The snare drum is one of the most important parts of a great mix. If you find it getting buried beneath your other tracks as a mix progresses, you might need more than EQ to get it to cut through appropriately.
Adding What Isn’t Already There
Instead of simply trying to boost a frequency on the snare drum, it can be beneficial to add harmonic information that wasn’t there in the first place. You can do this by slapping on a simple distortion plugin to the snare. Used subtly this effect can be just what you need to get your snare to shine through a dense mix.
Comments
Man… I’ve been using this trick for years and I though I was the only one. Nice to know I’m not alone
I also like to toss a little distortion/overdrive on the kick to make it a little punchier and tighter (probably the “natural” compression from the overdrive).
Great stuff Graham! Keep it up!
Looking at the meters in the video (specifically the one in the lo-fi plugin), it seems like the reason the snare is more easily heard through the mix in end is mostly volume. I wonder if the difference would have been as dramatic at similar gains. Or maybe I’m imagining things…
It’s definitely adding sound to the track so by default it is a bit louder, but it’s way more than volume. It’s harmonics and frequency.
I was wondering the same thing, Kevin. It would be interesting to compare the raw snare at the same volume as the processed (distorted) snare in the mix context.
This is great Graham! I love this tutorials. Quick question, what is that ‘vocal through the leslie organ speaker’ type sound there? the one that doing the “yeah yeah” and things. that’s awesome!
It’s a rotating cabinet effect plugin in Pro Tools. Forget what it’s called.