Making my drums stand out?

[abyss776]

I've had this problem with most of my tracks up to this point, and I'd really like to get it sorted out. My drums sound pretty nice during the intro/buildup, but once the actual drop comes in, they sort of get drowned out. However, if I raise the volume on the drums, the rest of the track starts to get masked behind the kick. I've searched the forum, and a lot of posts say to use sidechain compression, high/low pass filters, parametric EQ, you name it. The problem is that most of these posts don't actually explain how it works or how it will affect the sound. So, I'm not sure how to implement these things in my track (except for parametric EQ which I've been using for a while). If someone could explain how to use these things (in FL Studio 9) or link me to a good tutorial, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here's an example where the drums lose their prominence at the drop: Soundcloud

Thanks in advance for the help!

[monte-m]

sounds like a mix down problem from what i can make out on these shitty laptop speakers (but it's not like I have monitors to use anyways ). the way you use an EQ to make it sound better is by cutting out clashing frequencies from your sounds, and maybe boosting a tiny bit of the frequencies that you have to keep to keep your original sound. a lot of this can be avoided by sample selection, and learning how to mixdown properly. this is not an easy process (I am still learning and reckon I will be for years to come), but even attempting to do a proper mixdown helps so much to bring clarity and presence to any and all of your sounds.
This is all just my amateur opinion and you may want to wait for someone with more knowledge to help you out! in the meantime...

http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=74832 <mixing down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBCUJjp76GI <sidechain compression in FL using the built-in limiter (very easy!)

btw, if anyone on FL9 knows how to sidechain multiple elements using one limiter they would be my hero for a week

[djwhupass]

basic explanaition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkVURGbVij0

[Lectric]

Open up a fruity compressor in ur mixer on ur drum that u want to stand out. In the top right corner there should be two arrows. right click one of em and like 13 presets should show up. choose Drums. Voila,

[drokkr]

Open up a fruity compressor in ur mixer on ur drum that u want to stand out. In the top right corner there should be two arrows. right click one of em and like 13 presets should show up. choose Drums. Voila,

No, don't do this. Learn and practice how to EQ properly. Presets won't work every time and you will carry on to have problems in your mixdown.

[lyons238]

depending on how heavy your bass is a lot of people are giving there kicks a bit more higher frequencies to allow them to be heard through the heavy bass line.

this seems to work great with dubstep because the bass is driving the song usually, not the kick like in house.

but its all eqing.

im just a newb anyway. and i am just passing on what people have told me. i am still in the same boat as you and trying to sort my drums out

[FSTZ]

sidechaining will also assist making your drums cut through the bass

[steeze]

I'm not sure how side chaining works in Fruity so I'm not going to try and go in to that, although it could be a big help in getting your kick to cut through your bass in the mix. EQ wise if you've boosted your kick at 100hz try dipping it at the same frequency in your bass, do the same with the snare around 200hz. This way all three parts will have their own space in the mix rather than having to compete for it. Another thing to try is boosting the top-mids of your kick and snare, around 3-5khz. This will allow them to cut through where the bass is less prominent frequency spectrum wise

[lyons238]

im not a fan of side chaining in dubstep...unless you would like to use it as an effect for a certain part.

but it will completely change the way your bass line sounds and i dont like it much. i like to get my drums to cut through the bass with eqing, not side chaining. unless, i want to use it as an effect, like i said before.

[Electric_Head]

Leave the side-chaining alone.
EQ the rest of your sounds and your drums.
Don`t just focus on the drums.
Remove unwanted frequencies from all sounds.
Check for clashing frequencies.

You essentially want each drum hit, cymbal, etc. to hit on a different frequency.
Also take a look at Gain structuring.
Produce the track at a lower volume allowing you to use the headroom later on in mixdown.
Rather turn your speakers up but leave the master volume of the daw lower.

[SidewaysDubstep]

I'm not sure how good or helpful this post will be but I'll give it a go,
Firstly when I mixdown the first thing I do is remove the lows from my kick and snares, not so much that is sounds weak but all of the sub frequencies. This is because if you don't the bass drum and snares low freqs will interfere with the bass, getting a muddy sound with everything getting lost in the mix. Another problem with frequency range is that mid-high frequency range can get boggy, this is because with all the mids from your bassline this frequency range can also have too much going on, so a good way to get around this is boost different ranges for the parts, so say highs for snare and then mid-highs for the bassline, this will allow the different parts to cut through the mix at different frequency intervals making the parts clearer. This will also work for your problem, if you want to make the drums push through I suggest boosting some highs so they push out through the mix. Another thing to do is that if your drop is sounding good then make two drum tracks, exactly the same but as soon as the bass is added switch the drums to your newly eq'd one. Hope this helps, this is what I would do

[ponte_ricky]

try using some parallel compression? always works wonders for me when i need the drums to have more energy

[FSTZ]

I can't believe how many people are saying to not use sidechaining

it works great for drums

especially when you s/c your kick to your sub bass

[Electric_Head]

I can't believe how many people are saying to not use sidechaining

it works great for drums

especially when you s/c your kick to your sub bass

It`s not necessary.

An option yes but why would you be happy with a track that essentially has frequency issues?
Why not sort the issues out rather than making the track jump through hoops?

[FSTZ]

uhhh...

I most certainly dont have any frequency issues in my tunes

I s/c drums to make them bigger in the mix, not to fix anything

click my soundcloud if you are unfamiliar with my work

[Electric_Head]

uhhh...

I most certainly dont have any frequency issues in my tunes

I s/c drums to make them bigger in the mix, not to fix anything

click my soundcloud if you are unfamiliar with my work

I`m not debating the relevance of your post.
Imo it`s just ducking the kicks frequency.
So why not adjust the frequencies to suite?

[Electric_Head]

Also, what do you feel is causing the drums to be bigger?

Consider this, you`re ducking the bass causing the drum to be louder, right?
So in essence you`re ducking the frequencies that are clashing.
or what?

It can`t just be an illusion surely?
You have to be ducking some frequencies that are lowering the presence of the drums right?
So then what if anything are you doing other than resolving frequency issues by ducking?

Please note I`m not trying to be sarcastic, just sparking some healthy conversation.

[FSTZ]

I like the way it creates a pulsing and the push and pull effect along with my chopped basses and drums

and no, I am not some super tech dork that chats shit on this forum and never finishes tunes

[Electric_Head]

I like the way it creates a pulsing and the push and pull effect along with my chopped basses and drums

That`s exactly what I was going to say, not everyone is after the pumping effect created.

and no, I am not some super tech dork that chats shit on this forum and never finishes tunes

Should I read into this?

I'm really not debating your skill.
Let's not go down that path.

[FSTZ]

nope

don't read into that because it wasn't aimed at you

half of these people on here are sooo tech saavy to the point they are paralyzed and can't finish shit

not my bag, just saying that I don't split frequencies or over-analyze my tunes to the point of hating on them