6 Plugins for Mixing Better Drums
Mix better drums with these six plugins.
Ian Vargo of the Pro Audio Files rounds up six great plugins for mixing drums and provides a useful mixing tip for when using each device. Processing a full drum kit requires a wide range of tools and each plugin Vargo mentions is usable both on your individual drum tracks and your drum buss.
The Pro-Q 2 by FabFilter is the EQ Vargo reaches for when trying to remove unwanted sounds from his drums. Vargo says, “I generally use the Pro-Q 2 as a subtractive equalizer — either by filtering out messy low-end, superfluous high frequencies or by using individual bands to hunt down and remove unwanted rumble, boominess, boxiness, harshness, sizzle — and whatever else.”
Vargo explains that he uses the Pro-Q 2 not just on individual drum tracks, but on his drum buss in mid-side mode as well. He begins to apply buss processing when he’s around 80% finished with his mix, and the Pro-Q 2 allows him to effectively balance his drum buss with other busses. If you’ve compressed your drum buss already, boosting/cutting certain frequencies can help carve out space for other elements in your mix more effectively than EQing individual drum tracks.
SPIFF by oeksound is an adaptive transient shaper and happens to be a tool I find myself using quite often, especially on drums. Vargo explains that “What’s great about SPIFF is that it allows you to sculpt and control that magical, explosive transient, but while also considering the frequency-based content of the drum. So if you want the snare (the series of chains that rests up against the underside of the snare drum and rattles whenever the drum is struck) to have a punchier, more prominent transient, you can achieve just that.”
Vargo uses SPIFF to add that “clicky” element to kick drum sounds. He says that “With SPIFF, you can transform your source material to such a degree that I’ve found myself not resorting to samples. I can embellish what I love about the sound, and mask what I don’t.”
Further tools that Vargo uses include Soundtoys Devil-Loc Deluxe, XLN’s Addictive Trigger, UAD’s API Vision Channel Strip, and FabFilter’s Pro-R. Read the full article by Vargo via the Pro Audio Files to see these tools in action, and learn how Vargo uses them to tastefully mix his drums.
Charles Hoffman is a Mixing and Mastering Engineer at Black Ghost Audio. After graduating from the University of Manitoba with an English degree, Charles completed his education at Icon Collective in Los Angeles, CA.
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