cymbal bashers

BRIEFCASEMANX

BRIEFCASEMANX

Winner chicken dinner!
How do you guys deal with cymbal bashers. I just got this guy who smashed the crashes on every 1/4th beat of every song, then when he actually wanted to emphasize the cymbals he hit them mega hard but there was little volume change and the tone actually sounded WORSE.

The thing is, on certain rare parts where he played the cymbals in a normal fashion the drums as a whole actually sounded okay, even the cymbals. When we were listening to the mix and it got to one of those parts he actually said "whoa, that sounds good", then the cymbal bashing came in and everything sounded like crap and got all phasey and thin again.
 
Oh believe me I did. The problem is that he is playing fast stuff and that's how he's used to playing it. :(

Any like mic positioning or any tips if I can't get him to not hit them so hard?
 
can you make a singer sound better if he/she screams into the mic? tell him to get his shit together. if that does'nt work, sedate him via a dart and blow gun while he's playing. he probably won't even notice. :D
 
BRIEFCASEMANX said:
The thing is, on certain rare parts where he played the cymbals in a normal fashion the drums as a whole actually sounded okay, even the cymbals. When we were listening to the mix and it got to one of those parts he actually said "whoa, that sounds good".
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Play that for him again and tell him that's how it sounds in real life. If he wants to sound good, that's how he's got to play. The fact that he's stuck in a bad habit is not an excuse not to break that habit.

There's nothing you can go to mke him sound good until he sounds good.

G.
 
ive read off this board that makeing the cybmals further away from the drummer helps, or if that doesnt work try lighter drum sticks??
 
Tell him you want to record cymbals seperate so you can get a cleaner sound. Remove all cymbals from the kit and have him play with no cymbals. Then one you have the drums tracked go back and have him do the cymbals as listens to the rest of the tracks. Maybe then you can get him to back off since he won't be playing any drums. If he still screws it up maybe you could have someone else add the cymbals once he is gone.
 
You could set up a separate headphone mix for him and add a sensitive OH into it and keep turning it up until he tames himself. Best way though is to teach him how to play.
 
Most of us have had to deal with heavy handed drummers at some time or another (I know I've been there.) Drummers who are used to playing live are the worse for playing cymbals way too hard in the studio. Drummers need to understand that drums are an acoustic instrument and control is vital to making them sound good. Angle the cymbals more so his hits are more of a glancing strike rather than a direct hit. A cloud suspended over the drums can help to diffuse some of the cymbals but it wont solve all the problems. Moving overhead mics out farther or higher may help a little. There is only so much you can do, the drummer is responsible for a great deal of how drums sound, technique and control can be difference between a drum track that sounds great and one that is awful. Make sure the drummer understands that you are just recording the sound he is producing, if he likes it, fine, if he dosen't, it is up to him to play it in a way that he does.
 
there are 2 ways i deal with this:

1. give him lighter sticks and/or move the cymbals so they are just out of "comfortable" reach for him. make him have to work (or think) about smacking one of the cymbals, rather than having it where it's always been. both of these can really kill a drummer, though.

2. put the cymbals REALLY LOUD in his headphone mix. tell him that he's beating the crap out of them and that that's as quiet as you can get them without any help from him--and that if he wants the cymbals to be quieter, then he needs to hit them softer.

this 2nd point also works real well for vocalists, as well--in many instances you can control their performances by what you do (or do not) feed them in their headphones.


cheers,
wade
 
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