eq gating help!

[stateofflux]

hi.....im mixing a rec0rding of my band. i used two akg 414 for over heads. BUT my drummers snare is so loud there is more snare in the overheads than cymbals.....

ive tried hpf at 400-500hz but snare is still really audible

is it possible to use eq gating or similar trick to remove some of the snare...while keeping the cymbals rich and warm or do they share too many frequencies?....

any advice would be really appreciated

but my guess is im going to have to get drummer to overdub his cymbals again...

[mattr]

I'm guessing at the moment you are listening to the overheads solo'd.
Forget how they sound by themselves - put it in the mix and see how it sounds together.

Its actually best practise to try and capture most of the kit with the overheads, then mix in close mics to reinforce parts of the kit (if needed).

Ask yourself... once its all mixed together with instruments and vocals, can you really tell what part of the snare sound is from the overheads and what part is close mic'd, and does it really change the sound of the cymbals at all by it being there?

[stateofflux]

thanks for the reply...but i really want no room ambience coming off the snare from overheads . except from close miced snare (top and bottom skin)you see because the snare is louder than the cymbals in oh's i can't turn the cymbals up in the mix because the snare from the overheads(sounds bad)becomes louder than the actual close miced snares which are eq'd comped and sound great.

id really like to know if there is a gate plugin / method that can remove a large percentage of the snare from the overheads so i can whack up the volume for crashes without having to worry about snare overspill...

thanks again...

[mattr]

In that case, unfortunately you can't do anything more that what you've already tried (aggressive HPF). Gating won't work on overheads, and you'll start to ruin the sound of the cymbals if you do much more EQ. You could try a little wide boost around 10k on the overheads just to see if you can lift them out of the mix slightly.

This is the kind of thing that ideally needs to be fixed in tracking and mic placement before you commit to a take. When tracking, always listen carefully with the monitors and check that the raw sound you are getting will fit in with the mix later on. If you get it right in tracking, it makes things so much easier later on.

Maybe try a different overhead placement? Different room?

I usually track overheads with an XY or ORTF placement quite high over the kit, but this picks up a lot of the snare. When I want more cymbals I bring the mics out to the side in an AB pattern and much lower over the kit, so they're almost like cymbal close mics. You can't avoid snare in the overheads at all though - the whole point of overheads is to capture the whole kit!

[Waltz Mastering]

You can try compressing the OH and then keying the OH compressor through the side chain with the output of the gated snare. This has worked in the past but you need to have a fast attack on the compressor. The idea is that when the snare triggers the compressor it ducks the sn sound in the OH.

Or just use the snare in the OH as part of the drum sound. Room is good if mixed in right.

Also look at panning the OH in at like 10 oclock 2 oclock. You can get a more focused drum sound that way.

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by Waltz Mastering

Or just use the snare in the OH as part of the drum sound.

Yup. The way overheads are supposed to be used.

[stateofflux]

thanks for the advice, much appreciated ...i don't think the sidechaining will work as the crashes are on the beat of the snare and will probably be partly gated as well cos the the snare is twice as loud....ill just get the drummer out and do a cymbals overdub...probably the best way...(i think rick rubin does this for total isolation)...

kyle