Dec 23, 2002 12:43 pm Have you ever tried putting a mic on the bottom of the snare too? If not try that as well.
Just Recorded Drums
Posted on Dec 23, 2002 01:05 am
terrorpunk
Member Since: Dec 23, 2002
Lately I've been having a hard time recording drums. The drummer I've been recording lately plays somewhat fast with semi-open hi hats. This is a nightmare because the hats tend to overpower the snare.
I've always used an sm57 for my snare mic but today i decided to screw around with different positions, building shields, etc. Nothing worked and whenever I'd get a decent snare-hat volume ratio, the snare sound was compromised.
Just for the hell of it I used a AKG C418 clip mic on the snare drum. I usually use this mic on the toms but it worked surprisingly well. It wasn't as bright as the sm57 as it's meant for lower end sounds I assume, but it also drastically reduced the hi hat volume. It gave the snare a lower punchy sound too which was different but very clean.
Next I ran the mic througha graphic equalizer. I boosted the mid frequencies which brought out the crunchyness of the snare more. I cut the low end a little bit which helped reduce the ringing of the open hi hats. I cut some high end off as well which further reduced the initial hit of the hi hats.
I did a quick practice recording and it sounded amazing. I purposley smashed the hi hats and played extremely fast and the snare cut through much louder and the hats sounded clean and consistant.
I'm still assuming I'm doing something horribly wrong because so many people swear by the sm57, but I got a much better sound overall.
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Dec 23, 2002 12:43 pm Have you ever tried putting a mic on the bottom of the snare too? If not try that as well.
Dec 23, 2002 01:08 pm I did that yesterday and didn't have much luck. It was great because it definetely allowed me to control the hi hat volume but I didn't like the sound of the snare. It sounded like a really cheap snare drum. I found myself turning up the track that the top mic was recorded on more and more to get a good sound and then before long the hi hats were too loud again. What about gating the drums? I've never done that before, any tips?
Dec 23, 2002 01:25 pm That doesn't sound like something a gate will help with, cuz between the hat and the snare the gate will always be open...but you can try...
However you could do the bottom mic and then EQ the "cheese" out of the bottom mic
Dec 29, 2002 03:40 pm punk. i remember i had this same problem when i first started doing recordings. after trying many things i came to realize that some drummers just suck! just joking, but seriously some drummers are just not made for studio recordings.
here is the band that i recorded that had the snare hihat ratio problem.
artists.mp3s.com/artists/240/thinker_music.html
listen to the bottom two tracks that i recorded and you can clearly hear that the high hats and snare have been eq'd so much they sound unnatural.
Dec 29, 2002 04:21 pm I don't mean this as an insult... but try tuning the drums. On my snare, I tighten the crap out of both heads and the snares... and it sounds pretty good.
Dec 29, 2002 09:20 pm Stupe, that would be a similar problem. But lucky for you the songs are slower. Even old Van Halen has loud hats but it works ok. The songs I'm doing are played at breakneck speeds and it just sounds awful with loud hi hats.
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