FXpansion BFD Premium Acoustic Drum Module Mixing with BFD User Manual
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Mixing with BFD
• Use a MIDI controller!
It can be a really good idea to map a compressor plugin’s parameters to a MIDI controller,
so that more than one control can be adjusted at the same time. This way you can get a
better feel for how the parameters interact to shape the sound.
• Parallel compression
Parallel compression is a very useful technique for drum mixing. This technique involves
sending the drum tracks to an additional bus to be compressed, while still leaving the
original tracks in the mix. The advantage is that you get the compressed drum sound,
with heavier sustain, mixed in with the original sounds with their transients intact. Popular
compressors for this technique are the ‘quad’ compressors on SSL consoles. This results
in a classic drum sound - Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ is a good example.
• Bus compression vs. compression of individual channels
Bus compression is generally used to add weight and scale to the drums , whereas
compression of individual drum tracks is usually to control and ‘tame’ dynamics, as well
as to add punch to the drums if required.
BFD’s room and PZM channels respond very well to bus compression. Compressing
the room is a classic method of making the drums ‘RAWK’. For a bit of extra authenticity,
make the room mono by turning the Width control to minimum. Using the direct and
overhead channels mixed with a very heavily compressed stereo or mono PZM channel
can sound huge. Remember that in the context of a track this can add a huge amount of
depth and intensity. It is a very powerful effect and it is very easy to overdo it!
If you’re doing a lot of bus compression, you may want to use less direct signal, especially
on the cymbals, to get a more natural sound. It’s perhaps also a good idea to lay off the
compression on the hihats, not only because of how it can affect the snare sound due to
bleed, but also because keeping some dynamics for the hihats can be vital to the feel of
the groove!
• Rules?
There are no rules, but always remember that any compression is in fact making the
sound
smaller - a compressor ‘squashes’ the dynamics of a signal so that you can make
it louder without clipping. It is incredibly easy to overdo it and completly ruin the sound of
the drums (or whatever else you’re compressing), turning them into small popping bags of
soggy crisps!
A good tip: just when you think it’s loud enough, it’s probably a bit too loud, so back it off a
few dB unless you want the drums to dominate your mix.