EQing advice for drum overheads

Drummerbones

Drummerbones

New member
I recently recorded a drum part using a 4 mic technique. D112 kick, 57 snare, & matched pair MXL603's as overheads. All sounds nice and the drum take is perfect...except the toms don't come out enough in the mix. I tried going back and overdubbing the toms on separate stereo tracks, but the timing just isn't good enough. I have to go with the original and really don't want to redo a wonderful take. I've compressed the ever living hell out of the overhead stereo tracks to bring out the toms, but I still want a touch more. In the future I'll mic the toms as well just in case, but as for now...

I'm wondering if there is a run of the mill starting point for EQing the overheads....Obviously any EQ added or taken away will effect the cymbals as well as the drums. I'm wondering if I could effectively boost the low end careful, say a small bell curve at 85-100hz to bring out the tom frequencies? Then perhaps boost the highs shelving at 10K to accent the cymbals. A little cut in the mid and tadda! Or not...?

Any advice here? And yes, I realize it depends on my individual recording bla, bla, bla...Just wondering if anyone's found any tricks of boosting or cutting that didn't totally screw up the other elements (toms vs. cymbals).

Thanks gang

P.S. Pearl export kit, toms tuned fairly low, Tama Art maple snare, Zyldjian A custom cymbals
 
I've never EQ'd drum OHs during tracking.... I prefer room selection and mic placement to dictate the tonal characteristics....
 
Thanks for the reply Blue Bear. I don't normally EQ while tracking the overheads either. On this song, I didn't use any at all. The overheads sound quite nice, capturing the tone of the kit well. The problem is the balance from cymbals/toms. The toms just aren't enough even with compression. The question is, what can I do now short of redoing an awesome take?
 
Any chance the attack on the comp. might be grabing on the toms? (Or are you already in a slower poke-through' mode?)
Wayne
 
I just had this exact situation. I only realised the issue after tracking, and found my self in the same quandry. What I did was boost 125hz with a medium wide Q a dB or two and cut 1.9KHZ, with a wide Q about 4dB. In My situation that left the toms' fundemental tone while cutting some unwanted cymb. overhead attack and fundemental.

That's what worked for me, but I'm sure you didn't track in my living room using my gear - your results will vary. Good luck
 
Yeah check you haven't got too much attack on the compressor. You could also envelope the tom hits to bring them up
 
Thanks gang. Actually, I've been uing a pretty quick attack setting on the compressor. I'll back that off and see what happens. As for the EQ, I suppose it's just going to be trial and error.
 
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