How to Mix Fat, Dirty Drums - Ridin' the Mix Buss

Want more from UBK and Kush?
Visit www.thehouseofkush.com/
Episode 2 - The Dirtier the Better: UBK gives an overview of two very different ways to treat the same drum sounds that were used in two different songs, in order to maximize the emotional impact of each production.

[@dylanfitchett847]

I think the secret sauce in this video is that you're mixing in the context of an actual cool track as opposed to like every other mixing video on youtube where somehow they're mixing the most unlistenable/cheesiest rock song that should have been left in the mid '90s

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Yeah, I'm with you, a lot of vids there is that whole nagging question of "wait, what is this in service of?"

[@faderhead]

100%

[@CamKnoppMusic]

Yeah seriously these songs are sick. This channel is gonna be huge. Such high quality content.

[@doubleentendre9589]

fucking finally someone said that everything in rock industry tries to sound like quagmire toilet song ffs

[@ETwOneE21]

Man couldn’t of said it better

[@DJNAVENDU]

DUDE your channel will go so far with this quality. You kind of give the vibe that you'd be the Bob Ross of Audio tutorials. :P

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

I would consider it the highest possible honor to be considered the Bob Ross of Audio!

[@ZinglZanglBoB]

feel the same :D also when someone has no clue about producing, you know how to catch your audience :D

[@ChrisSztybel]

I definitely feel like this is a very calming and educational channel for a very bizarre year in the history of humans.

[@prototype8137]

Bob ross is a weirdo though. How do you not pick up on his creepiness?

[@G4Nazarener]

I thought the same before! It’s the combination of valuable content and his gentle appearance which makes me watching him.

[@MicahBuzanANIMATION]

These video lessons are perfect for learning, but also for falling asleep when you have insomnia or anxiety.

[@RS-pp7ng]

it's very rare to find such interesting videos about audio production these days. Nicely done, Kush !

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

I agree, which is why I'm doing these. Thanks for the kind words Ricardo!

[@graythomas2445]

I’ve only seen 2 or 3 of your videos but I can confidently say that this is my new favorite channel lol

[@Noiseheads]

Your articulation on the specific qualities your mics captured vs. what the plugins add are solid gold, my friend. I would also add that the drummer's performance and lighter touch PAIRED WITH the stellar mic / placement / processing choices are what make this such a pleasure to listen to.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Absolutely, 1000% agreed, and I'm not just saying that because I'm the drummer :-P

[@rubenca5586]

man what a clip, always a pleasure watching someone work that actually knows the engineering on the recording, i feel like it was recorded like theres no mixing and it really shows but how the amount of processing is minimal

[@DanSoundSmith]

Fantastic Greg, sounds incredible. Loved seeing you do your thang, as opposed to just hearing you on the podcast! Also great to have you flying solo, much more chill and focused. Lovely! Heading over to the full ep 3 now!

[@promusicals984]

Absolutely gorgeous sound quality ...and just love the way you move the viewer to listen more than just watch.

[@raimundo2428]

Super cool. These lessons have the vibe of a weather forecast on a rainy rainy day.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

I love rainy days, which sucks for me as I live in southern California!

[@HerrSpuzzmacher]

When I worked in a studio 25 years ago, the only rule was, never, ever using the words “warm” and “punchy” in the mixing room lol. ..nice to see some things never change.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Sounds like someone had issues...

[@gr33n5murf]

What about "it needs to 'pop' more"

[@gonkedup8595]

Best asmr channel and my favourite mixing channel on youtube. Keep up the great stuff my dude, youre an inspiration.

[@Sundaydrumday]

Ya this was just incredible...your one of the last bastions who can create music that moves u.....this is music that reaches out and says hello, sits down next to me and lights a spliff...passes it and we just both lay back and relax...man this is really something...the timbre...speechless...I got no more...

[@zzzyzzzyzzzyxxx]

A kuppa koffee and Kush - now that's a sexy sonic morning.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Right??

[@3gypt1an]

Chillaxin’ right out to this track. Sweet demonstration dude. Love those drums

[@CacciTunez]

I was always afraid of getting my drums dirty. But now I feel the urge, this sounds great!

[@LouderThanLiftoff]

You're always teaching me something new, Greg! Keep it coming!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Thanks man, that's the plan!

[@nicholasparis5281]

Sweet Video! I love how you verbally explicate your thought processes.. I think just hearing another producer think out loud really adds the most amount of insight into production... especially when you emphasize or focus on the quality of the sound descriptively instead of the idea of the numbers representing the frequency range... it's all about the approach, and you've got really clean lines of seeing things there, and I think those are the avenues that can really help lead you some place special!

