RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
Hi there,
EVENTUALLY, when I can afford it, I will purchase an audio interface with at least 8 inputs, however right now here's what I am using and I need to know the best way to process the drums to be ready for the finished track....
x3 CAD dynamic mics on toms
SM57 on snare
CAD KBM412 large diaphragm dynamic on kick
x2 CAD electret condenser OH's in XY
All of the above goes into a Behringer Eurorack MX2004A.
Running into the mixer's AUX is an Alesis Microverb II. I adjust separate reverb amounts on the toms and snare channels.
The mixer's R & L outputs run through an ART Dual Tube Pre Audio Interface and that runs into my iMac via USB 2.0.
I am using Adobe Audition CS5.5
Since all my drums will be mixing down to just one stereo track once it gets into the computer, I am limited to editing each individual sound after, so I do this:
I have someone hit each drum one at a time and I dial in a good eq, volume and reverb level for each channel on the mixer while I am in the control room listening through some M-Audio BX5A Deluxe studio reference monitors.
NOW...my question is...what is the BEST way (since there's probably no RIGHT way) to process or treat the drum track? What should I do with it? If it sounds decent for the finished track, is there anything behind the scenes I should do? The issue I always face is, since I have no outboard compression on any of the elements there are maybe anywhere from 10-30 peaks where the track clips, which is usually due to hitting one thing too hard.
What I normally do is go through it manually and highlight the clipped part and reduce it by enough db's to have it be the same level as the rest. This takes forever, and is extraordinarily tedious! I don't want to turn any of the mics down, or the whole mix down, because generally speaking they are all at good volume line levels and between eachother, they don't distort, nor are they too weak. Besides, if I turn the whole mix down so I don't get clips, EVERYTHING will be quieter and the only things loud enough would be those spikes. Mind you, these spikes may be clipping but they don't sound any different to the ear. No distortion. I just see the spike and want to correct it so I can normalize the rest of the track to be it's loudest possible without distortion.
Is there a good setting I can use on the whole drum track to compress the waveform to be acceptable for the finished product? I know it wouldn't be perfect and that too much aggressive compression will make the drums sound like they're squashed in a tin can, but there has got to be SOMETHING I can do. I know absolutely nothing about compression,so if someone can give me an approximate setting to try. eg: what type of compression, and all the levels of each nob I need to adjust on the compression panel.
Please help if you can and sorry about the long post. Just wanted to give you the whole picture. Thanks!
EVENTUALLY, when I can afford it, I will purchase an audio interface with at least 8 inputs, however right now here's what I am using and I need to know the best way to process the drums to be ready for the finished track....
x3 CAD dynamic mics on toms
SM57 on snare
CAD KBM412 large diaphragm dynamic on kick
x2 CAD electret condenser OH's in XY
All of the above goes into a Behringer Eurorack MX2004A.
Running into the mixer's AUX is an Alesis Microverb II. I adjust separate reverb amounts on the toms and snare channels.
The mixer's R & L outputs run through an ART Dual Tube Pre Audio Interface and that runs into my iMac via USB 2.0.
I am using Adobe Audition CS5.5
Since all my drums will be mixing down to just one stereo track once it gets into the computer, I am limited to editing each individual sound after, so I do this:
I have someone hit each drum one at a time and I dial in a good eq, volume and reverb level for each channel on the mixer while I am in the control room listening through some M-Audio BX5A Deluxe studio reference monitors.
NOW...my question is...what is the BEST way (since there's probably no RIGHT way) to process or treat the drum track? What should I do with it? If it sounds decent for the finished track, is there anything behind the scenes I should do? The issue I always face is, since I have no outboard compression on any of the elements there are maybe anywhere from 10-30 peaks where the track clips, which is usually due to hitting one thing too hard.
What I normally do is go through it manually and highlight the clipped part and reduce it by enough db's to have it be the same level as the rest. This takes forever, and is extraordinarily tedious! I don't want to turn any of the mics down, or the whole mix down, because generally speaking they are all at good volume line levels and between eachother, they don't distort, nor are they too weak. Besides, if I turn the whole mix down so I don't get clips, EVERYTHING will be quieter and the only things loud enough would be those spikes. Mind you, these spikes may be clipping but they don't sound any different to the ear. No distortion. I just see the spike and want to correct it so I can normalize the rest of the track to be it's loudest possible without distortion.
Is there a good setting I can use on the whole drum track to compress the waveform to be acceptable for the finished product? I know it wouldn't be perfect and that too much aggressive compression will make the drums sound like they're squashed in a tin can, but there has got to be SOMETHING I can do. I know absolutely nothing about compression,so if someone can give me an approximate setting to try. eg: what type of compression, and all the levels of each nob I need to adjust on the compression panel.
Please help if you can and sorry about the long post. Just wanted to give you the whole picture. Thanks!
