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I know this is DSF, but this topic mainly refers to dnb, but can obviously apply to dubstep too.

I've recently hit a block with producing dubstep, so have gone back to dnb for a while; see if I can progress a bit further in that genre.

I'm absolutely in love with the style of dnb producers like Octane, DLR, Ulterior Motive, Noisia etc are putting out there - they have a more organic, 'dungeonesque' feel to their tracks, mainly their drums.

I've been reading a lot of interviews from these guys and watching videos etc, and I keep hearing them refer to the 'overheads' of their drums. I recently purchased addictive drums (which is awesome by the way, money well spent!!) as it has many different live kits which have a similar sound and feel as the aforementioned producers tracks. There is an overheads section on AD but I have no idea how it works, what the logic is behind it, and how to use it effectively.

My questions are, how exactly do the overheads affect the sound of a drum track?

How should the overheads be mixed in order to achieve the sound I'm after? Should the overheads be limited, compressed, distorted, reverbed etc? And if so, in what ways?

I feel my sound is really starting to come on now, especially my bass's and leads since getting CamelPhat - what I really need to work on is my drums. I feel like I need a bit more air or space in the drums and I've read that by using and mixing the overheads properly this can be achieved?

Any tips or input would be much appreciated! Cheers!

Overheads sounds like overhead mics, am I right? If you want air and space don't compress them

Overheads are microphones placed above the kit. They capture more of a “room” sound than the mics which are placed next to the drums. It’s pretty much the equivalent of using tight reverb and mixing that into the dry signal.

You use it in the same way that you would any send effect. Get the drum sound you want within AD before touching the overhead mics. Once you are happy with the sound, bring up the level of the overheads until you are happy with the mixed sound. Obviously it helps no end if you have one of the tracks you mentioned as a reference with as little else apart from the drums as possible.

If it gives you the option of editing the mic position, the further away the mic is from the kit, the roomier and "bigger" it will sound. Obviously this can be edited further if it gives you different room options too.

In terms of treating the overhead signal, not too much is usually done to it. EQ to taste. In a pop release they usually won't compress the overhead signal too much but this could give a nice effect if used sparingly for DnB - not too sure though as I've never tried it!

Experiment with the solo'd overhead sound then mix this back in each time to hear the overall effect to the drums

NOISIA posted a instagram video not long ago, and in pretty sure that solo'd the overhead track, or a send effect of the overhead track. It kinda sounded like they had a white noise sample sidechained with a gate to the over head signal to give it that crispy/splashy sound.

Found it!

http://instagram.com/p/m51E_xN0vo/


I just figure as an effect, maybe a send, then mix it in to kinda give some love to the higher frequencies with the splashy white noise.

So in short, they make it a little more FSHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Yeah I'd go easy on compression (if any!)

these plugins that emulate OH's are great at adding that 'natural' feel to a mix so if things feel too light dial em back, if things sound too robotic add a bit more in. Trust your instinct!

This is why it's so much more fun to actually record musicians as well.
Getting a good drum sound is 80% recording stage and the type of overhead miking always dictates how I mix my drums.