# Drums From Hell Superior EQ et al



## Thixotrope (Dec 13, 2007)

Please forgive me if a similar thread has been started before...

I have been playing around with DFHS for a while and I really love the flexibility and the sounds. I've been messing with the EQ and compression for each drum, panning the toms, airing out the overheads, etc. but still pretty new at it.

Would any one that uses DFHS mind sharing their favorite EQ and compression settings? Be as general or as specific as you'd like. 

Any other little tips and tricks for optimizing the drum sounds would be appreciated too. I know a lot of people on these forums use it and I've heard some VERY clear, crisp recordings with it (e.g. BULB).


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## halsinden (Dec 13, 2007)

Thixotrope said:


> Please forgive me if a similar thread has been started before...
> 
> I have been playing around with DFHS for a while and I really love the flexibility and the sounds. I've been messing with the EQ and compression for each drum, panning the toms, airing out the overheads, etc. but still pretty new at it.
> 
> ...




if you manage to find bulb's settings for DFHS then i will thank you with mouth.

H


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## Stitch (Dec 13, 2007)




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## JBroll (Dec 13, 2007)

James Murphy gave some interesting advice for making a snare snappier... gate off the decay and leave the 'thmphwack', then compress, and you're left with quite a righteous smackdown. I'm sure this could work with kicks and toms as well, but snares just explode when this treatment is done right.

Jeff


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## Desecrated (Dec 13, 2007)

You know it's really hard to give some generic tips. It changes for every song. What works for bulb might end up terrible for me and you and so on.


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## Thixotrope (Dec 13, 2007)

halsinden said:


> if you manage to find bulb's settings for DFHS then i will thank you with mouth.
> 
> H



I was actually hoping he would reply to this thread


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## halsinden (Dec 13, 2007)

Thixotrope said:


> I was actually hoping he would reply to this thread



if bulb manages to post bulb's settings for DFHS then i will love myself with mouth.

H


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## Thixotrope (Dec 13, 2007)

Desecrated said:


> You know it's really hard to give some generic tips. It changes for every song. What works for bulb might end up terrible for me and you and so on.



While this may be true, it is always interesting to see what other are doing. It can trigger ideas and offer different ways of looking at things. My intention wasn't to "plagarize" anyone's settings or anything like that but to try something different to break up the monotony of recording. 

I am the tweak master!


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## John_Strychnine (Dec 13, 2007)

Bulb won't post his settings, but he did a mix on my computer when he was over in England, shame my computer died 4 weeks ago.


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## smueske (Dec 13, 2007)

Like some have said above, it changes by song. One trick I have learned, though, by reading micing and compression techniques for the bass drum is to work with the interplay between the internal bass drum mic and external bass drum mic. I EQ the internal mic for a good low thud and then boost the 3 - 7 k range on the external to get a click. Then I back off the level on the external mic until the click is barely audible (it's generally around a 2 - 1 ratio). Then I route all three mics to a submix and EQ the submix before compressing. I generally run an 8:1 compression on it with a quick attack and long release. Then I apply reverb, and then finally a gate to control how long the reverb will last. I don't know if this will work for you, but that's what I do.


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## newamerikangospel (Dec 13, 2007)

That is an interesting technique there. I have seen it, and have messed with the dual mic setup on a bassdrum, but used the inside mic for the click and attack since it was closer to the beater, then used the back mic (it was just a smidge inside the soundhole) for the resonance/deep thump since it had all of the air movement.


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## Thixotrope (Dec 13, 2007)

smueske said:


> Like some have said above, it changes by song. One trick I have learned, though, by reading micing and compression techniques for the bass drum is to work with the interplay between the internal bass drum mic and external bass drum mic. I EQ the internal mic for a good low thud and then boost the 3 - 7 k range on the external to get a click. Then I back off the level on the external mic until the click is barely audible (it's generally around a 2 - 1 ratio). Then I route all three mics to a submix and EQ the submix before compressing. I generally run an 8:1 compression on it with a quick attack and long release. Then I apply reverb, and then finally a gate to control how long the reverb will last. I don't know if this will work for you, but that's what I do.



