Time & Polarity Aligned Drum Example

[Don LomonacoParticipant]

Hi all! Here is an example of the difference between raw drum tracks that have and have not been time & polarity aligned. There's no mixing or plug ins in use other than Panipulator to flip the phase of select tracks. The time alignment was done by nudging. The tracks include Kick 1, Kick 2, Snare Up, Snare Down, Snare Side, Hat, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3, Stereo OH, Mono OH, Stereo Room 1, Stereo Room 2, Stereo Room 3, Mono Room 1, Mono Room 2, and Drum Sans Amp. The kicks and snares were aligned to each other first and then all the other mics were aligned to the Snare Top track. All tracks that were moved were nudged so they occurred earlier in order to line up with Snare Top. All the faders of the tracks were brought down 3dB just to leave headroom on the print track. What do you think of the difference? I think the time aligned drums sound snappier and less smeared.

Drums (Not Time & Polarity Aligned)

Drums (Time & Polarity Aligned)

• This topic was modified 3 years ago by Arthur Labus.

[James GormanParticipant]

Interesting. I'd prefer the unaligned drums if they weren't a little phasey. I like that big roomy vibe they have. But it's good to hear what the difference is. I can imagine seriously aligning the drums like this if the track really wanted the tight snappy sound.

Did you hear Justin Colletti's interview with Mike Major? He does some serious drum editing up front. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4ucc6ZTZLs

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