my drums never sound "up front in the mix"

[mr.adambeck]

I posted about a rather drum heavy song by my band, with clips, here:

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=70457

If anyone would like to give me some pointers on what to do with the mix, please do!

[Beneficial]

I track drums to tape and then I'll often run them back out to tape and hit the tape really hard to get some nice chunky tape compression. That usually makes them sound more up front and present in my experience. This works especially well with ATR tape because it compresses very well without the artifacts I hear when trying to saturate other tape formulations.

[donny]

another thing i didn't see mentioned (maybe i missed it) is that many modern drummers hit their cymbals too hard (or their kit not hard enough) and you won't ever end up with an "in your face" drum sound unless the drummer is playing that way to begin with, with balance and control. there's only so much you can do with wacky effects, filters, compression, etc ...

[lionaudio]

another thing i didn't see mentioned (maybe i missed it) is that many modern drummers hit their cymbals too hard (or their kit not hard enough) and you won't ever end up with an "in your face" drum sound unless the drummer is playing that way to begin with, with balance and control. there's only so much you can do with wacky effects, filters, compression, etc ...

+1,000 on this! The first time that I recorded a great, well balanced drummer who knew how to hit and how to tune his kit I was amazed by how great the whole recording sounded. I thought it was me, but it was him. Also, you will still have a hard time getting that great drummer to sit well in the mix if you have alot of phase issues so make sure you spend enough time on mic placement