[@gregoryscott3858]

That's an awesome bit of feedback, thank you for the kind words!

[@steinmanisk]

Thank you for taking the time to make these videos, this is great stuff! It's inspiring to watch real drums being recorded to sound and feel unique rather than seeing yet another tutorial on mixing Superior Drummer. Greetings from the Baltics!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

You're very welcome. And maybe someday these kinds of sounds will *be* in a Superior Drummer pack...

[@Ushaym]

Maybe you could sell us some before then, very tasty drums :)

[@boombap28]

These drums sound so thick.. love it. Thanks for the tutorial! I definitely need to find an EV RE10 or something like it.

[@garyfox8]

Give me character and atmosphere any day over clean and pristine. Proud to be a subscriber to the Kush plug-in suite. Cheers!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

We're proud to have you as a supporter, thanks Gary!!

[@joolm4976]

Love your work. Congrats

[@yohanyemba5295]

your video on mixing in mono has changed everything for me. you're 100% the bob ross of audio.

[@bassnode]

Great sounds and awesome approach of revealing just enough to spark creativity. Thank you!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Thanks so much, that's exactly what I'm trying to do, I'm glad it's working!

[@diegooliveirabenjamin]

Jesus Christ man what a drum sound is that... Fuck, on point

[@woody504]

Your videos melt my face with sonic goodness. Wow.

[@DuncanStrawn]

im two days into binging your channel... great stuff learning tons!!! you and warren huart with produce like a pro are my instructional gurus... chill guys with tons of musical expertise... great stuff..

[@CreatingMusicandSound]

Well done. Love the drum sounds

[@gordeevious]

Even his Logic is stylized to look like Kush plugins. haha.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

#alwaysdownwithbrown

[@TheBBQify]

@@TheHouseofKushTV you should hit up technology connections lol

[@YoMyNamesJakeG]

Is this logic theme available to download anywhere?

[@parp]

@@TheBBQify Dark Orange

[@ljosdreki]

Love the music, mic technique and style💣🧨💥

[@djeastiano]

This is amazing!!! Went from Tame Impala to Radiohead with same kit setup! Love your plugins man! 1 happy customer right here, keep up the delicious work with that sweet sweet ear candy!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@BarryLimestone]

Just found this channel, it is great! Most youtube tutorials talk about boring/irrelevant stuff, and the quality of the video and music is often questionable, but not here! Also, you talk about emotion and why you're doing stuff in order to achieve a certain feel etc., rather than saying something like 'I always use parallel compression on drums because it's the right thing to do', or whatever other people say haha.

[@AshRavens]

really really good voice over quality man

[@moilimyacoub4580]

Pure magic. Thanks @Greg for making these "Ridin' the mix bus" series. Again, showing that with a 200$ drum kit, if you know what you're doing with the right tools you can achieve great sound. Tools are great if you can afford them all or a few ones but the person behind makes the magic happen. Again, thanks ever so much for doing this Master @UBK ;-).

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Wow, such very kind words, thank you Moilim! In all fairness, it's a $200 drumkit, but it's a pretty special one. But you're totally correct, it's what you do with it that matters the most!!

[@davidr3789]

On top of all the skills, knowledge and expertise.......an amazing voice 👍.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Awww, shucks...

[@SoundSignals]

Man! How good do those drums sound!!! Epic!!! Surely a sample pack!!! Haha! It is so refreshing to hear this is possible! Thanks for sharing man!

[@ryde2012]

Your music is amazing love what you did with drums

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Thanks, the older I get, the dirtier I like my drums!

[@shane2973]

Yo Yo...I watched episode 3 first, I didn't realize 1-2 were over on this side of the internet. Anyway, my initial reaction was of one who did not get what you were doing. Now that I've actually heard in the context of the entire track, or as much of the track you have completed for the tutorial, brother I totally dig it! Love the vibe and the synth's...all of it, super cool! I just wanted to tell you that. For some reason I wasn't able to comment on the ep 3 vid so I did it here...Really, really dig what you are doing with your gear and plugins. The way you explained mix bus compression was perfect...I've been using it and knew it was benefitting what I was doing, but wasn't able to hear the articulation of it so clearly until you described what to listen for, Really great brother, Thank you..it seems so much of all of this is knowing what to listen to/for, once that comes into view its like "AH, now I can see what you are talking about"

[@chinmeysway]

Loving them synth sounds.

[@HectorHernandez-qp4wf]

This was extremely cool. THANK YOU!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Glad you dug it man!

[@ElisandroDeLeon]

dropped like a like just for that sweet intro. wish more channels had intros like this

[@dox1755]

I wanna see more of these videos !

