Recreating the EPIC Drum Sounds of Travis Barker & Blink 182

[@BetterMixes]

Grab the drum samples here! www.bettermixes.com/drumsamples

[@miramardrive]

I've never seen someone almost perfect a tone recreation. Really good attention to detail

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! It was a ton of work, but I figured if I was going to make this video, I wanted to get it as close as possible!

[@xE4syCoreX]

I love TOYPAJ's Drumsound. It's the perfect one for me. Wish they would still use that beautiful "natural" sound on the new Blink stuff. Great job with everything!

[@BetterMixes]

Thank you! And totally agree. I've been getting back into that slightly more natural sound lately.

[@xninjaxskater]

Jerry Finn was an awesome producer! I love the drum tones he created with many different bands. I would love to see you recreate the drum sound from AFI’s Sing the Sorrow album.

[@BetterMixes]

He sure was. I forgot he worked with AFI! That could be a good one to do!

[@stuartsloan]

Nice work! I love Travis’s sound in those albums and you nailed it! Great work!!!

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks a lot! And same here, this album as a whole sounds incredible!

[@kougan_music]

how the hell did I JUST discover this channel. KZbin should've recommended this to me ages ago. This will be rewatched a lot. Your final sound is simply astounding

[@BetterMixes]

Haha thanks dude! I really appreciate it!

[@Jeysunmusic]

Great video! Also we can't forget how playing affect the sounds too. Travis Barker absolutely smash his drum kit like it's no one's business

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! And yes, absolutely true! I normally play pretty hard by default, but while dialing in this sound, every time I listened back, I was like "nope, gotta play WAY harder!"

[@LaunchPointBand]

Love your take on the Blink drums. Ryan has talked about Jerry Finn's trick with the toms using a BBE or aural exciter to add weight to the toms. It's featured in the PureMix tutorial "Obvious" by Blink. This was done in the tracking phase. Everything else you nailed.

[@BetterMixes]

Ah, yes! It didn't come up when I was researching for this video so it totally slipped my mind, but I did a few sessions with Ryan and he always brought a couple Aphex 204s with him for toms, and I think I remember him saying they used them on that record. Thanks for the reminder!

[@diehardpunk19]

I never ever would have guessed so much processing goes into a drum sound. I always thought it was the drum, heads, and tuning that was the sound.

[@BetterMixes]

Yeah, it can be quite a lot! There certainly are some records that have a whole lot less processing, but in general, it often is quite heavy handed! The drums, heads, and tuning are definitely essential as well though! No amount of processing can fix it if those weren't at least close to start with!

[@chasenixonmusic]

Thanks for making this! I absolutely love the drums on this record and appreciate you taking the time to deep dive on it!!

[@BetterMixes]

Glad you enjoy it! Thanks for watching!

[@chasenixonmusic]

@@BetterMixes absolutely! This is my drum warm up album after I’ve warmed up with exercises. If I can get through this then I know I’m warmed up well haha

[@MaksymLazirko]

Do a hairmetal sound, the huge sounding drums are awesome

[@BetterMixes]

That could be fun! Any particular bands or songs you'd like to see?

[@MaksymLazirko]

@BetterMixes I feel like bon Jovi, Skid Row, and motley crue have great drummers that the production of which was not really covered. Take 18 and Life by skid row for instance , the kit sound massive!

[@legang8983]

this is one of those random videos you watch that turn out to be just amazing! nice job, ill follow!

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you liked it!

[@xmisterblackhatx]

There's a Modern Drummer article from 2021 with a lot of good info on the kit and snares he used on TOYPAJ. The snare used in Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" was used in 1 track. I'd guess "Stay Together for the Kids."

[@BetterMixes]

Oh yeah, I think I remember seeing that now that you mention it! I remember at the time I couldn't seem to find what that snare actually was, but I just came across something saying it was a 14x8 Tama birch snare nicknamed 'Big Red'

[@GlennJimenez]

No fucking way

[@Supersonic_DC]

This is so interesting! Congratulations for all the work you did :)

[@BetterMixes]

I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!

[@Bobbroberg]

It was a 20 x 20 kick. There was an article back then from Drum! Magazine (or maybe modern drummer ) with interview on this record . He’s on the cover with a yellow OCPD kit.

