Mix Heavy Rock Drums like a Pro: Techniques and Plugins from Marc Daniel Nelson

[@Producelikeapro]

What's a plugin you can't mix without? Please comment below!

[@melodious2261]

My Sans amp haha : )

[@charlesrocks]

For drums...UAD Pultec Pro Legacy on the drum bus...with Soundtoys Decapitator. Vocals...I'm loving the JST Howard Benson Vocal Plugins (The Doubler and the OG Plugin) and CLA Vocals...For reverbs...Waves CLA Epic.

[@keithferris9574]

Neold Big Al. Absolutely gorgeous saturation. Works on everything.

[@davidasher22]

There’s no specific plugin that I need for every mix. I was going to say my stock EQ but if I didn’t have that I would just use a different EQ. Sorry, probably not the answer you’re looking for but it’s the truth.

[@RolandDeschain1]

Waves SSL E console. I have one on every track just giving the slightest bit of compression for colouration.

[@Featherlightstudio]

Great Video! I think the big takeaway here is starting with an incredibly consistent drum performance. Taylor is spot on with consistent kick and snare hits. No pensive or half hearted sticking here, Hawkins is just killing it and proving yet again, what a monster he truly was.

[@snapascrew]

One thing I do when I’m trying to build a mix for my live concert tours is take a sample of the snare from the drummer and I use trigger2 to resample itself so while I’m doing my dynamics and eq I don’t get bummed out when the drummer hits off center or botches a rimshot. Then at the end I take off trigger and see how it translates. If everything goes well I transfer the avid/waves settings onto my live console.

[@wyrlismike]

im mixing a local band and the drummer was not consistent at all, its just one big face palm. id like marc to come to my house and show me how to mix drums like those

[@davejohnsonmusic]

This gentleman has the most helpful insight and tips out there and articulates things in a way that makes sense and is easy to digest. You learn more from the thought-process behind his mix decisions, than any plugin settings.

[@richardsp2794]

This was a game changing video for me. Using MJUC to bring out the kick and snare in the room mics without the OH's overwhelming everything, so you can then use that energy creatively in parts of the song. I have 2 songs I've really struggled with to get a drier drum but just have some life in the mix and could never get room reverb right to do this and keep the punch. This totally unlocked the mixes for me and wider creative options too. Proper gold dust video.

[@Producelikeapro]

Yes, great trick! The MJUC is an amazing plug in

[@Mansardian]

I came here from Instagram where you posted the teaser. When he mentioned "one of the best LA in the itb realm" but the teaser didn't tell WHICH one, I had to come here 😀 and I KNEW IT!! MJUC. Always a winner. It always amazes me how much weight MJUC adds on the 2bus.

[@Producelikeapro]

We love MJUC plug in!! So amazing

[@SinclairSound]

Marc is the man, want to meet him and just listen to him talk about mixing

[@mikemccaine4229]

Why would you want to meet him? You can hear him talking about mixing loads on here?

[@AKAtAGG]

The man's a legend. How I would love to have to mix Taylor's drumming. Love this so much. Validated me doing the 'want nothing above 150' cos that's exactly what i would've done. and i am a 100% amateur.

[@Producelikeapro]

You can! Make sure you check out Marc's course in the description for the full multitracks

[@RONNYMORRISMUSIC]

Love your videos. So much to learn from watching these. Simply the school of rock as it should be.

[@peterheinen6110]

I'm a fan of the dbx160 in m/s for drums. 100% bigness, everytime

[@bobbydreg5597]

Love these videos! Cheers Marc! RIP TH

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks ever so much

[@jswen702]

Super cool. Watched a couple times. His drumming was so good. Awesome to hear.

[@antcall6779]

Marc and Joe in the same week! Thanks Warren you rock🤘

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks ever so much Ant! Yes, amazing combination of two huge talents!!

[@Joey-rp5vg]

Thanks very much Marc, great as always. Cheers to the PLAP team

[@mennovroom5537]

Respect for Taylor Hawkins. What a great drumsound.

[@Producelikeapro]

Amazing drummer hitting the drums beautifully

[@charlesrocks]

Oh man....I needed this content right now. I'm happy that I'm not too far off with how I've been mixing my drums. Except I use more outboard gear. Very cool though to see what you can do with plugins.

[@Producelikeapro]

Great to hear!

[@michaelvanwyk6918]

SSL Channel Strip 2 and the UA Pultec EQ

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks for sharing

[@pricedlx]

I love these videos. Even though I use Cubase - it translates perfectly. Also I was sold on Marc once i saw his dog. I also am a Weimaraner owner. It is now my favorite breed. But even a noob mixer like myself can take away so much from these vids. I need to just bite the bullet and join the produce like a pro academy

[@Producelikeapro]

That’s amazing to hear that it translates! Hope to see you inside the Academy!