[@TheManInCommand]

I need both of those tracks. VIIIIBESSS! 🥁🥁🎺🎶

[@natura808]

My kinda sound - my kinda dude. Thank you fo making these videos!

[@michaelperry2446]

awesome!!! I have sooo many questions!!! But you are inspiring me; soo much!!!! thanks!!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Ask!!

[@adrianoadriano3849]

Cool music vibe dude. Nice studio space and tech.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Thanks man, I definitely can't complain, it's an awesome space to create music in!

[@fattommy4436]

Love this channel! Just commenting because today I discovered a shortcut to activate/bypass multiple plugins in LPX, prob came with the last update. If you click the ‘setting’ tab at the top of a channel strip, it now has ‘bypass all effect plugins’ as well as ‘remove all bypassed effect plugins’ as options. I’d seen this requested in the forums in the last few years and Apple has come through in the name of workflow! Although, this hasn’t made my mixes any better... (yet lol)

[@tovermoran4360]

I have never before heard drums that sound this good.

[@ConnorFischettiMusic]

Only producer/youtube channel that I actually like the music of. I know I'll get some good tips here. Very pleasing warmth from the drums and really directionally diverse mix.

[@CiderSessions]

damn some good shit here man! Enjoyed this very much!

[@batheavy2834]

Very cool. I wanna to capture some of this flavour 👌

[@hollandcookson7718]

insane to me that your channel isn't bigger, these videos are crucial!

[@bumsibar6163]

This is great. If more music/engineering education would focus and observe emotional responses to the music, the world would be a better place! Love the Bazzz as well, is that also the Prophet?

[@lilian896]

Logic, the awesome DAW. Like the BOOM🐲

[@AnimusInvidious]

Good stuff!

[@harrisfrankou2368]

Great channel

[@eihthype6578]

Even your daw colors are vibey!

[@user-rr1oj8zz2g]

Beautiful!!

[@mostlyharmless88]

MORE OF THESE PLEASE!!!!!! xo

[@joao.antunes]

Amazing!

[@ProdbyAdwerdz]

Excellent!

[@Mixtechniques]

Thanks for the vids! About to purchase the third episode. It seems like there are some bad edits in the drum comps though. You can hear them transition and sometimes pop.

[@jamadon2780]

Have recently become a big fan of both your videos and your plugins. I have a subscription to the Kush plug-in bundle and have been getting great value out of it. My question is....how are you getting the dark mode on your Logic interface that is seen in the video? Is that lpx colorizer you're using? I'd really like to get mine looking like that.

[@dnel3000]

Nice work, love it. How did you customize the look and color scheme of Logic? Brown plugins, etc. I can't find that option...

[@rome8180]

Isn't this a full series? Why do I only see two short episodes? I know on your podcast you said that episodes were $0.99. I am totally down to pay if they're still available somewhere.

[@jasonmartin8467]

Greg, sounds so good! I love the vibe your getting. The drum grooves are incedible with so much feel. Is this your project and when will it be available? I would love to get a copy when done.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Thanks Jason! My main project is Sneaky Little Devil, we just dropped our first two songs and videos, check us out! kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2PUemSahJaArtE

[@Luksenburg00]

Awesome!!

[@Yahoomediaclub]

Love the tones...proper Vintage in the box...( is there external hardware I ask)...?

[@fbeatz6297]

awesome song

[@purpletapes1940]

That phase bit at the end. I thought it was going to be shite, but fair play, the best.... also Vic from F is for family?

[@boblazo1]

You're gorgeous and nice drum sounds too. Love the minimal technique and looking forward to the deep dive.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Thanks Bob! I like minimalism because I spend less time fussing with a million options, I don't do well managing a ton of details!

[@timvisterin]

Love the sound!!! Where did you get the tube traps? You can really hear them taking over the sound in the room!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Yeah, they are NOT subtle and I could not do anything on the level that I'm doing if it weren't for them. I got mine Direct from ASC but they come up on Ebay and regional Craiglists from time to time, my friends have all been converted and that's where they got them. Good luck Tim!

[@Micahtmusic]

i can’t believe how much like a clap that snare sounds at one point

[@Caynug]

Is this a song I can listen to somewhere? Its in my head all day since I first saw this video, it's such a sexy groove and vibe im dying to know if theres a sound or MORE. Please kush!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

It never became a song, the clips in this video were just sketches I used to show off some techniques :-)

[@Caynug]

@@TheHouseofKushTV I need this as a 2 minute loop man

[@garyjostone]

Amazing stuff man. Where do I get the track that starts at 4:18?

