Drum mic bleeding

  • Thread starter Thread starter UKPete
  • Start date Start date
U

UKPete

New member
Hi there,
Was just wondering how you stop the bleed onto other mic's when recording drums. I have experimented and was surprised how good the results were but there seems to be alot of overspill from other drums. Is this normal? I used a SM 57.
Any information would be greatly received.

Thanks in anticipation.

Pete
 
per chance you could be a tad more descriptive????

post gating nails it for me.................most of the time

you're using an SM57 &.................
 
Bleed is an expected and totally normal part of drum miking. Mic position can be used to minimize it, and noise gates are often used when mixing, but your best bet is to just accept it.
 
scrubs said:
Bleed is an expected and totally normal part of drum miking. Mic position can be used to minimize it, and noise gates are often used when mixing, but your best bet is to just accept it.
Click to expand...


Or use Hypercardioid or Supercardioid microphones. :D


Tim
 
A drum set is 1 instrument, not a collection of separate ones. It should be treated as such.

If you are getting excessive cymbal bleed, the drummer needs to stop beating the crap out of the cymbals and start beating the crap out of the drums. Bleed is only a problem when the drummers dynamics don't fit the part he is playing.
 
Farview said:
A drum set is 1 instrument, not a collection of separate ones. It should be treated as such.

If you are getting excessive cymbal bleed, the drummer needs to stop beating the crap out of the cymbals and start beating the crap out of the drums. Bleed is only a problem when the drummers dynamics don't fit the part he is playing.
Click to expand...


I tell this to every single drummer that comes over to record. I think 3 have actually listened to me.
 
jonnyc said:
I tell this to every single drummer that comes over to record. I think 3 have actually listened to me.
Click to expand...
Then they get what they get. It will be a learning experience. Or make sure that the band has him personally pay for the time it takes you to edit the tracks so they are listenable.
 
Yeah, bleed is normal and acceptable. To minimize some of it, it's in the mic placement. Like on my snare mic, I had to much hihat so I angled the mic to where it was pointing more towards my floor tom. You can also make a sort of kick drum "tunnel" to reduce bleed into the kick mic. A heavy blanket draped over a couple of chairs worked pretty good for me. Or, what helped me get a cleaner picture of my mix was to go into the edit screen on the kick and snare tracks and cut out everything that wasn't a kick or a snare. Lotsa options dude. Hope it helps.
Happy tracking............ :cool:
 
Farview said:
Then they get what they get. It will be a learning experience. Or make sure that the band has him personally pay for the time it takes you to edit the tracks so they are listenable.
Click to expand...


I had one drummer that constantly bitched about his sounds. He wouldn't kick the kick drum, he'd feather it, every snare hit was a drag instead of a proper strike and he beat the living hell out of his cymbals. Oh yeah and he used a 6 piece kit and never touched a tom on any of the 8 songs he recorded. He called me after the mix was finished and asked why his drums didn't sound better, I told him "well you aren't a very good drummer." Never heard from them since and according to their myspace he's no longer in the band.
 
In many Drum micing Situations Bleed is desireable and even required especially if you are working with a Limited number of Mics.....

On my setup I must have the Hi-Hat bleed over to the Snare Mic because I don"t have the Hi-Hat miked so the only was to pick it up is for it to bleed over to the Snare and a Bit to the Overheads......

But I guess you don"t call it bleed if it is a Desireable effect??
 
UKPete said:
Hi there,
Was just wondering how you stop the bleed onto other mic's when recording drums. I have experimented and was surprised how good the results were but there seems to be alot of overspill from other drums. Is this normal? I used a SM 57.
Any information would be greatly received.

Thanks in anticipation.

Pete
Click to expand...

with the right mix you can compensate for the bleeding, not much u can do. i dont like the sound of gating personally, but my opinion is based on our drummer playing a balanced beat between all instruments.
 
Bleed is ambience that you don't like.
Ambience is bleed that you do like.
 
Farview said:
Bleed is ambience that you don't like.
Ambience is bleed that you do like.
Click to expand...

Very Zen. Kind of like, "weeds are flowers growing where you don't want them."
 
scrubs said:
Very Zen. Kind of like, "weeds are flowers growing where you don't want them."
Click to expand...

wow..........

I am in the midst of greatness.

:cool:
 
scrubs said:
Very Zen. Kind of like, "weeds are flowers growing where you don't want them."
Click to expand...


I let a weed grow out of control once. Now it's a 15' tall tree in my backyard. Not really sure how the neighbors feel about it but I think it looks cool, plus it grows way faster than a tree.
 
Farview said:
A drum set is 1 instrument, not a collection of separate ones. It should be treated as such.

If you are getting excessive cymbal bleed, the drummer needs to stop beating the crap out of the cymbals and start beating the crap out of the drums. Bleed is only a problem when the drummers dynamics don't fit the part he is playing.
Click to expand...

SO TRUE! As i drummer, i know how HARD is to get your dynamics togheter... BUT, i believe is also true that bleeding may be a pain in the ass... and that´s not totaly fault of the drummer; if the room sucks, you´ll be recording cymbals with every single mic, and there´s nothing the drummer can do to help it.
If you´re getting annoying bleeding in a good sounding room, then you should ask the drummer to hit harder/softer some of his drums/cymbals.
 
jonnyc said:
I let a weed grow out of control once. Now it's a 15' tall tree in my backyard. Not really sure how the neighbors feel about it but I think it looks cool, plus it grows way faster than a tree.
Click to expand...

You're gonna need a LOT of line for the weed-whacker when the time comes!
 
Bleeding................??? What about recording the whole drumkit on just one track, that will mask your bleeding, or it will just become part of the overal drumsound!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top