From Gearslutz: How can I treat nasty snare drum ringing?
usually a “ring” isnt in one frequency…it’s a complex combination of frequencies. so you may need to eq out 2-3 different places. if you find a resonance, and eq it out, but still hear a ring, then repeat the process till all rings are gone. Then, give the snare a little boost in the mids to fatten it up, add a hint of distortion, send it to an aux with a plate verb…whatever it takes.
If you’ve never recorded outside your own home studio, you’ve likely found yourself wondering: How does the solo’d snare drum mic sound in a pro studio?
the mic picks up what you point it at. Your ears sit a good what.. 2-3 feet above the snare itself. When you hit a snare you hear a snare mic 3 feet below you and the rest of what you hear (a good portion) is how the room reflects the snare sound. When you have a mic an inch away from the snare itself..it’s picking up what your ears would hear an inch away from the same space. The snare sound you’re used to is compiled of the sounds from the top head, the bottom head, the walls, the ceilings…. and so on and so on
Tips for a fat, warm snare drum sound:
One thing that will help is a real consistent drummer. Grab some big sticks….. 2B Rock…. whatever. Tune the drum pretty loose with a little bit of muffling. If you’ve got a dynamic mic that is a little bottom heavy, try it out. I’ll use a ATM63HE, got the snap of a 57, with less honk and more balls. Light compression going in…. thats that….
And finally, some advice on reducing snare drum bleed on the kick mic …
The drummer is hitting the snare really hard and the kick really quiet. Tell him to stop. Moving the mic back will help because it puts the shell of the kick between the mic and the snare. You might also be using too much compression on the kick.
… and reducing other stuff bleed in the snare mic:
Is whoever that’s playing the snare hitting it properly? They should be attacking the shit outta the snare, make that hooker pop. On the flip side tell whoever it is to settle down on the cymbals, no need to mash them. It may be their thing and thats fine, just tell them to tone down their thing just a bit for the good of the recording. Playing properly will cure most of your micing problems.
Tags: drums, microphones, snare-drum
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Excellent! You addressed it all: That bloody ringing (mostly from metal shells), room ambiance, technique, effects. I think most of it is common sense and a lot of us (musicians and engineers) just need a refresher every once in a while.
Thanks.
On that very last bit about playing the cymbals, I’ve read that before in other places, and I’ve been wondering — why don’t they just make quieter cymbals in the physical world? It seems like it would be easy to deliberately go against some principle of physics/acoustics to construct something a little less “efficient”, where you’d have to hit it a little harder to get the same volume.
Maybe because it wouldn’t sell well, because the drummer would feel like he’s spending too much money for too little sound?
> I think most of it is common sense
:-)
> why don’t they just make quieter cymbals in the physical world?
Some of the cymbal manufacturers produce studio-specific cymbals that are a lot quieter. (e.g. Sabian AAX “studio crashes”.) But I think so many drummers have volume issues because a) they’re used to playing live, where loud cymbals are much less of an issue, and b) they’re playing with stage cymbals, which are a lot thicker.
Check out Phil Robertson, #1 on Google under ‘studio drummer’.
He’s been doing tracks for me and they’re fantastic. Pro audio all the way, right mic’s, treated room, class A preamps etc.
Sometimes it’s best to hand this stuff to a pro and let him handle it.
He’s awesome at taking my direction as well.. couldn’t be happier.
#1, I have quieter cymbals. They sound great in the studio. They explode quickly but their volume has a limit. they’re called dream cymbals, they’re really cheap, and sound amazing! you can get them at http://www.frontrangebronze.com
#2. The cymbals i’ve found that bleed most into the snare drum mic are the hi-hats obviously, they’re usually the closest. If the drummer can still play like this, consider moving the hi hats up and to the left away from the snare drum a little. Point the microphones directionality facing away from the hi-hat. I’ve done this with GREAT results. It doesnt take a lot either. We literally moved the hi-hats a total of maybe 1 1/2 inches each direction and it cut the hi-hat bleed IN HALF! I also have terry cloth wristbands wrapped around my sm57 (I think 6 wristbands) and placed just behind the head of the microphone (so I dont cover up the side vents) that help a little too. Experimentation is key. Find out what works best for you and go with it.
(p.s. there are pictures of my special sm57 on my myspace that is linked to my name for this post)
#3. Evans Genera Dry snare drum heads take care of all ringing issues. They kind of do have a limited sound, but that sound is good so if you dont have too much time to experiment, stick one of those heads on and tune it however you want to.
Good luck trying to tell a drummer to change his/her technique. They’re the most stubborn breed of musician. Excellent tips though, and if all else fails, Jedi mind tricks or Drumagog…
I actually think that bleeding, snare and kick ringing are a good thing. I actually do not like drums where everything is very isolated. just listen to Neil Young, Chris Whitley and even led Zeppelin and you’ll hear, lot of bleeding, ringing and even pedal noises. I think bleeding and ringing make a cohesive and realistic drum sound. It may not fit all styles, but that does not mean that the perfect drum sound has no ringing or bleeding… for me it is quite the opposite.
I have noticed that over the last few years and even more lately that snare drums are being played or mixed way too loud in many live/tv and even some recordings. I like to hear all of the parts of the music and i guess most other listeners do too.
Is it that the drummers and or sound engineers are going deaf in that range or do the have the mistaken idea that people want to hear the snare over everything else.
I am watch the 60’s music program on PBS. The segments with recordings in the 60’s sound much more balanced, but in most of the new videos the snare is way off.. too loud.
I hope you will pass this along.
I don’t know if anyone’s interested but I’m starting to collect drum recording tips from some leading engineers and am putting the videos up so it can inspire creativity. One really cool one that I recorded yesterday covers a very unusual ambient drum mic technique used by New Zealand engineer Clint Murphy – http://www.recordproduction.com/clint-murphy-engineer.html – :)