The ideal drum reference tracks feature few other instruments, as musical instruments tend to mask frequencies in the snare and kick drums. But since drums aren’t often featured solo in pop and rock recordings, it can be tricky to find usable passages.

So these raw tracks of Dave Grohl playing on QotSA’s Songs for the Deaf should save some time! In fact, they might be the best commercial modern rock drum reference I’ve heard, as they sound like final mix stems, essentially the same drum mix used in the released track.

And for a classic sound, check out raw John Bonham drum tracks, outtakes from Zepplin’s In Through The Out Door sessions. Unlike Grohl’s samples above, these are compressed more than in the final album mixes, but they still make a great reference for tones and overall kit balance.

To illustrate what I mean, here’s a short piece from my drum reference track:

The songs I used are, in order, Indigo Girls Gone Again, Television’s Marquee Moon, Zepplin’s Fool In The Rain, The Hold Steady Hot Soft Light, and the intro from John Mayer’s Waiting On The World To Change (though 3 or 4 of the tracks on Continuum have excellent drum passages.)

Notice that I captured only the parts of each song where the drums are prominently (or solely) featured. In fact, I chose the songs above precisely because they have such sections. Other instruments mask drum tones in a mix. So to build a good drum reference collection, it’s important to find songs that have clear drum intros and breaks. The best references come from tracks with good separation between the kick drum, snare drum, and cymbals.

Also, not all songs with drum breaks lend themselves to use as a drum reference. You should choose drum parts from songs you enjoy, with sounds you’d like to emulate. The drum solo in Moby Dick will be a great reference for many people, as it’s 3 minutes of drums and nothing else, but I avoid it because I find the compression and distortion on the overhead mics, and the off-center kick drum, distracting. And I can’t play like Bonham.

One final note: You’re welcome to use the section I posted above as your own reference. However, remember that it’s an MP3, so the sound quality is somewhat degraded. Ideally, your reference sounds should be taken directly from the original CD.

Vestman’s “Secrets of Mixing” page is more a collection of tips than a mixing tutorial. He starts with advice to get yourself properly set up for mixing (like “organize your files,” “allow extra time,” and the ever-important “check reference CDs while mixing,”) then moves onto compression and overall level:

Always record in the highest sampling rate possible in your DAW (allowing for realistic hard drive space – most projects don’t go over 96k). Be sure that your stereo mix does not ever go into clipping (digital overs) when it is set at Unity Gain -0- Once you know you’re not making any digital overs, remove your master fader – your mix will sound better!

Previously: The Big Page of Mix Tutorials

Stop worrying that you don’t have a major label sound: You also lack the mics, preamps, converters, and tracking rooms of a major label band. But that shouldn’t hold you back. Remember: listeners want to hear songs, not production; And Myspace proves you don’t need a big budget to reach fans.

Update your reference CDs: It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture while you tweak a mix, so you should periodically check your progress against commercial CDs you enjoy. And as your tastes and skills evolve, so should the list of CDs you reference. Make sure your collection is up to date.

Listen critically to a song you’ve never heard: Analyzing a mix is like getting a free mixing lesson from the song’s producer. But your ears adapt to the sound of a song after a few listens, so the tracks you know (and love) best are also the hardest to critique. Instead, choose a track by an unknown artist (you’ll easily find something new on The Hype Machine,) and listen with fresh ears to the mix. Ignore the lyrics and music, and focus instead on the levels, panning, EQ, and dynamics. Ask yourself why the producer set these things just so. Reproduce the best parts in your own mixes.

Solicit feedback: The Internet has communities of musicians and recording enthusiasts happy to critique your talents. The Homerecording.com MP3 Clinic, and the Gearslutz Show and Tell forum are great places to start. (They’re also a source of mixes to test your listening skills, per the tip above.) Or try Garageband, and its patented review process which guarantess you useful feedback in exchange for your feedback on other artists’ tracks. Or, post one of your finished tracks to Somesongs (and remember LightningMP3 if you have nowhere to host an mp3.)

Finally, and most importantly:
Go record something! It’s a truism for good reason: “Practice makes perfect.”

Previously: The importance of checking a reference while you mix

It is important to keep checking the balance in mono as well as stereo (or surround) — particularly if your material may end up on the radio. Inevitably the mono mix will sound different to the stereo (and the stereo to the surround), so a degree of compromise will be required to achieve the most acceptable results in each format. Pay particular attention to reverbs, which have a habit of drying up when you listen in mono.

Previously: The Big Page of Mix Tutorials

John Vestman answers the question with his list of commercial reference CDs.

Bob Katz also provides a CD Honor Roll

Previously: The importance of checking a reference while mixing

We likely come by this tendency through evolution. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors relied on habituation to “tune out” uninteresting elements in their surroundings. They depended on seeing movements among unchanging trees and grasses, and hearing small sounds amid constant background noise, both to seek out food and to avoid becoming food! But even today, this dulling of our senses to repeated information is important. We’d quickly succumb to information overload if we focused on all the stimuli fed to us by our senses, 11mbps, or 120Gb per day, by some estimations. Without the ability to filter this information for what’s important, we’d be swamped.

The mechanism by which we filter is known as sensory adaptation. In short, our brains place greater significance on changes in stimulus than on the absolute overall level of the stimulus. You’re likely most familiar with this effect as it relates to light sensitivity and temperature sensitivity. Step indoors on a sunny day, and you’ll find yourself blind for a few moments. Run your hands under cold water after handling snow, and you’ll realize that cold water only feels “cold” when we have warm water for contrast. Our sensory perception is relative.

As a mixing engineer, it’s important to realize that human hearing is also subject to sensory adaptation. Notice how you become aware of an air conditioner or fridge when the device stops making sound. Your brain keys in on the change rather than the overall level. In fact if we constantly focused on these background sounds, we’d have little attention left to notice the sounds that might really be important. We’re not listening for predators like our ancestors, but we still need to hear the phone ring, or the car approaching from around the corner!

The importance of this to people working with music is nicely summed up in a mixing tip from Sound On Sound magazine:

Don’t assume that your ears always tell you the truth. Rest them before mixing and constantly refer to commercial recordings played over your monitor system, so that you have some form of reference to aim for.

Our ears grow used to repeated sounds. And mixing is exactly that: Listening to the same sounds repeatedly. So mixing engineers need to be especially aware of sensory adaptation, and the dulling effect it has on our hearing.

By checking a reference CD periodically while you mix, you ensure that habituation and sensory adaptation don’t get in the way of a balanced sound. The reference CD gives your ears a change and keeps your brain honest.

As a practical example of sensory adaptation in action, contrast The Smiths’ track How Soon Is Now with my track Brand New Car.

If you haven’t listened critically to The Smiths song before, it’s probably immediately obvious how thin the low end is. However, as you listen your ears adapt to the mix, and by the end it sounds balanced. Follow this with the extro from Brand New Car, deliberately mixed to have a thick bottom end, and the contrast makes the bass in the 2nd track sound overpowering. But after 30 seconds or so, and your ears will again adapt.

Now alternate between the two tracks to hear sensory adaptation at work!