How do you record and mix Rides in SD3?

[Kim Mossige]

Hi guys Whenever I record music, I always get comments...

Hi guys

Whenever I record music, I always get comments from my peers on how bad sounding the drums are, and that they often don’t “fit my song”. I find it so strange since these samples are top of the line. I try to mix each unit by routing each channel out, and use them to mix it like they do on real drums.

I seem to particularly have problems with the ride, it never fits no matter how I tweak it.. State of the art SDX for example, the ride has an extremely troublesome ringing frequency that is hard to kill without killing the whole ride.. Decades SDX has rides that drummer buddys of mine don’t like, and they think it sounds weird.

I take any tips I can get on how to mix state of the art and decades, or anything in SD3 really, especially rides. If anyone has good advice for me, I’m all ears!

 

Kim

Hi guys

Whenever I record music, I always get comments from my peers on how bad sounding the drums are, and that they often don’t “fit my song”. I find it so strange since these samples are top of the line. I try to mix each unit by routing each channel out, and use them to mix it like they do on real drums.

I seem to particularly have problems with the ride, it never fits no matter how I tweak it.. State of the art SDX for example, the ride has an extremely troublesome ringing frequency that is hard to kill without killing the whole ride.. Decades SDX has rides that drummer buddys of mine don’t like, and they think it sounds weird.

I take any tips I can get on how to mix state of the art and decades, or anything in SD3 really, especially rides. If anyone has good advice for me, I’m all ears!

 

Kim

Topic

[Kim Mossige]

Yes, i agree. After trying the kit you suggested, it was apparent that a much better sound existed for sure. I seem to have an inherent problem picking out correct drum sound, since I’ve not been a drummer until pandemic.

That’s why I love all of your opinions about this matter because it gives me a starting position. It’s a song I’ve written and spent a few years planning it, hearing it in my head beforehand. I also record and play everything, and I think that it can contribute to ear fatigue, and that I start to like what was inherently a wrong choice, if that makes sense? The song also evolved from a funky tune to samba at the end, so the genre became a bit mixed after a while too.

 

[Korken]

I listened to the song part you posted. It is a good song and your mix sounds great at this stage, except for the drums, I must say. Aside from all you were already told in this thread I can add: I like to give power to the kick too, but I would advice, when you later add the bass guitar, check the balance between bass and kick and check how does the song sound in general with that kick.  Maybe you will need to balance its frequencies and/or it’s volume.

And another thing: at least for me (and I know for many others) it is always better to divide the work in clear stages: after you have your composition and maybe a preproduction stage, where you decide the arrangements and instruments, it comes a recording stage and, only when this recording is ready, a mixing stage where you make your balance and processing decisions over the tracks. I wouldn’t add process to the drum track or any track before the bass is recorded, for example. I even have a rough mixing stage before the actual mixing with processing and this way the starting point is most of the time optimal. But always with all instruments already recorded.

3

Thanked by: Bear-Faced Cow, drumjack52 and Kim Mossige

[drumjack52]

Something I’ve found that when working on my own stuff and therefore not under a time constraint is to work on a tune for a bit and then maybe let it sit for some time like days or even weeks and then come back to it. Fresh ears. Maybe I’ll work on something else and then come back.

Jack
aka musicman691 on other forums
Superior Drummer 3.4.0
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[Bear-Faced Cow]

I heavily agree regarding the process of working in stages. When I’m recording guitars, bass guitar, and vocals I will work more on getting the recording right and I will not focus on mixing until it’s time. I have often been known to say that I will record With everything sounding like a song. That way when it comes time to mix it already sounds like the song I had in mind.  Fortunately, the drums are already recorded like a song so all I really need to do is pick the right drums and go from there.

jord

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Jordan L. Chilcott

Web Site: https://jordanchilcottmusic.com/

1

Thanked by: drumjack52

[Kim Mossige]

Guys im really grateful for your subjective and objective opinions, is what i needed. Sometimes the “try fire yourself, use your ears” advice online is not good enough, especially if a vision strays badly from the initial plan.

Even if I’ve done mixing and production as a hobby for a long time, I always learn new basic things, and drums has been the one thing that never clocked with me, and I need to learn.. the kit-change and lowering the volume was the two best advice here that helped tremendously. Also the drum bus lowmid cleanup.

Thank you all! If you have more tips, I will take any!!!

[Author]

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