Explore Alternatives to EQ and Compression
EQ and compression are standard tools in a producer’s kit bag, but it’s worth exploring other ways of manipulating the sonics of your drum track, be it on individual hits our across the whole rhythm section.
Compression is a great shaping tool, but sometimes it doesn’t quite get you to where you want to go. One alternative is a transient shaper. Although under the hood they’re usually based on a signal chain not dissimilar to a compressor’s, they’re set up in such a way as to allow you to more intuitively dial in more or less loudness in the attack and release portions of a sound.
Transient shapers can be used in many ways, but there are some standard approaches to bear in mind. Be wary of pushing the attack too far, as it usually quickly leads to overloading. Conversely, pulling the release down is great way of tightening drum hits or removing recorded ambience and creating extra space in the mix.
Harmonic enhancers can also be a good alternative to standard EQ. The advantage here is they generate additional frequencies (harmonics) not present in the original sound. Again, it’s usually best to avoid extreme settings. It’s easy, for example, to add too much additional high end on snares, hats and claps, so always compare with the original. Having said that, as always, there are no strict rules. Go with whatever sounds best for your drums on your track.
When processing drums, virtually any effect can lead to interesting results. Try bitcrushers, distortion, envelope-controlled filtering, vocoders, de-essing on hats, dynamic EQ… The results might not always be suitable for your track, but in the right context almost anything can work.
12.48 PM
best mag in the net!
06.29 PM
Good Job Bruce!
05.12 AM
Superb
11.22 AM
meh, equalizing is much more important than compression
12.16 PM
The tuning of the drums is also very important. Not all percussion is unpitched, therefore it might be a good idea to tune drums either to the tonic, fifth, or whatever scale degree the drum section accompanies. Great tips, tho.
02.23 PM
Another thing you can try: Use a Vocoder on your drums!
02.25 PM
Leo – great point, and not just for pitched elements either. Pitching anything from kicks to claps to hi-hats up or down a step or two can have a dramatic impact on the overall sound of a beat.
Check out our guide to the basics of drum tuning here: http://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/walkthroughs/how-to-tune-kick-snare-tom-drum-samples/
11.32 AM
Great tips! You can also drive tracks and groups trough guitarpedals. Adding a hint of distortion to beats sound pretty amazing many times. No need to add it much, a bit of nice harmonic distortion you don’t even notice brings nice crispy attack and richer harmonics. Mooer pedals for example are pretty cheap but effectice. Here some kick drum / various pedals examples http://thegearfiend.com
Would be nice to see an article about how different pedals work with full beats;)
09.02 PM
Second that article idea from Hannu!
Just use everything you have in your toolkit. I begin with pitching sounds, to see if they can fit better to the mood. EQing the shit out ouf your drums, you don’t need or want (which depends on the overall sound you’re looking for actually ). Then you might compress your drums to beef ’em up if your tracks need it, give specific sounds some room and reverb (I do it with sends) and then do some bus compression. Don’t overdo it and the result should be a drum sound you can definitely use. Tweak the rest later in the Mixing, because you will then have a stronger opinion on the overall sound you want.
I think a big problem is a missing idea of the “big picture” in the first place. It’s easy to trick yourself into twiddle your drums and bass and all that difficult too long, while you don’t have any idea about how you want them to sound when it’s done. This idea can be there from beginning or can build up while you compose and arrange the track – just be sure you don’t tweak for hours without thinking of your whole track and how it should sound in the end. It’s easy to lose hours when not thinking the way, I did it – and still it’s happening too often.
11.43 PM
it’s easy to mix and compress just drums and make them sound beefy and loud like in your examples. in fact, there are tons of garbage tech house sample packs with pre-compressed drum grooves that can serve the exact same purpose as having loops like these
how about you throw in some vocal samples? and a couple chords? and a bassline? and some reverb? maybe show a distortion heavy track with elements that are difficult to fit into the mix? and maintain the quality throughout an entire track? i’m not trying to bust your chops or give you a hard time for the sake of it, but there are many tutorials online that say “hey guys check it out, mixing and compressing is a really easy way to make your drums sound massive. check this example out for instance!” and then they loop a generic tech house beat with the cleanest and easiest to mix percussion and call it a day while not really proving nor teaching much
i’m new to your site and am always open to any good tutorials or knowledge that others have to share though, so keep on writing articles. i especially liked the seventh tip on exploring transients more
05.32 PM
” ….we’d definitely recumbent exploring the higher reaches…..”
*recumbent
Darn that auto spell correct!
03.06 AM
Compresión is more important than eq…