[@Producelikeapro]

Marc is there creating. Ideas and doing Q&A’s, he Rocks!

[@Six2Nine]

Hi Marc. Could you make a video where you will be showing us your must have plugins plz? These kind of tools which you will be taking with you on journey to alpha Centauri?

[@RolandDeschain1]

Taylor was rock-solid. Just a perfect timekeeper. And that is not to diminish his skills in any way.

[@Producelikeapro]

Absolutely, agreed 100%!

[@figlermaert]

Drummers should be timekeepers first, right??

[@Luke-ot6mk]

Compressors from Overloud. They are amazing!

[@sixstring3639]

What a joy to watch. It always sounds so good. How does one know that the drums don't camouflage the vocals for an example? Great show .Thanx.

[@Producelikeapro]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks ever so much

[@xavieralbenygtr553]

the guys was not even doing anything and the drums where sounding amaizing wowwwwwww, i totally wanna hear this song

[@danielfmyers]

Unrelated to the mix but that’s a cool sweater

[@melodious2261]

Haha 😆

[@Okewen]

Great stuff! Thank you guys!

[@tutubeos]

Exactly what I thought. It sounded already awesome since the beginning 😅

[@sgfdancecompany]

Great like always with Marc

[@splashesin8]

Thanks Marc!

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks Audrey!!

[@Rhuggins]

Where can I get Marc's drum room IR? I bought the course and he mentions it, but theres nowhere to download it. Thanks!

[@Producelikeapro]

Here you go! producelikeapro.lpages.co/marc-daniel-nelson-drum-room-ir/

[@Rhuggins]

@@Producelikeapro Oh my goodness thats so very kind of you. Thank you!! Happy to follow along with this now :)

[@jhenrymusic1]

Which version of MJCU is that? I don't havea timing button on mine and I'd love to hear how that sounds.

[@hazeofthegreensmoke505]

Wow! RIP Taylor Hawkins 🙏

[@gutekzpoligonu]

The drummers of this caliber playing to the click in this kind of studio with this kind of console sounds like Superior Drummer with just a hint of humanize, The same is with Ryan Vikedal. He sounds so tight like a SD3 and You have to put it into actual SD3 grit editor to see that it's actually live. I remember one track that CLA was mixing, very new wave, everything digital and the drums sounded the same and at the end of mix CLA is killing with the line: "That was live drums played by RHCP drummer", and I was like WTF?

[@Producelikeapro]

It’s so often dictated by genre. If the song has push and pull and drum parts that mirror the feel of the vocalist then they don’t have that gridded feel. Jim Kellner is a Perfect example of that kind of drummer

[@gutekzpoligonu]

@@Producelikeapro I know. I was just first shocked how tight those drummers are and how close to SD3 type of program they are. The valocity and the timming is almost always around +/- the same but then like You've said, and we all know - You don't have to play to the click or give it to hardcore digital editing AND at the same time if You don't have a great drummer but a great drums from program and great mixer, then You can still make a record and then find a session drummer to play live which is much easier than "rent" a guy for a longer process. ALL IN ALL: it's good to be a songwriter in this era and have a lot of options.

[@Producelikeapro]

@@gutekzpoligonu I’m still a fan of music that breathes! There was something that happened in the mid ‘90s on, even before digital editing was pervasive, that really changed how drums were heard

[@Producelikeapro]

@@gutekzpoligonu I grew up on Jazz, Blues and Queen!! That’s my kind of drumming!

[@gutekzpoligonu]

@@Producelikeapro and I on Polish punk-rock scene so the metronome type of drums were not in their neighborhood as You can imagine ; ) But it's all season to taste and a matter of HOW MUCH You wanna to be sign/get a career in today's DNA "rock and roll world". But isn't all starter with Pop punk/post-grunge? If You get those old multitracks (guitar hero and others) then the beginning of 2000's is a start of Nickleback'ish digital editing. Personaly, I'm in between with a live drummer and huge drums with a lot of heavy low end like Sean Kinney had on Black Gives way to blue record as I mention few times.

[@BlackenedNL]

Love Marc!

[@Producelikeapro]

We do too!

[@slesher84]

hey hey doctor evil will be jealous of your masterful hair style

[@joemiya6689]

@1:10. Wow it does have room ambience from overhead mics. This is without reverb plugins? Did they put mic very high? My recording experiences are limited. So I’m curious how come the overhead can capture that much reverby texture. It sounds awesome anyways!

[@BLACKSYNTH]

Q: How Do you know when the drums are done? A: When the dog wakes up.

