a usefull tip for mixing hiphop drums!

ive made some nice drum mixes by using the "phone line effect" on my preset parametric eq in sound forge.

Run it through that. Then layer it over top the original. Mess with the mix until it sound how you like.

Ive also done this, then compressed, just using the presets, then laying over the top. They sound crunchy, but not filtered.

peace

i'm not the greatest mixer in the world but the difference that compression makes is serious.
Why have a track bouncing all over the place kicks sounding louder at different places snare loosely all over the place, nah mate compression is control to me...and when u have a good controlled complete bouncey track that you can CRANK up and it never be distorted at top volume level!!

thats good stuff mate!

use it on anything that needs it, thats how i use it anyways

if it needs to stand out in the mix more etc

Some times i compress the BD and the HH together and leave the SN loose. It depends what feeling i want to give to the track.

Some times the bass and the BD together. it depends.

Anymore tips are welcomed..

Peace

I'd filter the drums one by one, run them through a preamp, then slightly compress if needed. Most drums come from mastered vinyl anyway so compression has to be used sparingly. Sometimes running them to 2 inch tape slightly overdriven does wonders too, but who can afford a decent 2 inch tape machine?

mikedean wrote:I'd filter the drums one by one, run them through a preamp, then slightly compress if needed. Most drums come from mastered vinyl anyway so compression has to be used sparingly. Sometimes running them to 2 inch tape slightly overdriven does wonders too, but who can afford a decent 2 inch tape machine?

I do that only in the studio if the studio uses a 24trk 2" tape machine.
Sometimes Id records a stereo mix of my drums overdrived (RED=peak).
It makes it sounds more punchy-dirty. But again it depends on what i want the drums to sound like.
Id even run other elements of my mix through tape too.

Peace

Compression is almost essential in every mix I have ever done. The technique your talking about DJ ALX is an oldie and a goodie. Compression as just as much of a musical instrument as anything else

However I rarely use it via the MPC. After composing a beat, I'll record it onto seperate tracks within protools and use the compression plugins I own. The BF76 (free digidesign download) is a corker for quick hits, like your kick and snare. Really beefs it up. And the T-racks Tube-compression emulation is sweet for bringing out the life in your beat.

I often bus all my drum tracks bar the kick to the T-racks compression and eveything just sparkles. And the stereo spread you can achieve is awsome.

Anyone that says compressing drums is crazy or not necessary needs to realize that unless you are sampling from live drums your drums are already compressed. This is a good tip to fatten them drum tracks tho. Like someone stated any drum sample has probably already been mastered meaning EQ'd and compressed. Please beware of over compressing though you stuff will sound really muddy and nasty and you'll be wondering why.

yeah. i mean. I think in general any sound shaping, whether it is compression, eq, or something crazy like over driving your mixer when you record a bassline.............Makes the track hotter; and gives it some characteristic.

djames wrote:Anyone that says compressing drums is crazy or not necessary needs to realize that unless you are sampling from live drums your drums are already compressed.

Whe I said it was crazy, I was being sarcastic.

djames wrote:Anyone that says compressing drums is crazy or not necessary needs to realize that unless you are sampling from live drums your drums are already compressed. This is a good tip to fatten them drum tracks tho. Like someone stated any drum sample has probably already been mastered meaning EQ'd and compressed. Please beware of over compressing though you stuff will sound really muddy and nasty and you'll be wondering why.

FACT!

for a while I was compressing sampled drums (what for?) God knows why doing it cause of habit! and they would always sound thin or crap!
bare this mind peeps if it sounds good already LEAVE IT!

Concertmate wrote:However I rarely use it via the MPC. After composing a beat, I'll record it onto seperate tracks within protools and use the compression plugins I own.

Yeah i do that too. I really need to have the drum tracks raw on my multitrack and mess with them after ive mixed them. So if i dont like my mix i can still go back to the original drum tracks.

[quote="DJ ALX"]
I usually apply a 4:1, 5:1 even 6:1 or 7:10 ratio, a -5 to -20 threshold depending on my levels, very short attack and release time.

from those settings, to be honest i dont think it would be to my musical taste, especially on sampled drums. from what i can imagine, your drums may sound impotent, and youre using the compressor as a means of viagra.

setting short attack times, squashes your drums. you may know this already, but for those who dont. a short attack time , on a kick for eg, is gonna let only the first bit of wave through, so your not going to have the full transient of the wave

imagine a line ----------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 10

the full kick wave measure from 1 to 10 but the attack time set so short for eg at 2 your nnot going to let through the rest of it through. punchiness is to have long attack times and short release times, with ratio and thre to taste. put a gate at the end as well.
present drums i use compression.
samped i dont.

want a tight snare, the same settings, with gate, or trim the snare tail in soundforge

tweety birds hats short attack short release. make them chirp.

a lot of hip hop artist from the late eighties to 2000. never used compression much. only in the mastering stage.
today its almost the norm with those beats from the south, and those keyboard beats. but they not sampling tht much. so they can afford to use it.
compression is a must for claps though.
side chaining for bass and kicks is nice touch, especially when they are sitting in the same frequency range.

but hey, to each is own

Skala!! What's crackin man?

also, never underestimate panning.

word up elm. Jah Troopaz in the place again, check your pm family!!!!