How to make cymbals less obvious....

V

vomortis

New member
Hi - I'm trying to sharpen up a recording I made a few months ago. The problem is, I only used one condenser mic on the drum kit, and although I've got a fairly decent drum track (considering the circumstances), the cymbals are louder than the rest of the kit.

Is there a way that I can remove their harshness and make them quieter, using EQ or a plug-in effect? I'm still quite new to home recording, so any advice is appreciated!
 
Not an easy one by any accounts. You could maybe try limiting the highs on the drum track...seems whatever you do it'll still have an overall effect on the whole drum track.

I'm not much help, been up all night
 
vomortis said:
Hi - I'm trying to sharpen up a recording I made a few months ago. The problem is, I only used one condenser mic on the drum kit, and although I've got a fairly decent drum track (considering the circumstances), the cymbals are louder than the rest of the kit.

Is there a way that I can remove their harshness and make them quieter, using EQ or a plug-in effect? I'm still quite new to home recording, so any advice is appreciated!
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What mic did you use? Just out of curiosity.

If you have a sweep or parametric EQ that covers the Upper Mid to High range you could try setting it to maximum boost, sweep through the frequencies until you find the point where the cymbals are at their nastiest and then apply the appropriate amount of cut (a parametric will help as you'll really be able to narrow in on the offending frequency).
 
Thanks, i'll try both of those ideas.

btw Mark, I'm using a MXL 990 condenser mic. It's the only condenser mic I've used before, so I can't really compare it to anything yet, but it sounds great to me. Apparently it captures a lot of the highs, which might be part of my problem....
 
You could try this (paraphrased from a DBX 166XL manual).
Split the signal; send 1 directly to the input of a compressor and the other into an EQ. Connect the output of the EQ to the side-chain insert of the compressor. Adjust EQ for boost with a peak around 5KHz, causing the cymbals to be compressed on loud crashes. EQing in the side-chain at the higher frequencies (higher than the toms) does not trigger the compressor as readily with toms hits verses a loud cymbal crash.

Now that being said, you will more than likely have to tweak the EQ until you find settings that work best for your situation.
 
What you want to do is use a multiband compressor, and set it up to attenuate only the frequencies above 3 khz or so . . .


. . . or just use a de-esser.
 
The side chain on my compressor is a send and return trs 1/4". Or at least I thought that was what it was? You have sparked my curiousity.
 
Mark7 said:
And here was I expecting you to say you used an AKG C1000 :D
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I got one I'll trade to vomortis so he can see what highs are really all about :D


Edit:

Sorry, I mis-read. I have a C3000B. But if you wanna hear some highs.........;)
 
Mark7 said:
And here was I expecting you to say you used an AKG C1000 :D
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I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing! :D I've never used those mics before

Thanks for the advice everyone .... I haven't been able to try any of those ideas yet because I've been so busy, but I've got a good idea of what I need to do now, so I'll try again tonight.
 
What cymbals are you using? My set is complemented mainly by A Customs, which IMO are way to bright for the 4033s that I'm using. The combination of these cymbals and the 4033s gave the cymbals too much cut. On the other hand, the drums/room I am using yield a darker sound. (Pearl Masters MMX in a 'dead' basement, dark and boomy.) I had trouble getting the drums to cut without the cymbals taking over. I just so happen to love the 4033s on the drums, but dislike them at times on my cymbals. I ended up placing a 1"x1" piece of masking tape on all the brighter cymbals to slightly edge out the dominant high end.
 
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