Reply To: FRE4KNC Q&A
Fre4kncHi!
Thanks man! Well it depends on every bit you make. Sometimes the kick fits really good as a layer on the sub. But sometimes not at all. Most of the time I add a little 2dB EQ peak on both the snares and kicks, so it cuts better through the sub, and the kicks and snares have more their own frequency peak. With kicks it’s normally around 150 Hz, and with snares it’s around 250 Hz, but of course, that depends on your snares and kicks!
With layering I send all the snares to a bus, and the kicks to another bus and add the EQ part there, so they glue all nicely together. When I think the beats need more punch, sometimes I run them through Voxengo’s LF Max Punch, which can work really well!
Further it helps to add some sidechain on the snares. If there is a lot of midbass going on, the mids can get in the way of the range of the snare. You need to have the same hit of the snare during the tune, so add a subtle sidechain around the snare frequency, with a really short release. You won’t hear the midbass is changing, but the snares have way more room now to keep it punching through the mix. Further I always try to avoid compression on drumwork, because when it will be released it gets mastered by labels. Then you get twice compression (which sounds unnatural in my opinion, and I love the natural sound of beats).
My overall advise is: if the source of the drumwork is good enough, you don’t need a lot of processing at all!