[@BetterMixes]

Nice! I'll have to see if I can find that interview online. Glad I guessed the dimensions correctly though!

[@estosiesrock]

This is gold, man. Thanks for sharing.

[@BetterMixes]

No problem! I'm glad you liked it!

[@khamber213]

Architects album holy hell has amazing drum tones.

[@BetterMixes]

Oh yeah, those drums sound insane! That could be a good one to do!

[@rory__morrison]

This was a brilliant watch, incredible job 👏

[@BetterMixes]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@dreslivedrumcams-if8nd]

This is so awesome! Great detail and breakdown of technique. Thank you! A sample pack is Alex Rodriguez of Saosin sound would be great.

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you liked it. And oh man, I haven't listened to Saosin in a while! I seem to remember them having a pretty killer drum sound though.

[@zach1113]

Great video! I just subscribed and bought the ultimate bundle

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! And awesome! I hope you enjoy them. I'm hoping to add a few new kits to the bundle early next year!

[@ofretamozo]

Sos un genio! Abrazos desde Argentina!

[@BetterMixes]

Muchas gracias!

[@williamsoderlund1404]

Great job! Cool to see how you processed the drums. Since we're in the pop punk territory, how about Green Day's American Idiot or 21st Century Breakdown drums?

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you liked it! And American Idiot is on my list of ones I'd like to attempt!

[@stifm3ister]

the drums sound great. i‘m pretty sure that travis used a thinner 10ply 4-vented ocdp snare on toypaj tuned a lower than the 20ply snare he used to play in like ‘98-‘00 (i think that snare had the red white and blue sparkle wrap the same as his signature kit back then)

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks! And yeah, it's certainly possible that that's what he used on some of the songs! I couldn't find too much concrete info, but from what I gathered, it sounds like on Enema, Don't Leave Me was likely the only (or one of the only) songs to use an orange county snare, but by the time of the self titled record, they were used on at least a few songs, so Jerry Finn must have come around to them at some point!

[@zechpatrick]

sound is awesome man... nice work

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks! Glad you like it!

[@jaimetrevino4650]

This is pretty impressive 🔥🔥🔥

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you think so! 🤘

[@kintaro_f]

awesome breakdown! 🤘🥁🔥

[@BetterMixes]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it 🤘🤘🤘

[@danthemanmillan]

sounds fantastic!

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you think so! This one was a lot of fun (and a lot of work!).

[@vincentdajay9089]

You the goat man

[@BetterMixes]

❤️

[@LDdrums20]

Yes! Clean intro!

[@BetterMixes]

🤘🤘🤘

[@fevgatos]

Woahh!! I have no words! This is GOLD!and this video will blow up eventually! P.s I would kill for a Weezer Pinkerton drum-sample pack!!!

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you liked it! And a Pinkerton one would be very cool! I'll add that one to my list. I'm hoping to do a handful more videos/sample packs like this this year!

[@pantsnjacket381]

Very good, bro! Close sound!

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks man!

[@austinattack]

i know it's not as iconic as a lot of other tunes, but i'd be interested to hear your thoughts on All Time Low's Dear Maria Count Me In. They just re-released the song, so wondering how different the drums might be to a professional!

[@BetterMixes]

I feel like that song is at least PRETTY iconic at this point! That could be a fun one. I haven't heard the new version yet; I'll have to check it out!

[@ProducerJosh]

Great job dude!

[@BetterMixes]

Thank you!

[@BlueHouseSoundStudio]

Cool video. Yes DPA is the 4011. The pork pie toms check out. Did you get to chat with Mike about this? Now that I see it… it looks like the drums he did for the AD pack huh? Haha…I wonder how often they changed things up song to song. To me songs like anthem 2, first date and rock show are the bell brass with TLA voodoo added. Those are for sure c12s …looks like a 19” a custom and a 20” A. Probably “thin”. Jerry liked m201s on snare so maybe one is here. This record is Top, production wise.

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks man! I've probably watched your Jerry Finn guitar tone video a dozen times! And no, I didn't talk with Mike, just read and watched a ton of interviews with him. And yeah, I bet that is the addictive drums kit! It sounded like that was his go-to kit for quite a while. I could definitely hear those songs being a brass snare. I almost went with brass for this video (black beauty style, not bell brass), but ended up liking what the Pearl was doing. And that makes me want to try the m201 again! I tried it on snare years ago and didn't love it, but a) I'm wondering if that one was messed up cause it sounded kinda the opposite of how everyone describes the 201, and b) even if it wasn't busted, my taste has certainly changed over the years, so I'd be curious to try it again!

