Friday, May 13, 2011

Exploring Presets: Drums


Drum Sounds Demo by The Synth Symp

You've probably heard this before, but drums are tricky.  They're tough to figure out how to record, and tough to mix, and tough to have sound right.  I'm going to give a little insight into getting you off the ground, however, and that is to USE YOUR PRESETS.



Above, you can hear both a snare, and a kick drum, from the Linndrum (I got the samples from a site).  The first set of kicks and snares have no effects.  The second set is processed with Logic's built in effects, and the third set is using high-end plugins which are separate from Logic.  Notice how they all sound different.  For the second and third set, I've only used the presets given by the maker, and I'm using a compressor and an equalizer..  This isn't the best example because you can't hear how they cut through in a mix with other instruments, but it is HUGELY important to make sure you compress all your drums.  Compression is really important for anyone who's trying to make dance music especially, but without compression, any music will sound flat.

Also, when you use the presets, study at the settings of your effects.  Note that Logic's drum compression and equalization settings could be applied to any other brands compressor, and vice versa.  Don't like how logic's sounds?  Look at another source's presets.  You're going to find that the presets don't sound perfect for every song, but they get you up and off the ground.  If you want to master production, you need to learn a general setting for all your kick, snare, and high hat needs, and then be able to adapt it best for each mix.

Don't forget that these techniques can be used for all effects, but I find that compression and equalization is most important.  They can take a junky demo sound a lot more professional.

No comments:

Post a Comment