A cover to gather your thoughts on how to improve the audio mix

[Plsantana86]

Greetings fellow drummers and music connoisseurs.
Some drum mic and mixing tips are needed here!

So I’m kind of a newb at audio mixing, EQ’ing and so on; and honestly I believe my reference pure deserves a properly tuned mix to match its AMAZING live sound.

I’ll leave you the following example to start with:


About the mix and hardware:
- Pretty much tried to do all the basics with free plug-ins, using various mixing tips available in online tutorials for toms, snare and so on…EQ, compressors, reduce drum bleed with a few gates, phase alignment, master limiter, stuff like that;
- The room does not have the best acoustic treatment, only a couple of bass traps and diffusers; has wood floor and concrete walls/ceiling;
- The mics are decent mid-price models as follows:
- Beyerdynamic TG153 small diaphragm stereo set overheads
- Shure SM57 on toms and snare
- Beyerdynamic TG D58 on floor toms
- Cheap 60$ Superlux Pro 218 bass drum mic
- Cheap 25$ Superlux Pra 218 serving as Room mic
- Cheap Superlux overheads for capturing lower stack cymbals
- Roland TM2 to the triggered bass drum click
- I use Reaper DAW and free plugins, Focusrite 18i20 + octopre audio ADAT interfaces at 48kHz;
- I do not enjoy the idea of sampling any drum components (...although it can be an awesome tool to achieve studio quality mixes, personally I just stand for that genuine captured sound. Well, at least, except for that bass drum trigger, which I have mainly because I play really fast metal tunes as well).

Considering all this, any tips or ideas that could improve future mixes, would be MOST WELCOME! Tips in both measures to improve EQ, mic positioning, this or that plugin, as well as any key-priorities to replace currently used equipment, that could actually do any difference. Basically, from your point of view and expertise, what I could try at first.

Excuse me for the chosen cover song; it was a one take shot - hence some mistakes - and I could exemplify with anything simpler and smaller, but a song with different dynamics all around seemed the perfect example for the purpose.

THANK YOU, have fun and feel free to help and share some thoughts.

[keaton_86]

I have no experience whatsoever with recording so take any of this with a grain of salt, but to me the snare sounds a bit papery and the stack is too loud in the mix and the kick sounds like it's triggered. Personally I'd like a bit more body from the toms too, they sound very 'attacky.' Considering the price of everything you listed it all sounds pretty damn good. Overall it's very good and your playing is tight as hell. Nice!

[Eric]

Not much help with the recording thing. On the
other hand I think you did the song great. I like
your technique and you have serious chops of
course. Welcome to the Forum. There are people
here that can help you find your ideal recordings.
Thanks again for the video and enjoy the Forum.

[Plsantana86]

Thank you @keaton_86 and @Eric for sharing your positive thoughts and tips.

@keaton_86, I will surely look into it...I pretty much agree with every detail you have mentioned.

[Drumming-4-Life]

Great playing!

As for the drum sounds, your cymbals sound great. I think the snare sound is completely over-processed. I would actually clear all settings on the snare and start over. Try to use as little effects on the snare as possible, other than compression and a little reverb. You have some sort of reverse gate on it right now that makes it sound artificial. The bass drum sounds fine. It also sounds triggered. I would want to hear a little more resonance and body from a bass drum. The toms sound pretty good, but low in the mix. If you could turn them up a little without clipping, that would probably be enough. If they clip when you turn them up, you might have to add/increase your compression.

That's all I have; I hope you can use that information constructively, and I hope to hear more recordings from you.

[Plsantana86]

Great playing!

As for the drum sounds, your cymbals sound great. I think the snare sound is completely over-processed. I would actually clear all settings on the snare and start over. Try to use as little effects on the snare as possible, other than compression and a little reverb. You have some sort of reverse gate on it right now that makes it sound artificial. The bass drum sounds fine. It also sounds triggered. I would want to hear a little more resonance and body from a bass drum. The toms sound pretty good, but low in the mix. If you could turn them up a little without clipping, that would probably be enough. If they clip when you turn them up, you might have to add/increase your compression.

That's all I have; I hope you can use that information constructively, and I hope to hear more recordings from you.

Thank you SO MUCH for all the tips and the time spent on listening and analyzing this case! It will all be very useful and I will surely try all those ideas on my next mix! Cheers and stay safe!