[@BlueHouseSoundStudio]

Thank you for the love! M201 (as also strangely used on Billy’s voice on dookie or partly haha) is a flatter maybe fatter mic than an SM57 but I also am not a fan… I haven’t found it doing anything special for me. The 57 always sounds like what I want a snare to sound like and I’ve searched mics far and wide trying to beat it… I use a really nice old Unidyne III… they age differently… but have bigger output trannys than a 57 from what I remember last I opened them both up. The best place to have a sand cast shell made for you is Duluth Brass (Minnesota) I hear a perfect amount of gating, saturation, compression, room and reverb in TLAs mix… Travis had an interview where he implied there was samples helping on Enema but insisted there’s none on TOYPAJ. I believe it but may or may not be true… this drum sound is the perfect storm. TLA for sure used his Neve 2264 comps for these drums And I can only guess Sony DRE 2000 been on at least the snare. Cymbals really shine and bloom but stay out of the way of the guitars and Vocals. Stereo image is lovely. Last thing. Ever notice how the toms are virtually mono on this record? Cheers

[@BetterMixes]

That was always my experience on snare as well. I tried something like 20 mics while I worked at a commercial studio, and in the end was like...yeah...the 57 just sounds right! I've got a unidyne that I'll have to try soon. I've probably used it on snare before, but never intentionally (I didn't even realize I had one for a long time. It was just in the 57 pile!). And thanks for the tip on Duluth Brass! And yeah, the production really is brilliant. Like I obviously always knew it was good, but the deeper I dig into it, the more impressed I get. Like the cymbals you mentioned, I had never thought too much about the cymbals on this record before, but when making this video, that was one of the things that stood out most to me!

[@gabet3754]

Do Lars’ snare on saint anger. I heard he used a 24” aluminum trash can.

[@BetterMixes]

Hahaha I always assumed he used a 12" stainless steel frying pan.

[@xmisterblackhatx]

It's actually a snare with the head cranked and the snares disengaged!

[@gabet3754]

@@xmisterblackhatxyeah….thats not funny though

[@sly6784]

Really really well made video good Job, could you pls do Joey jordison of self titled or Iowa

[@BetterMixes]

Thank you! And a Joey Jordison one is a great idea!

[@milanthedrummer]

Great job!

[@BetterMixes]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@mjrausch]

You got good ears my guy! We’re not worthy!

[@BetterMixes]

Haha thank you! 🤘

[@huberttorzewski]

Maybe Rival Sons "Too Bad" sound recreation? I wonder how they did that huge kick sound - portless kick head?

[@BetterMixes]

That could be a fun one! That's a really cool drum sound. And yeah, that definitely sounds like a portless kick drum to me.

[@JesterC88]

Is there a breakdown anywhere of what each kit in the Complete Collection are inspired by?

[@BetterMixes]

Not yet! I'm planning on making a video where I talk about a bunch of the kits and go over what the drums were or what makes that kit unique or how I like to use that kit etc. I'm also planning on making videos on at least most of the samples packs moving forward. But in the meantime, the Barker Kit and the Misery Kit are the only two that are heavily inspired by/based on anything (Misery Kit is Paramore's Misery Business. I've got a video on that one if you haven't seen it!). The rest are just from anytime I had my hands on a cool drum kit or if I felt like there was a sound I was missing/needed in my drum sample collection or whatever.

[@JesterC88]

@@BetterMixes thank you for responding. I just happened upon your channel today for the first time. I love both this video and the Misery Business video, which is what sparked me on looking at your sample packs. I am very much interested in buying the complete collection just for those two kits, but I want to have a better idea of what everything is. For the most part I use Steven Slate Drums for all of my drum needs but I'm finding people like you that make these great samples of drummers I love, I want these sounds incorporated into what I'm working on. So a breakdown on what every kit is would be so helpful to me on what I'm looking at when looking at each kit.