[@sillypsybin]

Re10 side mic on snare.... well if that ain't the shit. Between that and your tip on using the 635A for vocal overdubs you've upped my bag o' tricks considerably. Many thanks!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

I'm all about that vibe brother!

[@sillypsybin]

@@TheHouseofKushTV I love it when you said, "You've got to find other ways to make the kick, not louder, but more horrible" in your video about mixing in mono. You speak my language. I had to re-listen to that segment a couple times.... "Did he really just say 'More horrible?'". LOL, love it! My way of thinking precisely, as a drummer/hack engineer with 50+ years of experience... I did a recording back in 1978 on a Teac 3340 where I turned up every knob in the chain (mixing board gain, faders, all eq knobs, tape deck input gain, etc.) all the way up on the drums (almost broke the VU meters on the Teac, hahahaha) and they sounded fabulous.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Lol! I think I actually said "more audible". But I have been known to use a crushing amount of distortion on a kick to make it sit down and behave, and it does NOT sound good when solo'd! 😛

[@rikkibates]

@@TheHouseofKushTV Hahahaha! Well, that's what 50 years of slamming the drums will do to your ears! I'm still going with more horrible though, cuz sometimes it's true. And it can be surprising how horrrible can turn into beautiful if you mix it in just right.

[@melissashannon2968]

that track Lovely ❤

[@AdiVAbdulsky]

4:54 ....whaaat a vibe

[@hugosilva1078]

You should sell a midi drum pack , great drums as usual 😉

[@underoath41148]

Is there a way i could get that first song? Kinda like it

[@TheSonicDeviant]

Lovely jubbly! Time to make a hot chocolate and watch the next episode! Greetings from London!

[@lukewarm5356]

Excellent, can never be too dirty

[@djcaptkirk]

This shit makes me laugh out loud, sitting alone by myself sometimes. Haha You're funny K.

[@electrifried]

Wonderful crunch!!!You don`t use any kind of gate on snare and kick!!Is that true?

[@egorreshetnikov3864]

Is that you playing those drums? damn its good!

[@nathanrjohnson7921]

What’s the song at 4:20? I could listen to that for hours.

[@thiagomelo8468]

Wow!!! huge sound!!! BTW, where can I get this Kush theme for LOGIC LoL !!!

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

I'm going to make it available at thehouseofkush.com, if you sign up for our museletter I'll let you know when it's up!

[@thiagomelo8468]

I´ve been trying to sign for but I don´t get any confirmation mail (tried two-three emails)... Please where can I get this huge theme...

[@TropicHarbour]

Is the theme available somewhere yet?! Fell in love the instant I saw it

[@lovebirdsmusic]

whats are the hardware compressors doing in the background? seems like they´re on the drum or mixbus. probably worth a mention if you look at the gain reduction going on ;) and why didnt anyone notice this before?

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Ha! They're just adding eye candy, you're not hearing them :-). I think I multed the kick out thru them (which is why they go dead when I solo the other drums). Also, they're not doing any gain reduction, you're seeing the input and output meters dancing, the GR meter is a single dot up and down the middle. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5nFoI14ppiaesU

[@RECAPSLABEL]

where is the rest of this series?

[@fbegey]

Fantastic video (this, and the one on mic positioning), great drum sound and great music too, but I'd really appreciate a de-esser on your voice. It gets PAINFUL ! Also, can you tell us which skins are you using on Logic?

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Thank you Federico! Is it possible you are particularly sensitive to the frequencies in my 'esses'? I've just never heard this feedback from anyone else, which doesn't mean you're wrong, it just means I'm not sure what to make of it because literally hundreds of thousands of people have listened to my voice at this point. For me, I know I'm extra sensitive to 2.5k, so a lot of 'nasal' female voices are physically painful for me but not for other people. I'm also not a fan of 6k, it feels like icepicks sometimes! Anyway, the Logic skin is my own, it's a very 'Kush' theme, I'm thinking of making it available to anyone who wants it because it's pretty funky!

[@beebopeducation8676]

Actually, I think you are right, I had a nasty 'feedback accident' a few hours earlier, and it turns out that even if the pain and ringing had stopped in a matter of minutes I must have been over-sensitive for the rest of the day. Now listening to the same video I find that it's all normal, thank heavens, and I feel a bit of an idiot. Scary stuff. Having said that, jump to 4:12 where you same "same micSSS, same positionSSSS" and you'll have to admit you are playing with fire there. A Kush skin to download would be great, I particularly like the color you have for selected channel strips on the mixer.

[@fbegey]

And then I replied from a different account. Yep.

