There have been a lot of questions and cries for help from people who dabble in Home-Recording lately………and not so lately. Most questions seem to relate to the “Dark-Art” of mixing your tracks once you’ve recorded them. Things like….”My Kick sounds thin…” and “My snare doesn’t cut through…” or “The bass is muddy…” crops up all the time.

So, I thought these “recipes” might come in handy for some people. Basically, it is a set of PRESETS for EQ and COMPRESSION for Bass, Kick Drums, Snare Drums and TOM-Toms. It is a good idea to dial in these presets to whatever plug-in (EQ and Compressors) you use and save it as a Preset for the plug-in. This way you can always call them up at the click of a button.

As always, this is not the be-all and end-all of settings/presets, so let’s not start a riveting discussion regarding the “Knee” or “Opto”-setting of a certain compressor or Plug-in. These presets (or recipes) are a good starting point and I have found them very useful in the past, but don’t tie yourself to them too tightly.
I hope you guys find them useful.

Bass EQ Presets

1. Bass with punchy low-end with plenty of cut:
· Band 1: 60Hz high pass
· Band 2: +6dB at 80Hz
· Band 3: +8dB at 900Hz
· Band 4: +7dB at 3.4kHz

2. Modern slap and pop type bass sound:
· Band 1: +8dB at 60Hz
· Band 2: -3dB at 350Hz
· Band 3: +9dB at 850Hz
· Band 4: +8dB at 5kHz shelf

Bass Compression Presets:
1. Punchy bass compression:
· Ratio: 4:1
· Attack: 50ms
· Release: 50ms
· Threshold: adjust for 3-6dB gain reduction

2. Smoothing out the dynamics of the bass:
· Ratio: 6:1
· Attack: 0.3ms
· Release: 660ms
· Threshold: adjust for 3-6dB gain reduction

Kick Drum EQ Presets:

1. Solid, full kick drum sound with plenty of click
· Band 1: +6dB at 55Hz
· Band 2: -9dB at 275Hz (narrow)
· Band 3: +7dB at 3.7kHz
· Band 4: +8dB at 6.2kHz shelf

2. Traditional kick drum sound
· Band 1: +6dB at 100Hz
· Band 2: -10dB at 800Hz (narrow)
· Band 3: +6dB at 1.5kHz
· Band 4: +6dB at 7.0kHz shelf

Kick Drum Compression Preset:

1. More “in your face” kick drum compression
· Ratio: 6:1
· Attack: 3ms
· Release: 200ms
· Threshold: adjust for about 8-10dB gain reduction

Snare Drum EQ Presets (Top Mic):

1. Deep and punchy snare drum sound:
· Band 1: 80Hz high pass
· Band 2: +9dB at 200Hz
· Band 3: +3dB at 2.5kHz
· Band 4: +1dB at 3.5kHz
· Band 5: +8dB at 8.0kHz

2. Snare drum sound with a thick body and smooth top:
· Band 1: +6dB at 180Hz
· Band 2: +4dB at 250Hz
· Band 3: -4dB at 800Hz (adds clarity)
· Band 4: +6 at 3.0kHz
· Band 5: +8 at 7.0kHz

3. A solid, traditional snare drum sound:
· Band 1: +5dB at 250Hz
· Band 2: +6dB at 2.0kHz
· Band 3: +4dB at 5.0kHz
· Band 4: +8dB at 10kHz

Snare Drum Compression Presets:

1. Light snare drum compression:
· Ratio: 4:1
· Attack: 4ms
· Release: 200ms
· Threshold: adjust for 3-6dB gain reduction

2. Increase the sustain for a thicker snare drum sound:
· Ratio: 6:1
· Attack: 1ms
· Release: 200ms
· Threshold: adjust for 6-10dB gain reduction

Snare Drum EQ Presets (Bottom mic):
· Band 1: 50Hz high pass
· Band 2: +6dB at 200Hz
· Band 3: +15dB at 5kHz


Compression Preset for Snare Drum (Bottom mic):
· Ratio: 10:1
· Attack: 1ms
· Release: 200ms
· Threshold: adjust for 10-15dB gain reduction

Tom-Tom EQ Presets:

1. A slick, modern tom sound:
Band 1: +6dB at 150Hz
Band 2: -15dB at 800
Band 3: +9dB at 6KHz

2. A heavy metal tom sound:
Band 1: +4dB at 150Hz
Band 2: -15dB at 600Hz
Band 3: +8dB at 3.5KHz
Band 4: +2dB at 10KHz (high shelf)

3. A vintage 70′s tom sound:
Band 1: high pass at 90Hz
Band 2: +4dB at 220
Band 3: +4dB at 4.5KHz
Band 4: +6dB at 7KHz

Tom-Tom Compression Preset:

1. For subtle tom compression:
Ratio: 4:1
Attack: 10ms
Release: 400ms (or less for fast tom hits in succession)
Threshold: adjust for about 6dB of gain reduction

There you go.
Happy mixing.........

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing. I have my own presets saved for exactly the same purpose.

Arno West wrote: These presets (or recipes) are a good starting point and I have found them very useful in the past, but don’t tie yourself to them too tightly.

+1. Too many variables for a one-size-fits-all approach to work every time. But as a starting point, having presets saves a lot of time - so thanks again.

Thanks for sharing Arno.
You're always willing to share what you know and it is appreciated.
I also use presets and agree that it saves a lot of time - not nearly as proficient as you are though ?

briang wrote: Thanks for sharing Arno.
You're always willing to share what you know and it is appreciated.
I also use presets and agree that it saves a lot of time - not nearly as proficient as you are though ?

Thanks Brian.
I will be posting the EQ and Comp presets for Acoustic Guitars, Clean Rhythm Guits, Dirty Rhythm Guits, Lead Guits, Lead Vox and BVox in the next week or so.

Always good to acknowledge the author and source: ?

http://www.benvesco.com/blog/mixing/

I've been using these mix recipes as a reference for ages, good stuff.

Wow, brilliant! Not sure if I will ever use them, but here, have a thank you just the same. :applause:

doc-phil wrote: Always good to acknowledge the author and source: ?

http://www.benvesco.com/blog/mixing/

I've been using these mix recipes as a reference for ages, good stuff.

Wait, what?
So is this "arno's" recipes or some other dudes?

sharonzaz wrote:

doc-phil wrote: Always good to acknowledge the author and source: ?

http://www.benvesco.com/blog/mixing/

I've been using these mix recipes as a reference for ages, good stuff.

Wait, what?
So is this "arno's" recipes or some other dudes?

The link I posted was to a blog by Ben Vesco who lives in the USA. These are his mix recipes that he posted on his blog in 2007.

Yes, when I did this post I couldn't remember where I found these cos it was a long time ago, but you're right, that's the source.

As a starting point, these are very handy indeed, but with a bit of tweaking and experimenting, they get even better.