Quick guide: mix drums

The concrete settings, piece by piece, so the kick and snare cut through the guitars and the kit sounds big.

The drums are the foundation of the mix. The kick and snare are what has to cut through the guitars; the rest adds size. If you only touch those two pieces, you’ve already done most of the work.

1. Before the plugins

6 channels to a drum bus: kick, snare, toms, hi-hat, overheads and room.
The bleed stays. Don’t gate everything by reflex.
Balance with faders: kick and snare up front, overheads dosed, room from zero going up.

2. Kick

With the Pro EQstock and the Compressorstock:

High-pass at 30–40 Hz.
Wide cut of 3 to 6 dB at 200–400 Hz: it’s what most cleans up the foundation.
Boost of 2 to 5 dB at 2–5 kHz: the click. In fast metal or with double kick, up to 4–6 kHz and with fewer long lows.
Compressor: medium attack of 10–20 ms, to let the hit through, and fast release.

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Kick and snare are almost everything the listener perceives of the drums. The rest can stay simple.

3. Snare

Gentle high-pass at 80–100 Hz.
Body at 150–250 Hz, if it’s missing.
Cut at 400–800 Hz if it sounds tinny.
Crack at 4–8 kHz. Before boosting, try cutting that zone on the guitars: the snare often needs room rather than more brightness.
Compressor: medium attack, fast release, 3 to 5 dB of reduction. The release decides whether the snare sounds dry or long.

4. The rest: touching as little as possible

Overheads: high-pass at 300–500 Hz. It’s the most cost-effective adjustment of this part.
Hi-hat: high-pass at 200–300 Hz and lower 6–8 kHz if it’s harsh.
Toms: cut at 300–500 Hz and attack at 3–5 kHz, only if they sound like cardboard. If there’s too much bleed between hits, use the Gatestock.
If the kit lacks brightness, raise the overheads before boosting highs piece by piece.

5. Size: room and parallel

SD3’s room first: heavy compression so it breathes, and bring it up little by little. In fast parts, lower so it doesn’t get muddy.
If it lacks space: reverb on a send, with a pre-delay of 20–40 ms and a high-pass at 300–400 Hz.
Parallel compression: a send to a separate channel with Tricomp or the Compressor, ratio 8:1 and 10 dB or more of reduction. Blend it in underneath: it gives energy without losing the hit. In metal it usually sits higher.

6. Drum bus

Glue compression: ratio 2:1, medium or slow attack, 2 to 4 dB of reduction.
Phase: if the kick or snare lose body when adding overheads or room, try flipping that track’s polarity with the Mixtoolstock.
Fit: check kick and bass alone, which should sound like a single hit.

Checklist

In order

Balance with faders, no plugins.
Kick: cut at 200–400 Hz, click at 2–5 kHz, medium-attack compressor.
Snare: high-pass at 80–100 Hz, crack at 4–8 kHz, 3 to 5 dB of reduction.
Overheads: high-pass at 300–500 Hz. Hi-hat: at 200–300 Hz.
Room until it breathes; parallel blended in underneath.
Bus: 2 to 4 dB of compression. Phase checked.
Kick and bass alone: a single hit.

Expected result

Drums that hit and can be heard on any speaker, with clear hits and some size. Don’t worry about the toms or hi-hat if they don’t bother you. The detail is in structure and buses and the sections that follow.