How I Mix BIG DRUMS recorded in small rooms IN THE BOX

[@AndrewMasters]

What's your favorite non-reverb plug-in to use with drums?

[@setheinsteiner2980]

Well, almost all of my plugins are the stock plugins in my daw(studio one artist) so my favorite is just called "airy overheads".

[@efajrmusic]

Soundtoys Radiator or Devil Loc

[@Joe98778]

Sometimes I like an Eventide H910 for spacey/vintage nostalgia vibes! Always use tape saturation and you can't beat a cranked 1073/Helios pre to bring out the details in the room/overheads, not always necessarily to the point where it distorts a lot, but with enough saturation to give it some oomph!

[@danielpinter8655]

Abletons DrumBuss, makes everything super cranked and trashy. I love it.

[@ryanshreevedrums]

Waves - E channel

[@mattwatsonguitar]

"Does the sound match the drapes" got me good 😆

[@AndrewMasters]

It's the little things. I have to do these things to keep the video process entertaining. lol

[@caroll2352]

Thanks, Andy. I always learn something from you

[@AndrewMasters]

Awesome, thank you!

[@SlackerStuff]

Ooooo yeah you were right. Good feeling in my ear holes.

[@AndrewMasters]

My man.

[@Rgdonaire_07]

Soundtoys Devil loc is insane for crushing drums

[@laneysommer]

Very cool information! Thanks for sharing :)

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks for watching!

[@JakeReedmusic]

5:10 Ha! I've played that kit many a time. Love this video! Wish I had all those plug-ins!

[@AndrewMasters]

My man. haha I'm sure you'll have them soon enough.

[@calebneff5777]

Hey man I just have to say, this video seriously helped me. I was mixing a song and I've spent like 4 hours trying to shape the drums because they sounded so dead and flat. I was taking a break and just opened KZbin and saw this. Watched it, and you literally saved my mix with this, and probably saved me from losing a client. A parallel bus with some saturation and insane compression was all it took. Thank you!

[@AndrewMasters]

Pumped to hear that!

[@jordan.n.turner]

Would love a vid on how you tune and prep your drums maybe mic choice/placement. Those drums unprocessed sounded solid! Would love to hear your thoughts.

[@setheinsteiner2980]

Awesome video once again Andrew!

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks again!

[@TheRimshotDrummer]

Thanks for sharing Andrew. I always learn something when I watch your vids.

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@TheRimshotDrummer]

@@AndrewMasters Anytime Andrew. Love your content. I am a fan and a coffee lover. lol

[@MoveUpMedia]

Solid “stink face” for those rawk moments. :D

[@JoshuaKrell]

Love the Decapitator! Great video man!

[@AndrewMasters]

Dude, me too!

[@OffShiftProductions]

Cat enters at 1:37 for those that are interested. Nice vid as always, Andy. :)

[@theaustindude]

Great video. Would love to hear the drums in context with the rest of the song!

[@iambrucewenza]

You deserve a bigger audience. This is one the best channel on KZbin

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks dude!

[@freddiegreen8889]

Fuckin aye bro..mr.matt is the man!

[@stanleyalexander1432]

Great stuff Andrew as always. Looking forward to getting mics and interface to start applying all that I am learning from you about recording drums. Thanks for sharing.

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks! What are you looking at getting?

[@stanleyalexander1432]

@@AndrewMasters As for interface, Focusright 18i8 or 18i20 and a few mics. I have Studio One 3 at the moment. I love drums and have been playing for a while. I really want to get into home recording. I am learning so much about it and I want to do it because I enjoy music and drums.

[@hoborec]

Really cool! I’m with you on the room thing for drums. Always had a hard time getting reverbs I like on drums. Squashed rooms though 😋

[@AndrewMasters]

Thank you

[@MeTuLHeD]

Totally agree! Room IR's put your drums IN the space. I have two rooms that are go-to for drums... Westlake main and Abbey Road main. Both bring drums to life.

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

One of my favourite drum sounds is the drum sound of the 1985? Savatage song Power Of The Night. It´s very 80s but without being cheesy,- big and compressed sounding at the same time, tight and focused but big and deep sounding at the same time. Would consider it a personal favor if you´d consider making a video on how to make small studio drum sounds sound like that in the box. Need it for some of my songs and can´t really wrap my head around how to make it sound right. Cheers

[@JoshPeralesMusic]

Great video, Andrew! Thanks!

[@AndrewMasters]

Glad you liked it!

[@breakburrito]

Nice tom tuning and micing! Well done. That's the hardest part of any drum sound.

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks a lot!

[@freddiegreen8889]

Hugely like!

[@cresjake2306]

Great video! Would have loved to see the VU meters working on the decapitator and 1176 to get a better idea of what is going on.

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks!

