cymbals too loud, worried about final product.

[griffinthecity]

hey all,
this is my first post, so please bear with me.

i've done lots of home recordings for the past two years, but one thing i noticed with one of my songs is the cymbals are significantly loud, and takes away from the audio from the guitar and sometimes the bass...

i know that i can use an equalizer to turn down the dB's but it seems like when i do that, it diminishes the overall sound of the drums. i know that i should've turned down the recording level of the condenser mics, but it's too late for that now.

i was just wondering if there is a plugin/vst/au that i can use (i am a macbook user, yay or nay for those who oppose or are for macs as recording devices!) and any other post-production tips you guys can offer me.

another thing is when i compare loudness of my overall album with professional/commerical albums. they are significantly lower in volume, and i wonder if i can get a plugin/vst/au for that too. i do have voxengo's varisaturator, but it doesn't make it as loud as it can be without clipping.

please help a n00b!
thanks!

 

[Massive Master]

Are the overheads not on individual tracks?

If that's the case, you might try a de-esser... Digital Fish Phones' "SpitFish" is a fine one - and free.

As far as the 'loudness' part goes...

I just don't have the energy tonight. Anyone?

 

[aidan_m]

As far as the 'loudness' part goes...

I just don't have the energy tonight. Anyone?

Ha ha!! I hear ya!

Griff,
Just do a search in the forum for limiter, and you will find many the hairy debate! But a mastering limiter is what you will want for loudness.

 

[gecko zzed]

Other than your problem with the high hats, and say that can be fixed, does the mix sound ok?

If so, then let it stand.

 

[Waffleness]

hey all,
this is my first post, so please bear with me.

i've done lots of home recordings for the past two years, but one thing i noticed with one of my songs is the cymbals are significantly loud, and takes away from the audio from the guitar and sometimes the bass...

i know that i can use an equalizer to turn down the dB's but it seems like when i do that, it diminishes the overall sound of the drums. i know that i should've turned down the recording level of the condenser mics, but it's too late for that now.

i was just wondering if there is a plugin/vst/au that i can use (i am a macbook user, yay or nay for those who oppose or are for macs as recording devices!) and any other post-production tips you guys can offer me.

another thing is when i compare loudness of my overall album with professional/commerical albums. they are significantly lower in volume, and i wonder if i can get a plugin/vst/au for that too. i do have voxengo's varisaturator, but it doesn't make it as loud as it can be without clipping.

please help a n00b!
thanks!

With regards to the cymbals - I would turn down the OH tracks slightly, and add some comrpession - maybe 3:1.

Again, EQ out the high end a bit.

 

[bigtoe]

+1 on the de-esser. in analog land i use dbx 263s. perfect for certain types of cymbal bashing without messing with the drums. even in cases with just a kick and an overhead i've made significant headway bringing drums out and cymbals down on some 'home recorded' stuff.

50 bucks a pop.

while there is a loudness war on the mastering /two track side of things...
the loudness issue may be / most likely is in the mix itself - the individual tracks. i've found this to be true both with people i know who are starting and remembering back to when i was starting. when you get better at mixing individual tracks together- you'll hear the loudness go up...then you can send it off to get ruined by a limiter set by a goon.

Mike

 

[griffinthecity]

thank you all!
i fixed the problem.
and it was definitely mastering the equalizer.
i guess i'm not too worried about the volume of the sound.
if it's too low, then people will turn it up, right?

if you guys havent, check out the 'loudness war' on wikipedia.
i can't post the url, i'm a n00b and haven't posted 5 posts yet.