Problem with Drumkit from Hell - Technical

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:56 pm

DAW = Ableton Live

Audio Interface = The Itty Bitty Lexicon Alpha

Guitars and Bass are ran direct into the Alpha, through Native Instruments Guitar Rig as a VST for recording.

Problem - The drum track sounds like it's separated from the recording and sounds quite flat in comparison to my other instruments. I've tried adjusting every imaginable level, including the Room/Comp Mix/Overhead levels in DfH... with no success. I'm running anywhere from 3 to 6 guitar tracks simultaneously, if it matters to mention this.

Admitting a weakness - I've never attempted to properly mix drums for Metal and am not 100% certain how to do it. My current projects are the first things I've done alone in which I want the drums to sound "real".

Any thoughts, anyone? I know there are a few drummers in here.

Acid Flashbakc · Post by **Acid Flashbakc** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:29 pm

I use DFH. They definitely need some proper mixing when it comes to making some metal songs with it. I've been using a mixing/mastering program called Izotope Ozone to mix every track (even hihats/room mic). Do you have a mixer plug-in already? You should just mess around and see what sounds good.

I usually add bass and treble for the kick so it's click-y but still punchy, I usually do some mids/treb for the snare, treble for the cymbals and shit like that. You should also look at where your guitar/bass tracks lie on an EQ and see if you can fit the drums in between them so everything cuts through.

If you don't have a nice mixer plug-in already then get the Ozone. It has some great presets that adds a lot of little shit that really fills out the sound like mastering reverbs, maximizers, harmonic exciters, and a lot of shit i have no idea about that make it sound better.

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:48 pm

Sky Black's post that was here lightbulbed me... before she killed it...

I've been trying to lay everything in DfH on one track in Ableton, and the DfH mixer just doesn't give enough options considering pro drummers in real studios record their kit across many different tracks.

Sky Black · Post by **Sky Black** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:51 pm

I PMed you instead

Sky Black · Post by **Sky Black** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:55 pm

Also, why don't you just use Battery with DFH samples added to the cells? You'd be able to route them as you see fit and have all the control you want in the mixer.

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:02 pm

Sky Black wrote:Also, why don't you just use Battery with DFH samples added to the cells? You'd be able to route them as you see fit and have all the control you want in the mixer.

My next step is very similar to this...

I'm actually going to put the drums on different tracks in Renoise first (an option Ableton doesn't offer without assigning another instance of DfH to a different track) through the DfH VST... then if that doesn't satisfy me... I'm sucking the samples out, building a sample bank in Renoise, and applying them to separate tracks again without the DfH VST.