[@Mix3dbyMark]

Mmmmm those drums sound niiiceeee

[@BrandonSorianoMusic]

Yo Andrew, I've been watching your videos for a while now and it's awesome to see your channel growing! The content is killer, I'm getting ready to move around August where I'll be building a room a lot like yours (I'll mostly be tracking guitars, bass, and vocals, but I'll have a kit in there as well). Keep it up dude!

[@AndrewMasters]

BrandonSorianoMusic thanks! Good luck with the build, start a channel if you haven’t already!

[@BrandonSorianoMusic]

@@AndrewMasters I also have a videography background, so that's the plan actually!

[@HomeStudioRescue]

Hey dude! Dig the channel, one of my go to's for drums is the UAD Fatso Sr. Love that plugin to crush drums! I also like the new slate infinity eq a lot.

[@AndrewMasters]

Nice, thanks! I'll check that puppy out.

[@HomeStudioRescue]

@@AndrewMasters Have you tried Kush Audio Plugins? Those things are unique and awesome!! it's like $10/month to subscribe and they are some of my go-to plugins for drums and mixbuss.

[@AndrewMasters]

@@HomeStudioRescue I have not!

[@HomeStudioRescue]

@@AndrewMasters This plugin alone is worth it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/npLdlIytoKiDaK8, just FYI not spamming, I just really love these plugins.

[@HomeStudioRescue]

@@AndrewMasters hey dude, I made a quick video on kush kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2S9hXdqmZt9d9E

[@voodoochili12]

Would love to know how the kit was recorded - mic choice and placement

[@bobgulian1858]

Really good stuff. I especially appreciate the after-process tips on compression and then taming with Q3. The Ocean Way is huge CPU draw so I appreciated the 'send' tip too. Still, my drums are pretty good, the room is pretty dead but they don't sound nearly as good as your track. I figure its either that I suck at drumming or I'm not making as good a drum face as you!

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks! Listen. The face is the real secret. I try not to give up all the candy making secrets. But that’s it.

[@LostInAce]

Great drumming, man! That Ultimate Response Reverb uses tons of resourse, doesn't it? Totally worth it, even if it were pegging at your RAM. There's no substitute, but one that comes close. And it's called...curses! My brain just quit.

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks, I'm not sure which reverb you're referring to. The UAD Ocean way reverb runs off of your apollo core cards so it doesn't touch the computer's ram. The QL spaces reverb from EW doesn't seem to use much of the RAM either. Either way they're awesome!

[@topperbizzare564]

*Andrew Masters* nice work carry on u can do to much good in future i hope i will do best youtuber

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks!

[@topperbizzare564]

@@AndrewMasters WE WANT FRIENDS BRO ?

[@AndrewMasters]

PICKLE RICK

[@caroll2352]

Hey, Andy, GG here

[@AndrewMasters]

Hey hey!

[@LaminarSound]

Got that NLP game going on... 🤣🤘🏻

[@AndrewMasters]

NLP?

[@LaminarSound]

Andrew Masters neuro linguistic programming. Lol 😉 great video man.

[@AndrewMasters]

Hey that’s a first, thanks man.

[@AndrewMasters]

I just spent that time learning about NLP. Thanks bro!

[@LaminarSound]

Andrew Masters haha you bet bro! Interesting stuff.

[@spencerocean]

Sweet

[@WheelieMix]

I use this kind of trick very often and it is indeed very effective, nice vide ! One little tip for parallel processing (I am huge user of parallel processing). To best compare before/after, try bypassing the plugin instead of the aux track/sends. Like this you'll really hear if the processing add something or if your ears are just flattered by the volume jump (this is truer for parallel compression/saturation) ;). Cheeeers !

[@AndrewMasters]

Great tip!

[@copetill7896]

You probably know already this. The ribbon in the R88 will start to sag if it's not stored vertically. Keep up the great videos!

[@jasonobenhaus2562]

Cool stuff! Drummer myself but know very little about recording software. Obviously in this scenario it's meant to show how you can get your dry drums to have a big, loud presence, but I was wondering what your thoughts were on the overall audio quality of using these plugins vs actually getting to record in a live-sounding, big room?

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks, the answer to the question of quality is subjective I think. Depends on the music in the mix, style of song. I think if you are a purest in your workflow, you’re limited to what you can do with the room but pros and cons for each technique. I love a good room, and the plug in tech is getting so good, so fast, it’s amazing.

[@DeadOriginal]

nice!

[@princefamilyoutdooradventures]

Could you show me how to set up my home music studio

[@redfordmusicofficial]

This sounds good. But I saw a video the other day by Steven Slate I think where he uses a technique to create a fake drumroom sound. I thought that sounded a little more realistic. Anyway, great video. Just discovered your channel. Great stuff :)

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks!

