More about snare tracking...

[Speedy VonTrapp]

(I didn't want to over-run your thread, RE, so I started my own here.)

A lot is being discussed about gates in the thread that Recording Engineer has started, and I have a question about them.

First of all, I'm the typical low budget home reccer, so please keep that in mind.

The only thing that I've got capable of gating would be my RNC.

I'm planning to track my first drum kit sometime soon, and this is something that I've been wondering. I've only got the one RNC, so, at this point, I'm thinking that it should go on the snare. It doesn't seem like it would be needed more on any other mic on the kit. (I'll be doing a kick, snare, and 2 overheads.)

Now, first, can you tell me if that's a horrible idea? I can't really see it being more effective on the kick, but if I'm told otherwise here, I'll certainly try it.

Second, what are some other gate ideas that are out there, fairly cheap that I could try? I THINK I know what triggers are, but I'm not sure how they are hooked up, etc, or what I would need to make them work.

Again, I'm poor.

I've heard of people making their own home-made triggers, but don't know what that entails. Plus, even if I put a trigger on the drum, how does it interface with my microphone?

Is getting another RNC (down the road, budget wise, but not out of the question if it's a good idea,) worth it, or is there something else that I should try out?

Thanks for any help,

-Speedy

[Bulls Hit]

I wouldn't worry about gating initially. Just experiment with mic placement until you get a sound your happy with. Gating, if needed can be applied after the fact using an expander gate plug- in to clean up unwanted noise.

My own experience is sure, the snare bleeds into the kick, and vice versa, but by the time you've mixed everything else in, who the hell is going to notice? My dynamic processing plug-ins include an expander, but I'v never found it necessary to use on drums. Probably why my recordings sound like they do heh.

As far as triggers go, again it's all plug-ins. Go to drumagog.com and d/l their demo. The trigger just replaces your snare/kick/whatever hit with a sample. This reduces the requirement for you to record everything perfectly

[TexRoadkill]

The RNC is a compressor not a Gate. A gate has similar controls but instead of turning the audio down when it gets loud it turns it off when it gets quiet (depending on threshold settings).

The purpose of gating a drum mic is to isolate it so you only hear that track when that drum is being struck. Usually the snare, kick and tom mics are the most common to be gated.

I would put the RNC on the overheads in Really Nice mode with a high ratio and high threshold to act as a limiter. Try putting the attack and release all the way to the left and adjust the threshold until you get about 4db of compression according to the meters.

[Speedy VonTrapp]

I guess that I need a bit of education here, then, Tex. Please help me out.

I know that there are compressors and there are gates, and that the RNC is a compressor. What escapes me is the differences. I did read what you wrote, I must just be a little more stupid than I thought, that's all.

Those online IQ tests are a FRAUD!!!

So, anyway, here is my thinking. Tell me where I start to stray from what is correct.

If I set my threshold super high on the RNC, with a decent attack, and stand in front of the mic and talk lightly, I hear nothing. If talk a bit louder, still nothing. I clap my hands in front of the mic, and BAM, it's there, then it's gone.

That's what I was assuming I could use it for on the snare. Only when it hit a certain dB would it open up and let the sound in. Thereby not getting a ton of bleeding shit from anything, except for when the snare opens the compressor. I've always thought of this as a gate, rather than compressor, but when I pluged my compressor in, and played with it a bit, that's what happened.

Is this not what I want to do? Perhaps I'm confused on a different level altogether. I don't want to waste a track trying to gate the snare with my RNC if it does no good at all, when I would be better off trying to control, and possibly give a positive coloring to the overheads instead.