Finding balance between overheads: hats to cut , keeping crashes under control

K

Kapo_Polenton

New member
Hi guys,

Listening to a lot of isolated drum tracks on youtube (love the big 80's sounds!) and notice that apart from the drenched in reverb, the hats cut through but the crashes are very subdued and lay low in the overall mix. I've currently got a 7 mic setup : snare, toms, kick close mic'd, 2 overheads setup in stereo. Everything sounds decent for raw recording (toms need new skins though) but if I get the crashes to lay back in the overall drum track, not enough of the ride or hats come through. I've done a lot of reading and a lot articles tend to imply that hi hat dedicated mic are barely used even when setup and most of the cymbals come from the overheads. If this is the case, are/were engineers simply doubling an overhead track and editing out crashes then bringing them back in on their own track where the volume has been lowered? Listening to Nicko here, sounds a lot like the hats and ride cut and are louder than the crashes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33t0H5Dt5CY is that my imagination?

thanks.
 
Greg_L said:
Playing technique, cymbal setup, and mic placement. That's all it is.
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate? I know to lay off the cymbal crashes, any tips on setup and placement? I've already got my overheads slightly behind the crashes and directly over ride and hats, I'm assuming this is a wise approach..
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Can you elaborate? I know to lay off the cymbal crashes, any tips on setup and placement? I've already got my overheads slightly behind the crashes and directly over ride and hats, I'm assuming this is a wise approach..
Click to expand...

You're on the right track. Besides miking the hats and ride themselves, positioning is probably key. For me, this is just for me, I get all the hats and ride I need in just the overheads by keeping my crashes low. Keep things low and flat. No crazy wongo angles. My hats and ride are about the same height from the floor and my overheads are set up in phase to the snare but placed so the hats and ride naturally fall on opposite sides of the stereo field. I usually have more than enough hats and ride and sometimes wish just my crashes were louder.
 
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