overhead mics too articulate... i think

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bluedaffy

bluedaffy

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So, first post on here. Just wanted to put that out there.

So I recorded our drummers set a couple weeks ago using a pair of audix f15s in what I would think would be the standard stereo mic placement. Both mics about 2 feet above the cymbals/set.

I picked up the mics cause I found them on sale for pretty cheap with surprising reviews. And after using them, I think they sound good too. But here is my dilemma. I had the band over last night to listen to the near finished mixes of the songs we are working on and I'll be damned, our drummer immediately picked out what songs we used the audix mics for. His only complaint was that he preferred the sound of the cymbals on the tracks that we used 2 blue spark ldcs on. Let me add the reason I got the audix in the first place was so the blue spark mics would be available for vocals (we do a fair amount of live recording, we're kind of jam bandy)

So now I have to figure out (hopefully with the help of someone on here) what I can try to get the audix to sound more like what he prefers. The audix sound very real (attacky) especially in the cymbals whereas the cymbals recorded with the blue spark almost sound like all you really hear is the woosh or ring of the cymbals. What trucks in mixing could I try to bring down the attack while trying to keep the time as natural as possible?
 
A quicker attack and longer release on your overhead compressor will make it a bit less attack-heavy.
 
Compression can do the trick, you could also try to put the mics. behind the drummer instead of above the cymbals. That puts the mics farther away and off axis of the cymbals.

There might also be a frequency response spike in the audix that makes them sound like that. Some eq should take care of that.
 
Thanks, I'll try to apply some compression to the overheads and look for the "tick" frequency in the EQ. That's the sound I'm trying to push back in the mix a bit more, the tick tick tick of the hi-hats and cymbals. Any suggestions on compressor release time? I assume the attack should be very fast to cut down on the heavy transient but should the compressor be allowed to come all the way back down between strikes?
 
That's exactly the kind of thing I would try to hit with a slew-rate limiter. Here's one that I've never tried. I built one in JS for Reaper, which is available on "the Stash" on their website. It's kind of like frequency-dependent compression/distortion. At rather subtle settings, it's just right to knock down those "spiky" transients.
 
Check out various transient shapers, for example google for Flux Bittersweet which is free. It will get rid of the transients on cymbials... but also on everything else you have on overheads so you got to try and find a good balance.
 
Seidy said:
Check out various transient shapers, for example google for Flux Bittersweet which is free. It will get rid of the transients on cymbials... but also on everything else you have on overheads so you got to try and find a good balance.
Click to expand...

+1, I was gonna say that :)
 
Oddly enough, i'd also be tempted to try a transient designer. As Seidy said, you do need to find the balance between taming the attack on the cymbals without killing everything. The Stillwell Transient Monster is free to try for an unlimited period and then very cheap should you wish to buy it.
 
On a different note, you say you put the mics "in what I would think would be the standard stereo mic placement. Both mics about 2 feet above the cymbals/set".

If you just randomly put them up there without doing some measuring, it's possible that one recording happened to be in phase and the other one wasn't. This would change the perception of which set of mics sounded better because you might not be getting an honest representation of what each pair would sound like if compared under the same circumstances.

Ewe pheel mee?
 
I do pheel you. When we were setting to record I basically set up the mics and move them until I get a good sound, I don't know if that is a very smart way to go about it... I did learn a valuable lesson in the process however, when I set them up I remember hearing the crisp attacks and thinking, sweet, this sounds really clean and clear, but after mixing in the instruments, that turned out to be exactly what I liked least about the sound. Bittersweet has worked very well to tame them however.
 
Strangely enough, because of this thread i remembered i have Flux Bittersweet (i grabbed it a while back after i moved computers and it turned out my licence for SPL Attacker was for one machine only and if i wanted it again it was £40 of something!) and have used it over the weekend to tame some overly loud plectrum attack on an electric guitar. Worked much better than the Transient Monster i mentioned earlier but i still really like the Transient Monster as the "sustain" knob is great and it's way more subtle than bittersweet.
 
Justsomeguy said:
Strangely enough, because of this thread i remembered i have Flux Bittersweet (i grabbed it a while back after i moved computers and it turned out my licence for SPL Attacker was for one machine only and if i wanted it again it was £40 of something!) and have used it over the weekend to tame some overly loud plectrum attack on an electric guitar. Worked much better than the Transient Monster i mentioned earlier but i still really like the Transient Monster as the "sustain" knob is great and it's way more subtle than bittersweet.
Click to expand...
I did a small transient designer shootout for myself some time ago. I didn't like transient monster at all. For me, it's between SPL Transient designer and Bittersweer. Bittersweet is great, but no release knob. Then again Bittersweet has M/S processing option. :)
 
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