soul sample, or to match the quality of a sample. If you have a tingy hihat with a soul sample, it might not sound as good.
also rematch drums. Sometimes ill start a beat with a drum kit.....by the time im done, ill realize that the snare doesnt smack as hard, but thats because of my instrument selection eats it up. So what i do is switch or browse through my snares untill i find one that fits in its own sonic place, and doesnt get muddied with the melody. Same goes for the kick and bass. I mean, really i end up using the same kick on alot of my tracks, but if the kick and bass dont match up, usually its the kick that goes first.
But i also want to state: that it does not matter individually whether a drum knocks, because if its not fitting in the mix it doesnt matter. ANd you can make a lame drum knock if you can mix it right.
peace.
BTW. all i do is sample drums from vinyl or from my sound module. The only effects i use is a filter (off my mophatt) or sometimes eq.
But i probably never use compression.........not saying that it wouldnt help, but definately isnt neccesary, get them to knock without compression.
BUt anyways.......to get them to knock right, you gotta mix them right too, with the bass, and even the hihats.
Ive been trying differant ways of mixing. But recently whats been working for my tracks, is that I use the Kick drum as the referance point for all my other instruments.
Ill set the volume of the kick like 75%.....then mix everything around that, Usually ill set the hihats down, and mix everything else so the kick is the most dominant......ill set the bass so that you can feel it good, but it doesnt drown anything out (if you where to take away the kick, the bass wouldnt be as defined) But basically it ends up mixed so that you feel the kicks, and bass first, as if they were the most important part only second to the mc. The melodies bring everything together.......but its all mixed as if the drums where the main part.
I also think that hihats can get lost in a mix.....and they can hold back your kicks and snares.......if you mix the hh too loud, you cant really mix all your drums heavier than you melody because youll pierce yoru ears.....and you dont feel hihats so they can get anoyying to the ear and you might not realize it at first. anyways-try mixing the hihats pretty low, "just audible" then start mixing everything else....later bring up the hats if you need to. But my theory with hihats is that you can almost forget that they are there.......meaning, that they dont poke you in the ear, and they are not dominant, but they hold everything together. Sometimes you can get some very mis matched hihats with a melody, so try sculpting them to the melody, not neccesarily to the kick and snare(not always true) I mean, a good example is how the RZA uses his snares to cover up some light percussion in a soul sample, or to match the quality of a sample. If you have a tingy hihat with a soul sample, it might not sound as good.
also rematch drums. Sometimes ill start a beat with a drum kit.....by the time im done, ill realize that the snare doesnt smack as hard, but thats because of my instrument selection eats it up. So what i do is switch or browse through my snares untill i find one that fits in its own sonic place, and doesnt get muddied with the melody. Same goes for the kick and bass. I mean, really i end up using the same kick on alot of my tracks, but if the kick and bass dont match up, usually its the kick that goes first.
But i also want to state: that it does not matter individually whether a drum knocks, because if its not fitting in the mix it doesnt matter. ANd you can make a lame drum knock if you can mix it right.
peace.
BTW. all i do is sample drums from vinyl or from my sound module. The only effects i use is a filter (off my mophatt) or sometimes eq.
But i probably never use compression.........not saying that it wouldnt help, but definately isnt neccesary, get them to knock without compression.
... 
Maybe everything is mathematic, an issue about spectrums and frequencies that have to fit with each other... Then you should use Texas Instrument instead of any compressor to make your joint