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Ha! No worries, but yes, I do push things pretty far in general, and my esses are splatty even before processing. Glad to hear your ears have recovered, oto-acoustic trauma is a very real protective phenomenon the body does and I've experienced it several times myself, once from a firecracker and once from a front-row seat in a rock concert. That one took several days to recover from, I was freaked out!

[@samcox3017]

I don’t know if I missed this or anything, but are these mics going into any outboard gear or straight into the interface?

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Straight into the converters, I'll sometimes track vocals with a touch of compression but I never touch drums on the way in, too many ways to fuck them up!

[@rickstolk]

What Logic theme/skin are you using?

[@martywhite2988]

Question: That snare drum has a certain dirty quality in all your mics. It's brilliant. Sounds like a head is loose in a sly, sexy way. How do you have it tuned?

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Honestly, I have no idea. My tuning approach is pretty unorthodox, I monitor live thru the headphones with the cue mix playing, then turn each lug one at a time, up and down, while gently tapping the head. This lets me tune each lug in context to hear how it affects the pitch, transient, and overtones. Each lug has a sweet spot for the kind of texture I want the song to have. I then spend an agonizing amount of time adjusting the snares in microscopic amounts until I get the quality of brightness I want and the sustain of the buzz is in time and feels good. Throughout that process I"m also adding and removing and repositioning small folds of gaff tape to control overtones and sustain. If I'm going for a deeper thuddy sound (like in this video) the top snare head will have a small leather wallet or similar soft hefty wad of something taped to it as well. I've also used a rolled up sock and a (clean unused) baby diaper as well. 😁

[@martywhite2988]

@@TheHouseofKushTV Thank you for a very thorough answer. The sock is a great idea. The diaper cracks me up.

[@Bluzian74]

@@TheHouseofKushTV I personally use tea towels and gf's panties to "muff" the snare.:P

[@dodo13500]

@@TheHouseofKushTV YES, the baby diaper!!! Got in trouble back in the '70's for that. Also for using them to wax the car. LOL Do they still have cloth diapers?

[@TheHollermann]

Please please tell me how you recorded your voice without any ear monitoring, yet you hear what you were doing. What's the microphone for this by the way? Great content, instantly subbed :)

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Mic is a vintage Studer-branded Schoeps CMC5. The setup was simple, I had the speakers playing but at an incredibly low volume, which is where I spend a lot of my time when mixing so I know how things are supposed to sound at that playback level. Mic still picked up bleed, so there's some gentle gating on the VO track to suppress that when I'm not speaking, and the VO itself is the key for ducking the audio track you hear. Nothing new or fancy, just old school techniques applied tastefully to get me where I need to go :-)

[@TheHollermann]

@@TheHouseofKushTV no way for both the quick reply and the information :) you perhaps meant the CMC5 ? i did not know this mic. i guess you need to have a capsule to it, so i suppose the real important thing about it would be its polar pattern. I suppose cardioid which turned away from the speakers ? perhaps from up above? if i was to publish an article on VO for youtube, i definietly going to mention you :)

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

Yes, CMC5, thanks for the correction! Almost always when I record my voice with a condenser, it's 15-18" away from my mouth, otherwise the bass in my voice (which is copious) gets out of hand 💪🏼

[@shadwellsong]

yes

[@rowegardner9673]

Greg wtf, man. Love the vibe! I'd pay top dollar for a kontakt instrument w round robins and everything of this type of drum sound. Or just a sample pack! Maybe others would too... Hint hint! Just saying! ;)

[@user-rr1oj8zz2g]

Where i can find this music?

[@carlosgil4196]

That was genius

[@zacjohnson9080]

Care to comment on how you tune your snare before recording? Even with the difference in room, it seems like the snare has such a snappy transient

[@TheHouseofKushTV]

I tune all my drums the same way: with a pair of DirectSound headphones on (30dB reduction), with the music playing and the mics hot, as if I were recording. I then tap the drum and turn the lugs so I can hear the tone, transient, and decay in full context, hearing the drums and the room the way the mics actually hear it. It takes me a while, maybe 15 minutes per drum to find something that feels magical. I'm not fast but that's fine because I'm not in a hurry, and I enjoy exploring different voices and textures for each drum and am often surprised at what ends up working vs. what I thought was going to work. And that, in a nutshell, is pretty much a mirror of my entire process from songwriting thru to playing and singing and, finally, mixing: trial and error is my stock in trade 🕺

[@zacjohnson9080]

​@@TheHouseofKushTV A fruitful day of recording awaits me, thanks for the reply Greg! PS sweet low afterglow is a certified banger, keep the music coming

[@DefinitelyNotLongmaze]

That second song is filthy.