Compressing drums before vs. after

[Outta Phase]

Hi, folks I have a question about recording drums. In the past I have recorded my four piece set with four mics. bass snare rack tom, and floor tom mics, the cymablas just took care of themselves with that setup. Here is the issue. I use cakewalk pro and have tried using the compression with software after the dums ahve been recorded, and I have had very poor results. (basically the bleed in the kick mic sounds like junk after the compression, the kick itself sounds great, but the other bleed through sounds like I am playing 'extra toms/cymbals' whenI hit the kick) should I invest in hardware compression to use during the recording, or should I spend more time tweeking the software compression to get it right?
..or should I use OH mics to cover the bad bleed from the kick?

 

[int]

analogueX.com has a free DX gate plugin you could try on that bass drum.

 

[Tim Brown]

I use cakewalk pro and have tried using the compression with software after the dums ahve been recorded, and I have had very poor results. (basically the bleed in the kick mic sounds like junk after the compression, the kick itself sounds great, but the other bleed through sounds like I am playing 'extra toms/cymbals' whenI hit the kick) should I invest in hardware compression to use during the recording, or should I spend more time tweeking the software compression to get it right?
..or should I use OH mics to cover the bad bleed from the kick?

You need to try building a "Kick drum tunnel".

You take a box, or a chair, and drape several blankets over the front end of the kickdrum and the box or chair, to form a "tunnel" in front of the kickdrum. Then mic it from out in the tunnel, and this will help cut all of that bleed out of the kick mic.



Tim