What are the secrets to getting massive sounding drums as heard on big time R&B, hip hop productions?
The kind of drum tracks that sound satisfying on their own with just the bass ala "Rock Your Body" by Timberlake, produced by Neptunes.

Is it more in the production, ie layers of subtle percussion, or can it be done in the mix?

I have read the threads in here on multing drums which have been helpful, I was also wondering do people using mults pan them around say on the snare drum to create a bit of width or are they all on center?

How many different percussion parts are being used to make up these big productions such as the aforementioned Timberlake stuff?

If you get drum tracks on a song you're mixing that just sound too underproduced, and the client wants you to make them sound massive how do you go about doing that? Add a sample on the snare.....?


Thanks for any comments!

Nate

Hi,

I think you picked not the best example.

"Rock Your Body" is kinda smallish in my opinion.

The Neptunes use the bread and butter stuff.

Its up to the mixers to jazz them up.

But this is how a lot of the pop records are done these days anyway.

HELL YEAH!!!

And add one to the kick whilst yer at it ...

OK maybe it's not the best example but it does sound pretty massive in the club and even on a home stereo they sound big as in wide.

My drums just sound a bit too focussed and need a little more spread.

How do you create width from drums made of mono drum samples? Or should you have stereo samples to begin with? I've been sampling drums in mono hmm...

Reverbs or delays?
I've experimented with reverb but I know there's more tricks of the trade??

"Its up to the mixers to jazz them up."

Got any little tid bits? Please heh

Thanks

It's all in the drummer, the micing, the room (a bigggg part), the mixer, the compressors used, the input chain,

I'm not sure there are very many live drums on the stuff he's asking about...Mostly samples and loops, me thinks. The art of mixing is mostly about learning how to "big things up" and get the feeling of air moving. In most modern mixes, even the things you think are completely dry have a little grease on them. If it's not reverb, it's compression, which can also create the sound of a room. If you feel that there is not enough on tape to work with, then add a loop or reinforce the drums with some samples.

The answer to your question is; yes, the guy mixing has a lot to do with the sound of the record. That's why he got the call. But it's not about him pressing some secret button that gives him the big sound. It's about a lot of little things that work in combination to create that sound. I think the most important and most overlooked element in mixing is balance. The faders is where a mix really comes together or falls apart.

Steve

Now there's a gem about mixing. Worthy of repeating in case anybody missed it. Really great stuff.

Thank you Steve.

One of my favorite threads:


https://gearspace.com/board/showthre...r&pagenumber=3

What i do personally to get "big" sounding samples:

1) I don't compress the samples since alot of them are already "mashed to death". I do EQ some size into them(this is where your EQ choices become important).

2) I sub compress what the samples are missing on different tracks. I split it, mult it, subcompress whatever you want to call it and mix that with the original. The rimshot needs more "thock" got split on the next fader and compress/EQ some thock. The kick needs more bottomn same thing. Sometimes its an easy 2 step process, but most of the times its a 3 step or 4 step(3-4 faders with different combi's of EQ and compression).

3) and if the drums still lack punch/bottomn i buss them all to 2 faders and compress and EQ that and mix that with the original.

The last process i do on other groups of instruments also.

Like the top/mid range/bottomn with its own combination of compression and EQ for the entire track.

This way i don't end up compressing the whole thing(which to me its at the dynamics of the song).

My rule of thumbs for sampled based songs is that i might use a very short reverb on the snare or rim shot(short and small) but leave the kick dry. For the percs and hi's of the drums, a combination of delay,sometimes reverb and spatialization for depth and space.