I'm a novice mixer. I record an acoustic guitar with a mic, electric guitar direct but through a digitech amp modeler, and pedal steel guitar sometimes the same way as the electric guitar, or sometimes through an amp with a mic. No one in my house can sing. Rats!

For Bass I use Dimension Pro, selecting various basses, and for drums I use Session Drummer 3.
I do sometimes play around with compression and eq on the bass, usually not on the drums.

My question is, are the bass and drums theoretically already processed, not requiring further compression or eq, or should I treat them as though I just recorded them live? 

I ask because, being a novice, I don't really have a trained ear for such things. 

Thanks for opinions and advice!
Sam

Yes theoretically but they may still require more.  

Thanks John

The beauty of your question is that there's really no wrong answer.

No doubt you audition various sounds for you DimPro bass and Session Drummer kit.

Once those sounds become part if a mix if other sounds as you've mentioned they might benefit from some more processing.

Play around with it and listen and learn.
Can I recommend you get yourself a copy of the free iZotope Mixing and Mastering Guide. I don't have a link as I'm using my phone at the moment but just google it. It's regarded as an industry standard primer for what you need to be learning at this time. All the best.

Hey thanks Mike. I'll look for that guide.

Mike's answer is astute.  If you look at my answer its noncommittal.  Your question is so general it requires a general answer.

It also depends on what is meant by processing. One could make a case for any adjustment made to the mix as being processing. That would include volume balancing, pan and so on.

Blue Note made recordings of jazz with two mics going to a stereo tape recorder with not much processing if any. No mixing was done at all. Yet their recording are some of the best ever made of jazz. The mix was made by the room and the mic placement.

We now have an enormous control over what we produce from our DAWs. We also tend to have a lot of plugins that because we have them we want to use them.

With ITB production the samples have already gone through a great deal of processing. Plus all sample players have an amazing amount of their own processing and control built in.

It seems to me that one can spend an awful lot of time tweaking a sound to the point it is nothing like what it was recorded as. I think it all depends on what you want. Where you are going with what you started with.

It can be looked at as a series of decisions made from start to finish. 

Also there is the world of sound creation.  If one only records real instruments than that part of DAW use may not be used. However there is nothing stopping one from doing that.

Really you have asked a question that is one that is only answered with adopting a sonic philosophy.  Even then it will be a matter of your own experience and knowledge.

 

 

Yeah to both John and Mike. Thanks for the feedback. I think I understand what you're saying. I know my question leads to subjective answers. I do use my own judgment for the final mix. I usually get a mix to where I like it with just levels and pans, and try not to do much more. However, I can tell by the reading I do that I can't hear some of the things people talk about when they mix, like small eq changes, the release control on compression, and some other things. So I practice with these and try to learn. I just wanted to know if the sounds I get from the synths have had eq and or compression applied to them, or if they are "as recorded".