That's some pretty nifty advice but I was actually hoping for some application specific information tailored towards the DFHS crowd. 

I assumed since DFHS only has 5 different drum sets available for sampling and the mic positions are fixed (although mike bleed can be controlled), it would limit enough variables to where it would be easy to get similar sounds no matter who you are or where you're at. 

I know everybody's taste are different, and its hard to be specific blah, blah, blah but I was interested in what others are doing regardless of whether it works for me or not. 

You seem to have little experience under your belt though so any insight is always appreciated. Thanks!


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## newamerikangospel (Dec 13, 2007)

Well, you can find a sample that sounds very dry (alot of click but no boom) and a very thick sample (no click but alot of boom) and then combine them for the same effect.


I would say the most important part of drum samples/recording in general is to have a very specific idea of what you want, what producer/band has a similar sound, and then try to tweak to the sample sound, then modify to your sound. But it always comes down to you having an idea of what the kit should sound like.


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## smueske (Dec 13, 2007)

Actually, you can use that technique on DKFHS, which is why I suggested it. I don't know which host you are using, but if you have it setup as a multi-port instrument then the internal and external kick mics are separate. As an alternative you can always use it in rewire mode and achieve the same effect with much more work.

I do more of my drum sampling work in Battery, though, so that I can augment the sounds with other sounds, just as NAG says above. I like to mix a detuned analog sine wav along with the bass drum and that really makes a fat, killer kick. To replicate the situation I described, I just load a different bass drum sample and EQ the highs before pulling down the volume.


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## Thixotrope (Dec 13, 2007)

smueske said:


> Actually, you can use that technique on DKFHS, which is why I suggested it. I don't know which host you are using, but if you have it setup as a multi-port instrument then the internal and external kick mics are separate. As an alternative you can always use it in rewire mode and achieve the same effect with much more work.
> 
> I do more of my drum sampling work in Battery, though, so that I can augment the sounds with other sounds, just as NAG says above. I like to mix a detuned analog sine wav along with the bass drum and that really makes a fat, killer kick. To replicate the situation I described, I just load a different bass drum sample and EQ the highs before pulling down the volume.




Well, I guess I gave away the extent of my recording experience:/ I'm using Fruity Loops for now. I recognized that there are two mics on the snare but not on the BD. I guess I have something to fool around with tonight. Back to the drawing board!


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## John_Strychnine (Dec 14, 2007)

Which kit are you using on DFHs?

I find that all sonor drums sounds the best for metal stuff.
The premier toms are pretty nice though.

The sonor kick has far too much 200-250 on it.

You do know that fredrik thordendal made a template for a dfhs? and it's a really good starting point as all the drums sound good but not powerful. Maybe you should try finding it


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## Thixotrope (Dec 14, 2007)

John_Strychnine said:


> Which kit are you using on DFHs?
> 
> I find that all sonor drums sounds the best for metal stuff.
> The premier toms are pretty nice though.
> ...



I usually use the DW1 bass drum, TKE 13" snare, and a either the premier or fibes toms. The premier toms sound good but they resonate a bit too much. I like the thickness of the fibes its just too bad there are only 3 of them. 

I think I know I what template you're talking about but isn't it only available on certain host programs? I doubt Fred gives a shit about Fruity Loops which is what I use to sequence and mix.


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## John_Strychnine (Dec 14, 2007)

Thixotrope said:


> I usually use the DW1 bass drum, TKE 13" snare, and a either the premier or fibes toms. The premier toms sound good but they resonate a bit too much. I like the thickness of the fibes its just too bad there are only 3 of them.
> 
> I think I know I what template you're talking about but isn't it only available on certain host programs? I doubt Fred gives a shit about Fruity Loops which is what I use to sequence and mix.



Try the Dw snare and make sure you're using the ambient mics.
I find the THE snare too "weak" sounding,a lthough it does have a nice crack to it.


