P Johnston said:
I'd like any advice on using limiters to lessen bleed between drum mics. Would this be a situation where you used the gate while recording the drum tracks, with each mic routed through a gate? Any recommendations appreciated
Okay, I'll take this one-since I'm the Gatekeeper! hahaha
What kind and how many gates do you have and/or plan to use?
A Limiter (just in case you don't know) does nothing as far as "gating"-a Limiter "limits" the amount of signal that gets through; i.e., it put's a "ceiling" on it, and says "This is the MAXIMUM that gets out-no matter what the input is".
I gate drums all the time. The Noise gate allows you to shape the drum signal in the sense that you can cut off the "tail end" of it. You also can clean up the sound and add separation between individual drums using 1 gate per 1 mic per 1 drum.
I.e, you want to gate every drum in a 5 piece kit-you'll need 5 mics, 5 channels on a mixer WITH individual Channel Inserts/patchpoints, and 5 channels of Noise gate.
I track with the gates. But here is a trick. You can put a drum trigger on the drum-and use the
trigger to open the gate-by inserting it into the "key" input, and setting the gate for an "external key".
Let me explain:
Let's say you have a kickdrum with the Mic running through the gate.
Now, a Bass player is in the same room playing through an amp. Your Gate is essentially worthless-because the Bass from his amp is going to be picked up by that mic in the kickdrum.
This
will open the kick mic, and allow bleed-through to be picked up. It's not a matter of
it might open the gate-A bass guitar signal WILL open the gate-The Signal is usually so loud it will open it-just a matter of fact.
BUT, if you put a trigger on the Kick and connect the trigger to that same Channel's KEY input-the gate is no longer being opened/activated by the MIC; it's only being opened when the trigger reacts to the kick drum being struck.
Instead of "triggering" electronic sounds, your're trigger your own kick sound-while your "making" said kick sound.
make any sense?
I hope so.
You could also wire a pot in series to act as a "sensitivity control" for the drum trigger
Tim