[@BetterMixes]

@@JesterC88 Totally makes sense! I'll try to get to making that video sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I know it doesn't give you any info on the drums themselves, but the sound examples on my website are all just 100% the samples (besides the cymbals of course) with no processing or anything like that so you can at least hear exactly what you'd be getting.

[@JesterC88]

@@BetterMixes I really appreciate you even responding, I look forward to that video!

[@BetterMixes]

Yeah man, no problem!

[@Axeltab]

Awesome

[@BetterMixes]

🤘🤘🤘

[@digdogger2797]

Box Car Racer tone recreation?

[@BetterMixes]

Oh that could be fun! There are some cool drum tones on that record. Any song in particular come to mind?

[@ElThornoDrums]

@@BetterMixesand I 🤝🤝

[@sidvicious332]

I like how you "recreated" the tone with totally different gear. "Instead I used..." lol you had me cracking up. You seem professional though. Forgive my laughter.

[@BetterMixes]

Haha it's all good! I tried to take as much inspiration from the actual gear used as possible when selecting what I was going to use to see how close I could get with what I have (minus the kick mic, I bought the ATM25 for this video cause I've never used one and therefore didn't know how close or far I would be with another mic). But like with the drums, I've recorded Pork Pie drums before so I have a rough idea of how they sound. I then looked at my drum collection and picked out what would get me closest to that. Or with the overheads, C12s are definitely not within my budget, but I've used them a couple times and have an idea of how they sound, so I figured with a bit of EQ, I could probably get fairly close with the Vanguard V13s.

[@sidvicious332]

Hey man, I don't know you but I can tell your hearts in it. You get those C12's when you can. You deserve it. Your dream studio is going to be awesome someday. Keep up the great work. I never thought of copying a setup from a photograph. Can't wait to see what you have in store : )

[@jeremyrfarkas]

Incredible stuff. Would love to see you re-create the drum sound from Metallica's Black album.

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks man! And that's a pretty iconic drum sound! Could definitely be fun to attempt that one!

[@jevanivlogs5777]

Waiting On A Twist of Fate - Sum 41!

[@BetterMixes]

Oh that could be a good one! The drums sound great in that track.

[@ChristopherLock]

fuck yeah dude

[@BetterMixes]

🤘🤘🤘

[@strakhovmixing]

Great job!) Thank you

[@BetterMixes]

Thank YOU! I'm glad you liked the video!

[@TheShoogyShoo]

I don’t know what have of this means but this was dope nonetheless!

[@BetterMixes]

Haha well I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

[@111entertainment9]

Tre cool

[@BetterMixes]

Starting doing some research for this this morning!

[@bxbbyxx]

Any chance of getting your samples as WAV loop kits?

[@BetterMixes]

Do you mean just like loops of grooves? If so, PROBABLY not. I don't consider myself a good enough drummer to make a decent set of loops for each kit. I've thought about maybe getting a badass drummer in here with an e-kit and making MIDI loops, so that might happen eventually. The samples are available as just WAV files though.

[@bxbbyxx]

@@BetterMixes got it! Loops as in WAV loops of verses, fills, choruses etc. keep me posted if you do!

[@huberttorzewski]

I don't dig the reverb sound, sounds a bit plastic but other than that really great job! The drum tuning, micing, eqs and compression were matched really good. Really great drum sound altough for me as a drummer it sounds a bit too much like a sample library and not the real drums haha. Maybe it's too perfect? :D

[@BetterMixes]

Thanks man! I appreciate it and am glad you thought most of it sounded good!

[@drumsonly44]

I think that might be cause he might have used beat detective or quantised his playing?

[@BetterMixes]

@@drumsonly44 yeah, there was a little quantizing on the final example as I am an...ok drummer, not a great drummer! (The clips for the individual mics and the processing are un-quantized though)

[@rhyshornby3539]

Can you use the sample packs for a Roland electric drum kit?

[@BetterMixes]

Probably! The sample packs come with TCI files for Trigger (which won't be what you need for your e-kit) as well as WAV files. So as long as your kit has some kind of sample editor or something like that, you should be able to drop the WAV files in and use those!

[@chrisdover8507]

I think you’re doing well. Do you track drums for clients? What’s ya name?

[@BetterMixes]

If you mean as an engineer, then yes! I do track drums for clients! If you mean as a drummer, not too often. I've played on a handful of projects, but generally don't consider myself to be a great drummer, so I usually leave the drumming to someone else!

