How to Mix Cymbals - Into The Lair #84

Dave Pensado and his assistant engineer Cole Nystrom show you a great technique for mixing cymbals in your tracks in the 84th Into The Lair from Pensado's Place.
Subscribe to our channel!
kzbin.info_c...
Please 'Like' and 'Follow'!
/ pensadosplace
/ pensadosplace

[@MrPoopoonachos]

I love the contrast between your guys heads, ones really big and the other is really small, most important part of a mix if you ask me.

[@andrewt248]

Wow, as a drummer (and a heavy hitter, too), that drummer was SLAMMING on those crashes.

[@WHITERATPRIME1234567]

Great little video! I always struggle with compressing overheads, and normally leave it as I like the dynamic of them, but this was some instant glue. So I'm going to give it another go!

[@CISSANMusic]

Dave is amazing must be an honor to assist him, and for Cole, great job!!!

[@MrSuperpat]

Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge Dave.

[@rickdeaguiar-musicreflecti7692]

Wow. Great technique. Thank you so much for sharing :) By the way, you are so blessed to have a mentor such as Dave Pensado. Awesome!

[@andreasoberholz]

As always very interesting hints. AE is to me something between a hobby and my business. That professionals show to us how they did it - is nothing but great. Every time I see a lesson I do try to do things different, - not exactly the same. Not every video is as good as this one. But in general I like P. Palce when they show how they solved a problem. Keep on the good work...

[@jamenplz123]

Thanks Dave and Cole!

[@JuiceGodBeats]

You can hear the cymbals perfectly!! Nice tutorial!

[@Alextkirk]

Awesome drum sound!

[@kevwritemeasong]

Nice job Cole!!!!

[@jimimaze]

Those sounded great!

[@jdublay]

Great video, I always struggle with my cymbals.

[@highdefmusic954]

Awesome tutorial!

[@BitterrootRambler]

Its an excellent recording. It already sounds good.

[@TruthSurge]

I would have used frequency-dependent compression instead of compressing the entire overhead mic track. a little multi-band comp instead of a normal one and just select the range to comp. But.. maybe that's just me. Just compress the cymbal range and leave everything below like 3K alone. That way you aren't going to accidentally comp anything in the low range if it happens to hit loud. ? no? I don't know. I'm 3 and I just got onto the interwebz.

[@VladyVeselinov]

I like this guy.

[@scotthstevenson]

thank you !

[@andivax]

thank you for sharing your techniques! i am in other style of music, but i like it ) Cole, why you use SSL strip instead of simple EQ? just your matter of taste or you like waves SSL "color"? thank you!

[@TheFujac]

great video.....when the drums are soloed it sounds like you're actually ruining them but once you played them back with the rest of the mix you can really hear the difference..

[@DiegoCristiC]

thanks!

[@TLAudioMixingMastering]

I need a Cole in my studio.

[@GweeGwee]

that studio looks so nice and chill :|

[@MichaelEllisOfTenDeg]

Where's my assistant???

[@TheAlbiCollier]

Man I gotta get some different monitors the bypass and affected sound sound so similar on these speakers that I almost wouldnt bother with these plugins haha!

[@Silly_Sht]

yea he should've clarified if it was electronic or sampled live - it dose sound like toontrack but at the end he makes it sound live. These guys are giving us the right stuff to focus on - its all about the FREQs

[@DJmontieljr]

Newest ITL is on the newest Pensado's Place episode!

[@scotthstevenson]

Can someone please tell me what Dave's rule of thirds is ?

[@matlar74]

Damn, what's that music? Really had me instantly hooked. Where can I get the full thing?

[@cooklotd]

listen to the first minute of the video.

[@JeraCravoMyself]

Toontrack all over the place... That's why Dave liked the sound of the overheads ;)

[@GermanGallardoMusic]

Am I dreaming or was this video available earlier this year? Still awesome though.

[@usfenderfsdlx]

Not sure if this is dave's rule, but thirds are eveywhere. Setting up mics for a drum kit (or anything), some think that the drums and room mics sound best when located at 1/3 marks in the length of the room. Point close drum mics not right on the edge of the drum, but at a point about 1/3 of the way in to the head. Mixing positions sound best at 1/3rd length of a rectangular room. In terms of harmonic intervals, thirds and sixths sound muddy; eq them out. 3 to 1 rule for phase, and so on.

[@jacklaboz598]

Cole is hard

[@BlackEvoProductions]

That sure is a thick ass TV screen lmao!

[@weslaycock466]

Cole is sharp. I guess you have to be to work with Pensado

[@SkywayTraffic]

Nothing bums me out more when people in tutorials say things like "you can hear how that kind of evens it out a little bit" and it sounds literally identical to me :'(

[@PazOfficial]

Dude, audio tutorials are always shit because of KZbin compression.

[@Bash10Music]

This song sounds like metallica fade to black

[@jeddak]

interesting that he did this work without the context of the full mix.

