Separating bass and snare drum?

T

the-music-man

New member
Hi there,

So recently i have been experimenting new way to record my drum kit.

My audio interface is an m audio fast track pro so i am limited to 2 inputs and i think i have found out the best way to redord with my limited inputs

I have 2 xlr splitters, one connected to each input on my audio interface. In to the first splitter i have connected both my overheads and that works absaloutly fine, Then i have plugged m snare mic and kick drum mic plugged in. When i was thinking about it i thought i could duplicate the snare/kick track and isolate the snare on one track and nkick on the other track using a noise gate (i want to isolate them for panning, eq, effects purposes and so i cn set the levels better), but because they are similar volumes this isnt possible, But then i thought is there such thing as a frequency gate? Because the two drums are completely different freqeuncys surely there must be some sort of plugin that acts like a noise gate but gates frequencies? Anybody know of one, or does anybody know of any other way of isolating the two drums?

Thanks
 
I think your biggest issue there, is if you even manually cut up the track, the decay from either the kick or snare will be cut off. This will leave you with a very unnatural sound.

You could always just play kick and snare alone, on to each track, along with a click. Then come back and play the cymbals over it. Then you would have 4 isolated tracks. That can be tough too, but I have done it in the past, just my tapping on floor and thigh where the kick and snare should be.
 
the-music-man said:
Hi there,

So recently i have been experimenting new way to record my drum kit.

My audio interface is an m audio fast track pro so i am limited to 2 inputs and i think i have found out the best way to redord with my limited inputs

I have 2 xlr splitters, one connected to each input on my audio interface. In to the first splitter i have connected both my overheads and that works absaloutly fine, Then i have plugged m snare mic and kick drum mic plugged in. When i was thinking about it i thought i could duplicate the snare/kick track and isolate the snare on one track and nkick on the other track using a noise gate (i want to isolate them for panning, eq, effects purposes and so i cn set the levels better), but because they are similar volumes this isnt possible, But then i thought is there such thing as a frequency gate? Because the two drums are completely different freqeuncys surely there must be some sort of plugin that acts like a noise gate but gates frequencies? Anybody know of one, or does anybody know of any other way of isolating the two drums?

Thanks
Click to expand...

You should probably learn to use the forum search feature. I just answered a very similar question last week. Scroll down to about post #7 at this link... https://homerecording.com/bbs/general-discussions/mixing-techniques/please-help-trying-gate-improve-snare-track-351377/
 
This is a bit different situation here though. He wants get get separate kick and snare tracks from a single channel, not just clean up the snare from surrounding bleed. I don't see any possibility of achieving what he would want via a gate nor editing by hand. You could attempt to edit just the attack of the kick or snare hit, and attempt to make a natural sounding decay from each hit, but that is an almost impossibility. That would be turd polishing at it's finest.

Purchasing an interface with more inputs is the best route. If budget wont allow that, then deal with it however you can for now.

I do not see how any gate of any type, will make a decent result from a shared track.
 
jimmys69 said:
This is a bit different situation here though. He wants get get separate kick and snare tracks from a single channel, not just clean up the snare from surrounding bleed. I don't see any possibility of achieving what he would want via a gate nor editing by hand. You could attempt to edit just the attack of the kick or snare hit, and attempt to make a natural sounding decay from each hit, but that is an almost impossibility. That would be turd polishing at it's finest.

Purchasing an interface with more inputs is the best route. If budget wont allow that, then deal with it however you can for now.

I do not see how any gate of any type, will make a decent result from a shared track.
Click to expand...

With that gate plug, you can set it to listen for certain frequencies.

STEP 1: Make a duplicate copy of the track.
STEP 2: On copy one, set the gate to listen for 80Hz, thus opening for the kick but not for the snare. Bounce to a new track with the snare gated out, (i.e., removed.)
STEP 3: On copy two, set the gate to listen for the most dominant frequency in the snare, (maybe like the edge ring or something.) Bounce that to a new track with the kick gated out.

Presto! two separate tracks. Yes, it would take some tweaking to get it even half usable, but hey, beggars can't be choosy.

You are both correct, though. He should acquire more inputs if he wants proper separate tracks.
 
Thanks for the advice, I was also thinking, if i plugged my overheads into one channel two, they would end up being mono, which i dont want. I guess im going to have to sell some old gear to get a new interface. Thanks for the help though
 
the-music-man said:
Thanks for the advice, I was also thinking, if i plugged my overheads into one channel two, they would end up being mono, which i dont want. I guess im going to have to sell some old gear to get a new interface. Thanks for the help though
Click to expand...

Or get a small mixer. Run your 4 mics into the mixer, then go from the mixer into the 1 and 2 inputs of the interface. You'll then end up with a stereo track of the drums. You still won't have individual track flexibility, but you can dial it in on the mixer before hand with some test runs and trial and error.

I've used this method. It can take some time to dial it all in, but it works.
 
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