[@breakburrito]

Hey Andrew, I watched your video of the construction of your room and I recall you had a door that opens to the larger space of the house. Have you placed a couple mics in that space to capture a big natural room sound? I know it's tough to do if people are home and you don't want to piss them off, but I bet it would sound nice blended in and give it some more realism.

[@AndrewMasters]

Heck yeah that would be awesome

[@vincebyrne]

Hey Andrew! This sounds great! I'm just curious, what snare/head do you use? I've been struggling to get a half decent snare sound cause my snare just doesn't sound good period, but I love the sound of your snare, so I'd love to know what it is.

[@AndrewMasters]

I jump around between the ambassador and the controlled sound from remo. In this case it's the controlled sound. Tuning, dampening as well as tension on the "snares", sets the stage for a great sound. How the snare is hit really makes the snare sing.

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks for the comment!

[@vincebyrne]

Thanks for this!

[@cvblaylock]

I have a 10x10 size room and was wondering what room mic would you recommend? I’m going to start out by recording drums on a room mic and micin’ up guitar amps with an SM57 just to record demos with my band.

[@DaPhunk73]

Thanks for your great videos! Just watched a couple of your videos, and I was wondering, how do you get around all the drums bus processing when bouncing tracks out to clients when doing remote sessions? Drum busses and parallel busses are so important for the overall sound, instead of processing the individual tracks to death. But how do you go around exporting it?

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks man. Ill send raw tracks, and a stereo mix for reference. If I’m only hired for drumming, the assumption is someone else will mix those tracks so I don’t mess with what they’re getting too much.

[@DaPhunk73]

@@AndrewMasters i can follow that. But on the other hand don't you want your tracks to work, be competetive and have a bit of a vibe right off the bat? What little mixing do you do then? Just a bit of eq?

[@AndrewMasters]

Yes. To me, that’s all in the mic placement, drums, tuning, room, and performance. When I hire a drummer I don’t expect them to make recording/mix decisions on the song. It’s more about the style, kit, performance and personality believe it or not.

[@AndrewMasters]

Really depends on your business model and what you’re offering I suppose. That’s just how I do things!

[@DaPhunk73]

@@AndrewMasters that is true, and I don't have any problems sending flat tracks if I know somebody good is gonna do the mixing. But sometimes people request "as mixready tracks as possible". How would you go about that?

[@patrickacowles]

1:34 Cat!

[@wyrlismike]

that guy popping up at around 7min mark was like that scary face in the exorcist

[@willow121212]

Great videos man. Drums sound amazing dry too. I’m recording in a small room and as a result I use e drums with superior, results can be good but the drum vsts always impart “a sound” which just isn’t as up front, full bodied and real as your sounds. Looking at your room and hearing your drum sounds is making me rethink my approach. Would you have any thoughts on that debate , small room with edrums and Superior vs small treated dead room with the real kit? Great job

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

Jake just can´t stay away, can he?... :)

[@iiisaaciiiriv8981]

Andrew please tell me you’ll get rid/tame of that snare ring later? Man it’s freaking me out

[@rnl9520]

Did you use those favorite Slate samples on kick, snare or any toms for the base tracks on this video?

[@AndrewMasters]

No samples here!

[@funkstationstudio9813]

Hey Brother, Love that drum sound! Quick question. When you record your drum takes for the vids, are you playing into a template with all you favorite inserts or do you play the drums raw into the DAW and mix them before adding the audio to video?

[@AndrewMasters]

Thanks man, I personally don't do much or any processing when I'm tracking drums. I just use the unison pre (neve 1084 lately) set at a good level. Most of the attention is focused on drum tuning, mic placement, room etc. That way when I go to mix everything really sounds how I like it already and I can just accentuate specific parts.

[@funkstationstudio9813]

@@AndrewMasters, Awesome but are you tracking directly to vid or adding the mixed track after? Thanks for the useful vids!

[@richardpine8011]

Do you have any favourite headphones for monitoring while tracking drums? My Audio Technica's are great for mixing but doint give me anywhere near enough isolation when I'm tracking.

[@AndrewMasters]

I'm not sure! I have been using my ATM50's forever, they're my favorite. You might have better luck with isolation with earbuds, but if you're giving them to clients it gets a little unsavory.

[@Bcwilderness]

a room sounds like cheese aha

[@bossmusic8536]

*Andrew Masters* Wanna be friend?

[@AndrewMasters]

do you coffee?

[@maxmarksroyaltyfreemusic9892]

Aquaman's video...

[@zacksymes]

I just… like you

[@mattdoyle1554]

Huuge

[@jonasv328]

Why I am giving this video a thumbs down: 1. The screencast is so small you can barely read anything (1080p). 2. Lots of talking and quick showing of plugin interfaces, very little content or an actual explanation of what is going on. You prepared some template beforehand and now all we see is some baypassing of certain pluings. 3. You do not learn anything from watching these 17 mins which could not have been shown in 1 min.

[@AndrewMasters]

Thank you