Adding air to cymbals

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frosty55

Member
How do you add "air" to overheads when tracking drums?
Do some use a reverb to do it, if so, what kind of reverb?
 
Well...the fact that they are overheads, you usually get some "air" as part of that setup, and if there is any kind of life in the room, you also get some ambience....if there is not enough, then raise them higher and/or change the room...or add some reverb when mixing.

Where do you place them relative to the kit?


My OH mics are only about 7' off the ground and the room isn't super-live (carpet on the floor, some ceiling treatment to reduce flutters...and my OH mics still have plenty of natural ambiance, I never add anything more during mixing.
 
It really depends what's meant by "air". Usually, when I read "air" referring to sound.,I think about high end up past 10k. But without everyone speaking the same language, this thread can get really side-tracked....if it hasn't already. :D
 
From an EQ perspective, "air" is the very high-end as you said, but when the OP mentioned reverb, it made me think he was talking about adding some space (aka "air") to the sound VS a more close-miked sound.

So yeah...some clarification is needed, but I think "air" can be used to describe either.
 
miroslav said:
From an EQ perspective, "air" is the very high-end as you said, but when the OP mentioned reverb, it made me think he was talking about adding some space (aka "air") to the sound VS a more close-miked sound.
Click to expand...
For sure. I wasn't correcting you as much as trying to get more info. :cool:
 
moresound said:
What was that frequency that Mackie put on all of their consoles and called it air?
Click to expand...

Don't know about Mackie...but I have a Nightpro EQ3D box that has an "air" band...you can select 2.5k/5k/10k/20k/40k Hz.
It's only a boost, and it's a pretty wide Q, so even at 40k Hz if you boost it enough, you'll hear it start pulling up stuff in the audible HF range.
I've used the 40k Hz air band on a bunch of stuff, it helps to j-u-s-t open up the top end if you use it light-to-medium...nothing that's real obvious to the ear, but still noticable.
 
Hey frosty55...none of the goofing around is aimed at you or your question. Sometimes things just get a little silly, but nothing personal. :D

Let's get the thread back on topic, but first answer my question I asked earlier...were are you placing your OH mics relative to the kit?
 
I would wait till Mixing to add any air. No need to do it at recording stage IMO.
Boost the highs from around 12k up with a mellow curve. Adding reverb is nice also.

G
 
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