dynamic eq side chain etc?

[Cody Suit]

Hey i'm trying to use a dynamic eq to reduce the amount of hi hats/cymbals in the snare mic. i would like the high band of the dynamic eq to be keyed/triggered by the mid range dynamic eq that is on my snare track. haven't had a ton of practice with side chain compression and dynamic eq. do i have to send the snare track to new bus or something?

would love some help. Thanks!

 

[Steenamaroo]

You want to reduce the hi hat sound that has bled into the snare recording?

If I understand you correctly you'd really just be better using a noise gate on the snare track.

Of course plenty of people will tell you to adjust your mic position and re-record, or embrace the bleed because it's all part of the thing.
Both are true.

 

[jimmys69]

The problem that typically arises from trying to gate or side-chain an eq for controlling bleed, is that it will likely not sound natural in any way.

How bad is the bleed? Posting a sample of the snare track alone would help to give a better assesment of possibilities.


Definitely best to re record if the mic placement or drummer technique or setup is causing such an issue that you are looking for 'tricks' to cure the problem. Or if that is not a possibility, then another option is to take sample of the snare when no HH or cymbals are hit, cut the offensive frequencies out of the live tracked one and add the sample to replace the frequencies you cut out. I have had to do this quite a few times for clients and it works much better than trying to gate or chop off other things that cannot really be chopped. Even if you gated or eq'd out after every snare hit, the bleed is still coming through the mic when the snare is hit. Will just be left with snare at times with a crash or HH when it opens. It is going to make the snare inconsistent to say the least. Annoying is likely more accurate...

I could also help you out there if this is a one time thing that you cannot repair yourself or can't afford drum replacement software.

Post a sample first and we can go from there.

 

[Cody Suit]

the bleed isnt super bad. i have a gate on there, but was sorta trying to keep the treble in the initial attack transient of the snare hit but then like 25-50ms after the hit or so have the highs be reduced.

the drummer plays with his hats pretty low/close to the snare (which also limits my mic placement) and doesnt play very hard cuz he's mostly playing fast. can't re-track it. sample replacement could work but havent ever done that with my own samples before.

i sometimes feel like i go overboard with wanting impossible standards of drum isolation, without resorting to sample replacement. better drummers would be nice too but cant win em all...

 

[DM60]

Are you needing for panning reasons? I would think you could EQ out the top of the HH bleed and just live with the bottom, use the top of HH channel to round it out and shape for the mix. Unless you need the isolation for panning, I can't see why something like this wouldn't work just for a better mix.

I am sure I am missing something here.

 

[jimmys69]

the bleed isnt super bad. i have a gate on there, but was sorta trying to keep the treble in the initial attack transient of the snare hit but then like 25-50ms after the hit or so have the highs be reduced.

the drummer plays with his hats pretty low/close to the snare (which also limits my mic placement) and doesnt play very hard cuz he's mostly playing fast. can't re-track it. sample replacement could work but havent ever done that with my own samples before.

i sometimes feel like i go overboard with wanting impossible standards of drum isolation, without resorting to sample replacement. better drummers would be nice too but cant win em all...

The best way is to lessen the bleed by micing technique. You are never going to eliminate it, nor do you want or need to.

What are you using to mic the snare? Even a SM57 has a sweet spot off to the side of the rear that rejects much of the harsh HH frequencies. You just need to find what works with any particular drummer or his kit.