A guide for Superior Drummer 2.0

[Kurkkuviipale]

But now I won't have a reason for my music to suck... oh wait, nope, still do.

This whole thread is so outdated so you might not have learned much. I'll be sure to post an updated version if I ever have time.

 

[fleshwoodsteel]

I wasn't sure if my questions needed to get posted in the SD sticky or here. Thanks for the info and I'll definitely look forward to any updates.

 

[refried bean]

Hey guys, I know this is reviving an older thread but I had a question regarding your snare/kicks and how you're compressing/eqing them.


Basically there are 3 "mic" sounds for each drum I was talking about. Say for snare. Do you go about Compressing/eqing/limiting each of these tracks? After this do you send all three to its own AUX track to compress/limit even further? Or, do you leave it as just the 3 tracks by themselves with individual mixing?

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

I use the multi-out function and send all snare top mic's to one channel and snare bot mic to one channel. For kick I have only one channel. After that I compress them individually.

All channels are sent to one bus channel which is compressed. The bus channel is sent to master channel (naturally) which is also compressed so drums are actually going through three channels with compression.

 

[illimmigrant]

I use the multi-out function and send all snare top mic's to one channel and snare bot mic to one channel. For kick I have only one channel. After that I compress them individually.

All channels are sent to one bus channel which is compressed. The bus channel is sent to master channel (naturally) which is also compressed so drums are actually going through three channels with compression.

+1 ^
This is how I separate my signals as well. Glad to know at least I'm doing something right .

I'm curious about mic bleed levels. Joel, do you use the full bleed "out of the box" settings, or do you take stuff out here and there?
My drums tend to sound very tight. As if there was no air and no room even when using reverbs. The other thing is my snare begins to sound even worse as I raise the level in my master output using compression and limiting. Not sure if it has to do with my eq techniques, my compression or all of the above .

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

Well there are some factors that I think of when it comes to bleeds.

First of all I like to have a pretty dry overhead channel so no kick (none) and slim to none snare. This is mostly because I compress the shit out of my overheads and snare would be a big problem when doing that.

Anyway, if I feel that my snare is a little too thick or not long enough, I add some bleed to overheads and especially ambient mics. Ambients don't get a lot of treatment since the traditional use is to get a solid, gluing sound of the whole drumkit. However, kick drum never gets to the ambient mic's and I might drain some snare as well.

Toms are usually @ half on overheads and ambients. Overheads get a little less than half of toms and ambients get a little more than half. As I sidenote, I sometimes even use reverb on ambience mic so get some dreaminess to the sound.

If it's too tight, boost ambience mic. You might also want to compress it too.

Hope this helps.

 

[illimmigrant]

Well there are some factors that I think of when it comes to bleeds.

First of all I like to have a pretty dry overhead channel so no kick (none) and slim to none snare. This is mostly because I compress the shit out of my overheads and snare would be a big problem when doing that.

Anyway, if I feel that my snare is a little too thick or not long enough, I add some bleed to overheads and especially ambient mics. Ambients don't get a lot of treatment since the traditional use is to get a solid, gluing sound of the whole drumkit. However, kick drum never gets to the ambient mic's and I might drain some snare as well.

Toms are usually @ half on overheads and ambients. Overheads get a little less than half of toms and ambients get a little more than half. As I sidenote, I sometimes even use reverb on ambience mic so get some dreaminess to the sound.

If it's too tight, boost ambience mic. You might also want to compress it too.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a bunch man. Tried some of that out and it's worked well for the snare and for adding some air and room to the mix. Hopefully I'll have something decent enough to post up soon. My toms still sound kinda bland, but I'll mess with those these weekend.

Thanks again for the tips

 

[bigswifty]

kurkkuviipale,

gotta thank you man! for this thread, and the 11 minute epic in your signature that I have once since listened to and now re-descovered. it's been a nice listen for the last 11 minutes

i am going to pick up my copy of S2.0 tomorrow, going to have some fun with it

 

[szoke]

Hi,

I want to create a drum system which will be used for only live application.

I have:
* Roland TD10 brain + alesis surge cynbals + DDrum triggered Pearl acoustic drum kit.
* Latest version PC with Win7 64 bit 8GB 1600Mhz RAM, AMD (6th core) CPU.
(I have not purchased the software and the sound card yet.)

My questions:
Useing SD2 during live situation do I need a high level quality sound card (like focusrite saphire) or only a cheap solution (like integrated sound card on the motherboard) is enough. (I will not use this system for recording.) Do I need to also install the toontrack solo product?

Thanks,
Szoke

 

[Winspear]

^ You don't need an interface, no. You will need some way to input the MIDI but I presume you have that sorted via usb. What about the cymbals though? I'm not knowledgable in triggering.

The output quality to your speakers may be very slightly affected by the lack of quality DA (digital>analogue) conversion that you would get with a decent interface. But I really wouldn't worry about it at all.

You don't need toontrack solo if you are using a DAW.

 

[Enselmis]

A tip from me is automation. One thing to notice about your Walk With Me In Hell example is that at the end of the chorus the ridiculously huge reverb on the snare actually disappears. It creates a textural contrast between the bigger, wider parts of the song and the tighter, more focused parts. This can be applied all over the place, for example bringing up the volume of the overheads in the chorus, or adding a sidechain somewhere to be turned on and off based on what you're going for at each part of the tune. Kicks also really benefit from automation.

Great guide thus far! What kind of settings would you typically use with the transient designer on different parts of the kit? I've never been entirely sure how to go about using that particular effect.

 

[szoke]

EtherealEntity,

Thanks for your quick response.

Connection:
Version A: If the onboard sound card is enough:
TD10 drum module linked to the computer' onboard sound card via MIDI cable.

Version B: If external/professional sound card needed:
TD10 drum module linked to the sound card via MIDI cable and the external sound card is lineked to the computer via USB/Firewire cable.

The Toontrack webpage mentioned that "4GB free hard disc space, DVD drive (25GB free hard disc space, Sequencer application and professional soundcard MIDI controller such as keyboard, drum pads or electronic drum kit recommended)".

So what does professional soundcard means? I do not want to use my kits for recording. Only live gig what I want with no latency.

I have E-Cymbals (Alesis Surge), so its a triggered cymbal.

Szoke
Peter