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## nine squares (Dec 14, 2007)

Thixotrope said:


> I usually use the DW1 bass drum, TKE 13" snare, and a either the premier or fibes toms. The premier toms sound good but they resonate a bit too much. I like the thickness of the fibes its just too bad there are only 3 of them.
> 
> I think I know I what template you're talking about but isn't it only available on certain host programs? I doubt Fred gives a shit about Fruity Loops which is what I use to sequence and mix.




I´ve heard that comment before on other forums and yes, its only for a sertain amount of hosts. BUT! There´s a picture of his template settings, for each drumschannel that is. That means that even if he uses qubase you just transfer those tweaking-settings into your sequenserprogram. For example, look at the kick settings and do the same tweaking in your program. You will notice that he uses alot of high-pass filters here and there, especially on OH and AMB, and cutting everything from like almost 1 kHz and down. Probably because he has done the mix out of a "full leakage"-bounce of files. So you can have alot more flexible mixing if you leave sertain drums out of OH and AMB but of course you allready know that. 

You talked about Bulbs sound before and I can tell you that it´s all about compressing the shit (in a good controlled way) out of the drums. The good news is that there´s alot of different ways of getting there, its not a one-way-ticket to the top sort of speak. I´m also looking for a really good punch in my set of drums right now and I have mixed every day since five months back. I would say that the snare is the most important element in the drumset...period. Once you´ve got that one set you´ve come far. One really good advice would be to pitch the snare just a tiny bit in the window for sub-pad in Superior. That gives you a good start and helps you getting a better bite.


I could do a longer post and tell you what settings I use but it would take a whole day and I would have to give you an audio sample of my drums first so you could see if you dig it or not.


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## JBroll (Dec 14, 2007)

It's also handy to use a clipper like GClip along with several compression stages (several light stages work better than one heavy stage if you're looking for a 'preserved', natural sound and not a woofy, pumpy mess) to keep drums in control.

Getting your loudness?

Jeff


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## Thixotrope (Dec 14, 2007)

nine squares said:


> I´ve heard that comment before on other forums and yes, its only for a sertain amount of hosts. BUT! There´s a picture of his template settings, for each drumschannel that is. That means that even if he uses qubase you just transfer those tweaking-settings into your sequenserprogram. For example, look at the kick settings and do the same tweaking in your program. You will notice that he uses alot of high-pass filters here and there, especially on OH and AMB, and cutting everything from like almost 1 kHz and down. Probably because he has done the mix out of a "full leakage"-bounce of files. So you can have alot more flexible mixing if you leave sertain drums out of OH and AMB but of course you allready know that.
> 
> You talked about Bulbs sound before and I can tell you that it´s all about compressing the shit (in a good controlled way) out of the drums. The good news is that there´s alot of different ways of getting there, its not a one-way-ticket to the top sort of speak. I´m also looking for a really good punch in my set of drums right now and I have mixed every day since five months back. I would say that the snare is the most important element in the drumset...period. Once you´ve got that one set you´ve come far. One really good advice would be to pitch the snare just a tiny bit in the window for sub-pad in Superior. That gives you a good start and helps you getting a better bite.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the input! I can get my drums sounding GOOD but not GREAT. There is an upper limit I've reached with my sound quality and also its difficult for me to reproduce those results. I'm getting better at it and posts like yours help. Assimilation is one of my better attributes I guess. 

I've messed around with the compression alot and I'm almost scared to crank it. I'll admit I'm not working with great recording gear (or even good recording gear for that matter) but I know it can sound better and that's what I'm going for, getting the bang for my buck. 

I need to take a gander at Mr. Throdendal's templates fo sho!

Thanks again and if you ever get really bored and you want to post those settings, I'd gladly dissect them.


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## nine squares (Dec 14, 2007)

Thixotrope said:


> Thanks for the input! I can get my drums sounding GOOD but not GREAT. There is an upper limit I've reached with my sound quality and also its difficult for me to reproduce those results. I'm getting better at it and posts like yours help. Assimilation is one of my better attributes I guess.
> 
> I've messed around with the compression alot and I'm almost scared to crank it. I'll admit I'm not working with great recording gear (or even good recording gear for that matter) but I know it can sound better and that's what I'm going for, getting the bang for my buck.
> 
> ...




