Category Archives: Travis Whitmore

The Musicians Guide to Better Sounding Drums

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Alex

The following is part of Travis’ blog series and eBook “The Musicians Guide to Better Sounding Drums”

To me, the cymbals are the most important component to a great sounding drum kit. In fact, I often like to consider myself a “cymbal player” instead of a drummer. Your cymbals are your color instruments, it’s what completes and expresses your personal style.

You can dampen, tune and manipulate your drums all day. But with the cymbal: What you hear, is what you get. Let’s look at three ways to get the best sounds out of your cymbals: Continue reading →

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Finding the Best Drum Kit Position in the Room

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Alex

The following is part of Travis’ 31 Days to Better Sounding Drums series. To learn more and to hire Travis for your next project, please visit: http://silverlakestudio.com/about

Room and Location

Before setting up your drum set, think about the location that you should position the kit in the room. It doesn’t matter if you’re about to record in a traditional recording studio, drum room, live room or bedroom – how does the kit sound in that room? Continue reading →

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Panning Drums – Perspectives

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Alex

Most every mixing engineer that I’ve ever spoken to about recording techniques always begin their answers like this: “There are no fast and hard rules…”

The point here is that it’s true. When it comes down to it, there are no rules when it comes to recording. There is certainly some great advice out there to get you in the right direction, but in the end all that matters is that the music SOUNDS good.

That being said: Today, I want to discuss panning drums. There are basically two perspectives that are most common when it comes to dialing in the drums mix: Continue reading →

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10 Simple Steps to a Great Sounding Drum Mix

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Alex

When I record drum or percussion tracks for clients, 9 times out of 10 I’m sending the RAW wav files straight from Pro Tools. Of course, my goal is to always get the best sounds that I can possibly get in the studio and at the source. However, mixing and processing the drum kit is inevitable.

In general, mixing audio is a personal art form. Everything from the style of music to the instruments chosen will determine how the mixing session will go. Because the drums are typically recorded first, it makes sense to mix the drum tracks within the context of the remaining instruments later verses starting with a processed drum mix. Of course, there are no rules here. This is just what I have found to be the most effective way to work.

That being said, I get a lot of questions from clients asking for my advice on mixing the drum kit. My only goal when mixing drums is to attempt to highlight the sounds as I hear them in the studio. Meaning, my approach is simple:

Get rid of what’s not necessary and keep what is. I know, really deep stuff right? Continue reading →

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