Cutting loose
As you’ll have noticed from these walkthroughs, equalisation is a vital tool when it comes to mixing drums – and anything else, for that matter! This is especially true of low-cut/high-pass filtering: when used on kicks and snares it can help a beat flow smoothly and sound more open, and applied to hi-hats and rides, it makes everything sound cleaner and tighter.
In our examples, we’ve used low-cut frequencies that sound right when the beats are played by themselves. It’s important to bear in mind that beats have to work alongside the other elements of a track, too, so the frequency at which you low-cut your kick will likely depend to some extent on the frequency content and rhythm of the track’s bassline. For instance, if your track has an offbeat bassline that never plays at the same time as the kick, you can probably get away with leaving more bass in the kick – indeed, the bassline might sound too bassy if you take too much weight out of the kick! On the other hand, if you have a bassline that plays a lot of higher notes, you’ll likely find that it strays into the kick’s frequency range, and that a combination of low-cut EQ and sidechain compression are necessary.
If you’re having trouble balancing elements of a track – be they kick and bass, ride and pad, or any other combination – it can often help to solo the offending elements in order to get a clearer idea of what’s happening. A spectral analyser such as Voxengo’s freeware SPAN can come in handy as well, giving you a better idea of which frequencies are overlapping.
When using low-cut filters, try to exercise restraint and only cut when a sound really benefits from it. Overused, this kind of processing can take too much weight out of your drums and leave your beats sounding brittle and tinny. If you find that you’re having a problem mixing your drums, try bypassing the EQs, filters and dynamics processors you’ve applied, to ensure that you haven’t over-cooked any of them.
“Equalisation is a vital tool when is comes to mixing drums – and anything else”