No problem dude! Never thought anyone would listen to me because I´m new here and haven´t made much noise yet. I know what you mean by taking that extra step and tweaking thing to the "greater" stage, I´m trying every day. Did you work in Fruity Loops? I started out with that program a few years ago, recorded guitar in Cool Edit with a computer mic two bars at the time with a click my minidisc and then imported them in FL. EVERY sample sounded different haha  So you can´t be worse than me.


I will gladly help you with the settings, just add me on msn ([email protected]) and we can follow up the shit there. I think screenshots would be a better help and I know nothing about putting them on forums because I´m as smart as my grandmother´s ass. I will give you Fredrik´s template as well..


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## thedownside (Dec 14, 2007)

nine squares said:


> ...BUT! There´s a picture of his template settings, for each drumschannel that is. That means that even if he uses qubase you just transfer those tweaking-settings into your sequenserprogram...



where could one view these pictures?


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## nine squares (Dec 14, 2007)

thedownside said:


> where could one view these pictures?




I am talking about the "sonor of metal" pictures that shows how he has done his tweaking for that sertain clip. It´s available for download at the Toontrack site in the user area. You have to register, don´t know but think you have to register a product too.


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## Uber Mega (Dec 14, 2007)




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## Matt Crooks (Dec 14, 2007)

I use the sonar of metal kit, except I use the DW snare.

I bus my toms to a stereo pair, and the OH and Hat to a stereo pair.

Here are my EQ and Compression settings, they might get you in the right ball park:

Compressor settings:






Eq Settings:


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## Thixotrope (Dec 15, 2007)

Matt Crooks said:


> I use the sonar of metal kit, except I use the DW snare.
> 
> I bus my toms to a stereo pair, and the OH and Hat to a stereo pair.
> 
> ...


Bless you Matt! I feel like I hit the fucking jackpot! I've been looking all over for that shit. A thousand thank you's to you sir.


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## Matt Crooks (Dec 16, 2007)

Thixotrope said:


> Bless you Matt! I feel like I hit the fucking jackpot! I've been looking all over for that shit. A thousand thank you's to you sir.



You're welcome  

Just remember, it's a _starting point_. You will probably still need to make some tweaks to go with your bass/guitar sounds.


Oh, the EQ picture has the track names blocked on the bottom two, they're in the same order as the compressors in the first picture...


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## Thixotrope (Dec 16, 2007)

Matt Crooks said:


> You're welcome
> 
> Just remember, it's a _starting point_. You will probably still need to make some tweaks to go with your bass/guitar sounds.
> 
> ...




Yeah I wanted a solid starting point. Some of the setting were actually in the ballpark compared to mine but rolling off those high high's I never thought about. Thanks again!


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## audibleE (Dec 16, 2007)

I have the Drum Kits as well. You know what the most frustrating thing is? No one ever posts detailed info on how they have their settings. Soooo, secretive.... Can't let anyone know what you're doing... they might "steal" my thunder....lame.

Once I get my new PC running, I'm going to tweaking my DKFS, and I'll start posting sound samples and get opinions. Once that's dialed in, I'll take screen shots of everything and post them.  If no one else will.... then garsh darnit! I will!!

Metal!


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## Thixotrope (Dec 16, 2007)

audibleE said:


> I have the Drum Kits as well. You know what the most frustrating thing is? No one ever posts detailed info on how they have their settings. Soooo, secretive.... Can't let anyone know what you're doing... they might "steal" my thunder....lame.
> 
> Once I get my new PC running, I'm going to tweaking my DKFS, and I'll start posting sound samples and get opinions. Once that's dialed in, I'll take screen shots of everything and post them.  If no one else will.... then garsh darnit! I will!!
> 
> Metal!



Now there's the right attitude! I'll be looking forward to it...

As soon as my sound gets respectable I'll throw mine up as well.


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