[@nickperez_]

Awesome video

[@DeadOriginal]

This is great!!!

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks ever so much

[@charlesrocks]

YOOOOOOOO! When are you dudes gonna release some new songs!?! Can't wait for the follow up to Bought and Sold!!!

[@DeadOriginal]

@@charlesrocks yo!!! Been Demoing songs. Nothing to post about for release as of yet!!! With the shows and line up changes things slower down. But making effort to get new stuff going so!!!! This is Paul btw

[@charlesrocks]

@@DeadOriginal That's really great, Paul. I really dig the sound of the band. There's still so much to explore with that sound. I'm thrilled to hear you're still working on stuff.

[@DeadOriginal]

@@charlesrocks honestly been test driving it live getting our live sound down and it’s been very very very shocking on the positive feedback. It’s been so inspiring. I’ve been wanting to do this whole life man!!!!

[@danymalsound]

Great, now I have to buy the BlackBird strip lol Cheers!

[@Erix77]

I really have to say this course was abit lost on me. I mean these tracks are so good sounding, that if you get tracks like this, you dont need this course. I also think some of the examples where abit quick, like he is explaining something he thinks you already know. I got the course on recording drums at home, witch I think was better aimed at hobbyist or semipros, but hey, fun to hear this. The big take away I think is, get it right at the source, witch is solid advice anyhow👍 Anyway.... love the channel, keep it up.

[@Producelikeapro]

Feel free to write to me, I’ll send you another course of your choice free of charge that will help you! [e-mail]

[@Producelikeapro]

Many thanks, Warren

[@Okewen]

I think that was plane old mixing like a pro. I found I had to pay loads of attention. I'll watch it again in a noise-free environment and my best headphones. It's like sitting alongside someone actually mixing, only he's telling you stuff as he goes.

[@lesjuly]

MDN, I hear you and a lot of mix engineers use the phrase, " It has a lot of character." What EXACTLY do you mean by 'character' ?

[@jeremythornton433]

What is that mixer/controller that Marc is using? I"m also noticing that the tracks are really really hot. I tend not to do that. Should I? They look clipped on some tracks. I didn't think that was good when you're working in the digital domain. Thanks again for another great video.

[@godofspacetime333]

That’s just a zoomed in view in the DAW, if you watch at 3:26 you’ll see him zoom out and see that they’re not actually as brick-walled as they looked.

[@AA-fi8bz]

Ssl UF8 + Ssl UC1

[@Mansardian]

What I notice more and more is that even engineers who do promotional videos for certain plugin companies and their SSL channels.... end up using SSL's own stuff. I agree. I did the same journey. I couldn't use any other SSL channel anymore.

[@johng7423]

lol at 17.30 I thought what is that behind you I thought it was a ghost or something turned out to be your dog.

[@Producelikeapro]

Haha! Always a dog in Marc Video

[@bobbaumeister5243]

Black Dog! What an inspiration! Love Marc

[@frankharley442]

Izotope

[@peterheinen6110]

Damn, forgot about the black bird. I have it myself... doesn't get more analog than this plugin

[@mikemccaine4229]

Err.. it does get more analog than this plugin... a real one !!🤣

[@peterheinen6110]

The man is synonymous for POCKET

[@AG-mz7vm]

The fact that pro tools still has no phase switch on each channel blows my mind

[@chadmichael_]

The plugins have phase buttons.

[@chrispysaid]

RIP Taylor Hawkins, easily one of the greatest of our generation

[@ipoponq]

Guy, Plz, Tom Lord-Alge! Do something with him!

[@toddkreuzburg4162]

Taylor hitting the cymbals and hats too hard. They're overwhelming the kick and snare.

[@revivalsoundstudios6796]

More like... sitting and watching immaculate recorded drums and wondering if you should even touch any plugin.

[@chrispysaid]

So I don't really know what techniques you're using because you're not talking about the techniques you're using

[@pjuliano9000]

Lets give you a mike portnoy kit to mix .. that should be a nightmare

[@studioruangsvara]

7:31 now i know how a pancake sounds like 😬

[@domgirard4095]

i wouldn't add drum samples to Taylor recorded in that studio with that Neve...

[@robloyst4514]

Nice. But let’s try it on a real world example lol.

[@Producelikeapro]

Hi Rob, welcome to the channel. We have videos on mixing and multitracks to download from one mic on a kit, two, three, four and more, in bedrooms, garages, huge studios, small studios. Please feel free to check them out, I think there’s around 150 of them? Thanks ever so much

[@THIEFSOUNDS]

oh damn didn't know Mugatu could mix

[@ChrisAdkins1985]

Damn right he can

[@laminethar]

Stop using PT dark skin please.