[@chrisdover8507]

@@BetterMixes I mean as a drummer

[@BetterMixes]

@@chrisdover8507 Ah gotcha. Yeah, like I said, every once in a while I'll drum on something if I think it's something I can nail, but I usually try to hire someone better for the project if it's beyond my abilities!

[@johnboyc5]

Green Day kit??

[@BetterMixes]

That's one I'm hoping to do soon! Any particular album you'd like to see? I was leaning towards American Idiot, but haven't decided for sure yet.

[@johnboyc5]

@@BetterMixes yea I’m thinking AI because it’s such a good sounding mix

[@DrummerBagboy]

22x22 kit drum

[@BetterMixes]

Certainly could have been! I thought it looked smaller but couldn't say for sure. Someone else commented that in an old magazine article, Travis said it was a 20x20, but I couldn't find the article, so 🤷‍♂️

[@angermanagementstudios]

From one of the greatest drum sounds of all time to the absolute dogsh*t worst. Quite a journey old Travis has been on.

[@sidvicious332]

Hater much? Lol

[@angermanagementstudios]

@@sidvicious332 Nope. Just a realist.

[@DunnKruger]

How do you buy the barker kit by itself? When I go to the website it only has three different sample packs on there. The first is one kit for free. The next is 6 kits for $35 and the final is 20 kits for $97 and that includes the barker kit. Can I not just buy the barker kit on its own? That’s a bit misleading when you say in your video you can purchase it. You should clarify and say you have to buy the sample PACK that it’s in and that it costs $97. I don’t need twenty kits. I’d be happy with the 6 kit $35 purchase but that one excludes the barker kit. Kinda expect false advertising from any large, major brand. But just a KZbin content creator? Cmon bro do us a little better than that.

[@BetterMixes]

I'm sorry you feel misled. That certainly wasn't my intention. In the video, I said "It's available over at bettermixes.com as part of the complete collection" with a big arrow pointing to a screenshot of the complete collection (along with the $97 price tag). I thought that made it clear, but maybe I should have made it more obvious. I used to sell individual packs, but once I got to like...10 kits, my website became chaotic, and it was way too much to sort through. I totally understand that $97 is more than a lot of people want to spend on drum samples which is why I made the $35 pack, but obviously, I can't put everything in that pack when people have paid $100 for everything. I do occasionally add to the Essential Pack though. Like I added the Misery Kit to it a little while back which is a re-creation of Paramore's drum sound. You might like that one!

[@DunnKruger]

@@BetterMixes it’s all good. Never saw the screenshot with the complete collection or price tag. I think I had stopped actually watching the video by then and was only listening to it. My bad. Didn’t bow you had done all that. Now I don’t feel as misled and more like and idiot. I apologize.

[@BetterMixes]

All good, dude!

[@drumcorpful]

Yeah... but last album was dog shit comparing to old ones... drums too loud and guitars nowhere to be found... he did awful job there...

[@Jester_jester415]

But the sound doesn’t match.

[@BetterMixes]

Doesn't match what? The original? I think it's pretty darn close. Definitely not exact, but I would never expect it to be exact without using the same drums in the same room with the same drummer and the exact equipment... And even then it'd probably be slightly different!

[@klinkster19]

No one asked you. Let the man do what he does, he did an incredible job.

[@Jester_jester415]

@@BetterMixes this is just a subjective point of view. It’s just an opinion. I think this sound doesn’t match TOYPAJ sound. I guess Travis use 2 pli heads, you chose 1 pli. Maybe this is why this sound not match for me

[@Jester_jester415]

@@klinkster19 just like you too🤷🏻‍♂️thank you for your opinion. Not thank you for trying to shut me up

[@BetterMixes]

You should have started with that! From your initial comment, I didn't even know for sure if you were talking about the drum sound or if like...the audio and video weren't lined up right or something 😆 But I assume you're referring to the snare (since I did use 2 pli heads on the toms), in which case, they certainly might have used Emperors instead of Ambassadors! I wasn't basing it off the snare heads Travis typically used live since I think they most likely didn't even use one of his snares, so I just took my best guess. But yeah, Mike Fassano certainly could have preferred Emperors at this time!