How to tame stick clicks on cymbals??

[singer202]

Having a bit of trouble on my drum tracks. I'm not sure if its a mic placement thing or what, but my drum tracks always have an annoyingly loud "click" when the drummer hits the cymbal. It comes through the overheads and I wonder if anyone has some tips or suggestions on how to tame it, it sticks out real bad in my finished mixes. Thanks.

 

[mixsit]

I'd love to know. Tried eq, transient plug, limiter.. I have some live tracks where they sit out in front of the drum mix.

 

[RAMI]

Probably not the answer you're looking for, but....he needs to learn how to hit his crashes. There shouldn't be a click sound because he shouldn't be crashing with the tip of his stick.

As far as fixing it once it's recorded, sorry, can't help you.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I've never tried this so I'm just thinking out loud here, but could a compressor be used with super fast attack and pretty fast release?

That'd just tame the transients, right?
I'm thinking the cymbal would almost swell in, but over a very short period of time?

 

[Farview]

Compressor with fast attack and fast release will help, but the close mics have to be the main sound of the drums when you do that.

The drummer isn't hitting the cymbals correctly and/or the cymbals are the cheapest,piece of crap cymbals out there.

 

[mixsit]

Rami mentioned no tips' on crashes, but I'm have it on the rides. Is that a different problem, or set of solutions?

 

[GONZO-X]

it's a combination of the where your mics are positioned, and the way the drummer hits his cymbals.

you've got to change both of those things.

 

[RAMI]

Rami mentioned no tips' on crashes, but I'm have it on the rides. Is that a different problem, or set of solutions?

Hmmm....I like a nice tick on the ride, but I guess it depends if it's too much or not. I have a really heavy, dead ride cymbal and it gives me almost nothing but click, but it's never been a problem. I can imagine it would be hard to get rid of if you didn't want it though.

 

[mixsit]

Compressor with fast attack and fast release will help, but the close mics have to be the main sound of the drums when you do that..

There are times, mixing situations like this, where I really wish I could have a dynamics processor that would let me go past normal attack/ratio etc and specify reduction beyond the ratio, or to a specific depth perhaps.
Quite often there are clicks', attacks or portions of a signal like this where their volume limited by a comp/limiter is simply not adequate to pull it out of the mix enough.

 

[Farview]

In this case, you would need to change the ride cymbal for one that was more 'washy'.

 

[Farview]

What I do in that case is EQ the attack of the cymbal that is bothersome, then smash the crap out of it with a compressor.

Once a problem has been recorded, the only thing you can do is make it less annoying.

 

[Seidy]

Hmm maybe it doesn't work, but how about spectral repair? I would like to give a try
Can the OP put up a clip of overhead track or whatever track he's having problem with?

 

[witzendoz]

Why don't you try EQing the overheads with a parametric EQ and dial up the frequency of the stick sound with a tight Q? Then you could try a limiter after the EQ that reacts on the stuck hit but does not smash the cymbal ring too much.

If that does not work you are stuck with it I'm afraid. This is why care is needed when tracking to make sure the sound you are getting is what you want.

Cheers
Alan.

 

[Justsomeguy]

Why don't you try EQing the overheads with a parametric EQ and dial up the frequency of the stick sound with a tight Q? Then you could try a limiter after the EQ that reacts on the stuck hit but does not smash the cymbal ring too much.

Could you not do that but as the side chain to a compressor? i.e set up a kinda frequency conscious comp. i've done similar stuff on acoustic guitar where the player as "clicked", for want of a better word, in the strings in a percussive way which then gets in the way of the snare drum so i've either side chained the comp on the acoustic to the snare or side chained the comp to an EQ with a tight peak EQ around the main offending frequency with a fast attack/fast release

 

[mixsit]

Revisting my little in the works problem- would this be something that one of the noise reduction tool kits would be good at? (Don't have one, seems likely a bit more $$ than I'd want to spend considering for 20 years I haven't needed that kind of software solutions..

 

[Farview]

Revisting my little in the works problem- would this be something that one of the noise reduction tool kits would be good at? (Don't have one, seems likely a bit more $$ than I'd want to spend considering for 20 years I haven't needed that kind of software solutions..

I can't imagine any sort of restoration plugin that got rid of ticks, pops or transients would work very well on a drum track. It might get rid of the stick noise, but it will also really screw with the transients of the drums coming into the same mic.

 

[mixsit]

I can't imagine any sort of restoration plugin that got rid of ticks, pops or transients would work very well on a drum track. It might get rid of the stick noise, but it will also really screw with the transients of the drums coming into the same mic.

Thanks for chipping in here.
I was thinking there were processes where it could be zeroed in on a particular aspect you wanted to reduce?

 

[Farview]

Thanks for chipping in here.
I was thinking there were processes where it could be zeroed in on a particular aspect you wanted to reduce?

There is a thing called spectral (something or other) that basically turns the track into a picture that you can edit with photoshop-type tools. You see the frequency and intensity of the sound along a timeline and edit out what you don't want.

Wavelab has that, but it is pretty tedious.

 

[jmmdrums]

Stick grip

There are, virtually, an infinite amount of sounds one can get from holding their sticks differently. A very "clicky" cymbal sound is usually caused by choking the stick with one's hand. A looser grip will open up the cymbal for sure; though I don't know if it will to the extent that you're looking for.

 

[jmmdrums]

Holding the sticks looser will certainly help. Gripping them tightly produces that "clicky" tone on a cymbal. Also, is he using nylon-tipped sticks? Obviously, wood would be a better option to reduce "clickiness."