quick question out of curiosity and not much else, when you are bulding your tracks at what stage do you add the following components to your drum tracks:
A: Reverb
B: Compression
Do you do it as once you’ve built the drum track or do you go back and compress or add reverb in relation to the other elements you’ve added.
To explain, if you build drum beat upwards, do you build the main beat - then add compression till it bumps and THEN start building or do you get the beat down leave it add the other elements and then start compression of the drum track so it works in the bigger scheme of the track.
Same with Reverb, do you just create the drum track add reverb if any and then start building or do you wait till the tracks sketched out and then start adding.
I personally add reverb then build, then compression to the drums in relation to everyting else - I see compression as an effect and try to get a mix as right as possible without before i start adding effects like compression if at all.
i apply compression and re-verb whilst i’m building the drum track just to try and get a feel of the direction im heading. I think what your talking about is the final mix down were you would go in set levels and fx etc. One thing to bare in mind is that more additonal sounds added you may need to adjust other parts such as your reverbs and compression etc.
Ok be careful first of all about adding compression after a reverb, it will compress the reverb and sometimes give an aweful sound. Try to compress before the reverb.
Secondly, your drums are what holds the track together, it can sometimes (although not always, depends how you’ve made it and what is included) include nice dynamics and if you’re compressing the hell out of your drums then you will lose nice dynamics.
Ask yourself what you’re using the compression for rather than applying it for applyings sake.
If it doesn’t need compressing, don’t compress.
Does it need reverb?
Again, don’t reverb if it doesn’t need it.
I’d steer away from adding any reverb to anything in the low frequency spectrum, although very small amounts of it can be ‘got away with’, it’s still an area which should be left for the pro’s because if it’s not done right, it can end up sounding muddy.
Reverb is better for the mid to high areas of your frequency spectrum.
[quote]roben (01/03/2010)[hr]Ok be careful first of all about adding compression after a reverb, it will compress the reverb and sometimes give an aweful sound. Try to compress before the reverb.
Secondly, your drums are what holds the track together, it can sometimes (although not always, depends how you’ve made it and what is included) include nice dynamics and if you’re compressing the hell out of your drums then you will lose nice dynamics.
Ask yourself what you’re using the compression for rather than applying it for applyings sake.
If it doesn’t need compressing, don’t compress.
Does it need reverb?
Again, don’t reverb if it doesn’t need it.
I’d steer away from adding any reverb to anything in the low frequency spectrum, although very small amounts of it can be ‘got away with’, it’s still an area which should be left for the pro’s because if it’s not done right, it can end up sounding muddy.
Reverb is better for the mid to high areas of your frequency spectrum. [/quote]
That is kind of my point at the end, I only use compression if i NEED to, if i can’t fix something with correct mixing. I think a decent correct mix is the most important part of a track (after composition obviously)
RE: Reverb, i tend to only add it to snares or claps to add a bit of space - but only if it needs it. Generally to creat a bit of tail on a sampled drum hit. If i need to compress it i’d add that in the chain before the Reverb.
As I said comp is an effect, it shoudn’t just be added as a default. Same with reverb.
Sorry just to clarify, I’m just curious how you all do it, not looking for advice on how to do it - if that makes sense and doesn’t come accross rude.
[quote]mejaques_uk@hotmail.com (01/03/2010)[hr]i apply compression and re-verb whilst i’m building the drum track just to try and get a feel of the direction im heading. I think what your talking about is the final mix down were you would go in set levels and fx etc. One thing to bare in mind is that more additonal sounds added you may need to adjust other parts such as your reverbs and compression etc.
:)[/quote]
yep, that’s why i tend to shy away from such sound altering effects like Comp/Reverb till the end.
Although I generally know if i want a bit of verb on something like a snare or clap etc… quite early.
I nearly always compress in relation to the near finished track.
Well, I use reverb on many things. Like mentioned before, nothing really on the low end. Alot of the times, I will use reverb only on really small things in small amounts (if that makes sense).
For compression, I compress just about everything that comes across my track. 95% of the compression is not for effect, but more for “glue” purposes.
For compression, I pretty much do it all as i go along. For reverb, I do it as I go along and then I come back and add more usually. The reason I do that is because I find as I go along in my track, that some of the supporting roles that my sounds play I will want them to be farther back in the mix, so I add more reverb to give them that appearance and feel.
