drum sound absoprtion

[eskkes]

hello,
i am looking for something that isolates the different parts of a drum kit from eachother while recording..
e.g. something is stop the hi hat sound leaking into the snare drum mike.
is there any product someone could recommend...
thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Supercreep]

Only if you want to record all the drum parts separately. So the answer really is no.

 

[DonF]

If mic selection and placement don't give you enough isolation, you could try something like this: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DS404

 

[PhilGood]

I keep wondering and wondering and wondering and wondering and wondering and wondering where do people get the idea you are supposed to isolate each drum mic?! Where does this idea come from?

If you're painting a picture, do you keep the red seperate from the yellow? Do you keep the blue away from the red? No.

If you're having problems between mics, its either the room's acoustic treatments, mic postioning or the tuning of the kit. If the kit is properly tuned and the mics are in good position, everything should "play nice" with each other. If you have to isolate, you're doing something wrong.

 

[RezN8]

Listen to Phil

I'm totally with SuperCreep and Phil good on this one (even though I stopped wondering along time ago). IMHO- The drum kit as a whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. So treat the drum kit as one instrument rather than separate parts.

That said, one technique that might work for you would be to use a gate on everything which I never really liked to do.

 

[Venni]

Angle the snare mic away from hihat pointing to center of snare.

You should clean the leakage on the tomtom Bd and floor tom tracks in your editor after you record. Be careful with Bd. Have backup and Don't overclean

 

[skipwave]

The only instance, IMHO, where added isolation is a valid approach, is the snare batter vs. hihat. Some players like the HH really close to the snare and moving it higher can just make them oh so unhappy.

In this case, you want the most absorbent possible material, totally non-reflective surface, otherwise it will create some weird echo into all the mics facing it. I've been told that fiberglass inside a sock works well, though I fashioned something out of acoustic foam and sheetblok. Just remember to make both sides absorbent, then clip it to gooseneck or boom for positioning.