I cannot help thinking it would make a good moniker for the lead singer of a rabid punk band!
Mike Bleed ? You're right !
I went to school with a guy called Barry Vile. It was just before the punk era but the funny thing is that no one made fun of his name or an issue out of it because he was such a nice guy. He was in the year above me and he used to hang out with all the smokers and bullies and ne'er do wells but he always treated the kids in my year so nicely and spoke to us politely and with genuine interest, at least over the two years I was at that school, unlike his year mates who were to be feared or hung close to those that were to be feared and tried to get you to fear by association. Barry wasn't a trouble maker at all. He was just so kind ! But when I started hearing of "Johnny Rotten," "Sid Vicious," "Rat Scabies" and the like, I always thought Barry Vile would have made a great punk rock name.
Bleed by inappropriate dynamics? Inappropriate to whom exactly? Bleed is the engineers problem
I don't even think bleed is a problem.
Excessive bleed that interferes is the problem. I used to have a big problem when I first started multi tracking drums but my problem was twofold ~ firstly I would get more bleed than I liked in the bass drum mic {in some instances the kick mic had better kit repesentation than the overheads !} and secondly the way two of my 3 drumming friends played. One would beat the kit like he hated it while the other would barely touch the snare, almost like he was a jewel thief breaking into a museum with touch sensitive laser alarms. All this in addition to the fact that I didn't have a clue what I was doing, which in many ways was the main obstacle.
It was however, a process of trial and error and eventually, I developed a way that took into account the way each guy played. I would often use an electric kick pedal for the thwacker {although I'd sometimes mic him as maturity brought better dynamics and balance to his playing} and I would place the overhead mics
below the height of the cymbals. I stopped using a specific mic for the hat as I would overhead {well, underhead, actually} mic the drummer from behind the kit and made sure the snare mic was a dynamic well pointed away from the hats. Because I use an Arbiter Flat lites kit, I'd mic the toms from underneath, thereby cutting out any unwanted excess bleed from the hats.That was my contribution.
But the drummers sometimes had to curb their enthusiasm and "arty" light touches and play to the song, not their feelings and rights. I'd sort of explain {sometimes as we played and recorded} where the hard stuff needed to be and where it calmed down, kind of like a conductor. I always gave the drummer a lot of freedom of expression and encouraged them to think on the fly with regards to what they played and as time went on, the meeting of minds produced drum recordings that I had no problems at all with.
The musician should NOT have to modify technique to cope with mic technique that is compromised
Hmmmmm.....
Yes and no. If the mic technique is compromised, you're right to a large extent. But what if the way the instrument is played is such that however you set the mics, the recorded sound is problematic ? For example, say you have an acoustic guitarist or pianist that just
has to sing and play at the same time but their style is one of moving all over the place and howling loudly at unexpected times with their mouth in places not even God anticipates ? And they complain that there's too much guitar/piano in their vocal track and too much vocal in the guitar/piano tracks ?
If the drummer is bashing the hats disproportionately to how he is hitting the snare on purpose, then it isn't a problem. That is an artistic choice and the drummer will expect the hat to be much louder than the snare. If he complains about the snare being too quiet, that's on him.
In your experience, do you find that many drummers are of the persuasion that the hats should be louder ? Or would that just be a thing according to the particular song in which they drum that way ?
Professional studio musicians tend to not have this problem, because they understand that they are responsible for the balance of the kit.
I must admit that of the drummers I've recorded, by far the most balanced was actually a guy that was a session musician, from Zambia. I never had to think or say "hit harder" or "man, not so hard !" He instinctively had a perfect balance on every part of the kit. Even when I was experimenting with using a suitcase as a bass drum {courtesy of Moresound !}, he was the only one that really got that sound that made me forget it was a suitcase.
Or hit everything equally as hard...
Well, that would be the sensible thing to do. But for some drummers, it doesn't work that way and it's not necessarily that they're shitty. It's quite interesting observing drummers and how each one approaches playing so differently. There are the all in wrestlers, the deft strokers, the ice skaters, the Mafia hit men, the ballet dancers, the weightlifters, the heavy footers, the pilots, the snare'ovators.......
I played a few times with my mate's brother {this mate's wife would sometimes record alto sax, oboe and piano for me on a few of my bits} and he would never play with drumsticks. He would only play with brushes. But he twisted the brushes into a fine point and beat the crap out of the drums. He had a powerful bass foot. It sounded wicked. First time we played, I was fearfully sceptical and thought he would sound like Goldilocks, all sweetness and light but he ended up sounding like the 3 bears !
I never quite got the whole playing style being an issue unless the drummer is just shitty. I have had in my studio, and was a drummer myself, who hit really hard. I never had an issue with bleed being a problem with metal drummers.
Did have a guy once that hit his snare like it was a ripe peach. Only triggers helped that one
In a way that was a question that contained its own reply.....even though it wasn't a question.