[@TimKaseyMythHealer]

That comment about "getting it right with a stock EQ and compressor" ... As you increase in your knowledge & experience with mixing, you will come to grow annoyed with the 'plastic' sound of most digital recordings. It is at this point that you begin to introduce either pre amp simulation, or purchase a few nice pre-amps... and move on to the next stage in quality.

[@Silly_Sht]

good ear there homie. I know Pensado got a spot for you on the show @Pensado: I like the way he dose the tutorials, you the best but u be too high lolbs. I love yall though man - started using protoos cuz' yall

[@youmilkpack]

No closed mics? :)

[@cooklotd]

Closed? Do you mean "close"?

[@youmilkpack]

Nolan Cook haha yes

[@JakeAntelis]

yes old.

[@sideast]

Cymbals sound a little too low in the mix with all music

[@wheresallthezombies]

this song sounds crazy who is it.?

[@cooklotd]

listen to the first minute of the video.

[@sidxaener5455]

why ron from gta 5 is teaching me how to mix cymbals

[@DualThunder]

Seconded.

[@simonderycke7545]

Thanks for this great lesson, but you should go easy on the blotchy foundation because it looks kinda weird!

[@simonderycke7545]

+Noah Farver I said something positive first. And then some constructive criticism. I honestly think they used make-up, as most youtubers use make-up. I wasn't trying to be mean at all, but I understand why someone would think I was.

[@TiagoMatiasMusic]

Is it only me or what? Those drums are from Superior Drummer. Toontrack virtual instrument / plug in.

[@kris5645]

yea the cymbals sound like they are from the S.D. Vsti, not sure about the kick and snare, but they could be also mixed in with high % of trigger samples.

[@PaulBell88]

Making everything more complicated than it needs to be because, you know, ...plugins. If it doesn't need fixing, don't break it! Stop sharing "recipes" about audio engineering as if everyone's audio is the same! Use good fundamental practices. Decent mics, Good gain staging, balance, quality monitors so you can trust your ears, maybe two compressor plugins and 2 eq's and 2 verbs and 2 delays. That's all you need in my opinion to stop fucking around in your home studio and start actually COMPLETING projects. These videos can be very counterproductive to someone just starting out, as the viewer will undoubtedly try these techniques on every mix they get to work on, instead of carefully considering what the arrangement and vibe of a particular song calls for. Knowing when to leave something alone is one of the most overlooked assets an aspiring engineer can have. If any instrument lends itself to being left alone, it is the cymbals.

[@MrDonnyAir]

Hmmm.... I've never really gotten this "forensic" with cymbals/OH's - with either VSTi or Real cymbals. Any VSTi's I've ever used sound pretty good right out of the box ( library); I may adjust EQ a bit, perhaps some GR on the bus. Real drums/OH's require good mics, and a larger ( and higher) area than what is typically found in the average home's bedrooms or basement. I also rarely mix anything in solo mode, preferring to mix tracks in relation to the other tracks. But, I also understand that all this has to be taken in context with the song/mix you are working on at the time. It's really impossible to take mix settings that work well for one piece, and then assume it will work the same on another. IMHO of course.

[@TheJols]

I get what you're saying and a lot of times I can't even tell what they are doing but if this guy made it as Pensado's assistant I think he knows what he's doing. No offense buddy buy I checked out your recordings on yer' channel and they just aren't at the level as these guys are doing. I mean this guy is probably going to make a living mixing which is a feat. Don't be a hater.

[@MrDonnyAir]

to whom are you replying to?

[@LanceCampeau]

exactly.... my most productive years were 4 track cassette tracking.... sure it was shit sounding... but that limitation forced you to move with the creative process rather then endless knob twirling in the DAW.... I hate trying to record in this environment sometimes. There are too many options.

[@JTguitarlessons]

I know this was 5 years ago, but hopefully you've learned to not tell the professionals how to do their jobs now.

[@MrBrady85]

sounds good but these are toontrack superiors drums, i can hear it instantly. the overhead and rooms channel are already finetuned. so the adjustments your making are not on clean drum tracks

[@betteroffdead79]

Simple part with no hihat and ride, easy to make 2 sampled crashes work. Booo :)

Superior Drummer....

[@charliepanosh4203]

"your guys heads" is bad grammar. So is when people say "your guys's"!

[@AingellAingell]

can you say overkill? this is ridiculous. I can get it right with a stock eq and compressor.

[@PaulBell88]

I agree. Just record the damn cymbals and maybe high pass filter. Tim above is conflating nice looking plugins with quality audio. Cymbals should sound like cymbals. Record them. Mix them in. If you don't want them to sound like cymbals don't try to tell other people how to improve their cymbals sound if all your doing is telling them to not make it sound like a cymbal anymore. There is nothing wrong with trashy fake sounding cymbals on certain arrangements, but I think the majority of people who click on this video do so because cymbals in records these days are annoying as hell and create a convenient high frequency wash from which a bad band can hide behind.

[@lucsylvestre2330]

cool you're very cool! what a cool comment from a cool guy

[@CrankCase08]

It's ironic that the sound quality of the speech is really poor. Either that or he has a terrible speaking voice.