Gateing kick and snare

[Chris Jahn]

I have learned some new mic placements that cut bleed quite a bit from the snare, but its still there of course.

Who out there would rather gate the kick and snare and who would rather EQ out the things you dont want to hear?

 

[NL5]

Who out there would rather gate the kick and snare and who would rather compress and EQ out the things you dont want to hear?

How about neither!

BTW - how do you compress bleed out of a track anyway?!?!?!?

 

[Chris Jahn]

You cant per se', and i didnt really mean to throw that in there, i really just meant eq, but i my my mind i was just thinking about the cain of events to get to a decent snare sound.

that said, with a mutiband comp, you can do just that to an extent.

 

[RAMI]

I never gate my snare or kik. Bleed shmeed. You'll do more damage to your sound trying to EQ or gate out some bleed than leaving it there.

 

[NL5]

You'll do more damage to your sound trying to EQ or gate out some bleed than leaving it there.

True enough, but there are MANY other options available........and some bleed can be ok, but in general, it tends to muddy up the drum tracks.........

 

[TuoKaerf]

Again it all depends on how you mic'd the kit and the kind of drum sounds you are going for.

If I'm mixing something I did not track and the bleed is overpowering, I'll gate the shit out of it.

Usually when I'm tracking, I'll try and avoid any issues from the get go through better mic placement.

In the long run, some bleed isn't bad. It'll reinforce and blend your drum sounds together in a nice and natural way. However with too much, you'll end up with drum pudding when you start compressing.

 

[giraffe]

i gate constantly (not always, but 85-90% of the time, and style dependant)
and when the gate is not reacting who i want it to, i go in and cut the silence by hand. (which is almost always the case on toms.)

 

[RAMI]

and some bleed can be ok, but in general, it tends to muddy up the drum tracks.........

You trying to tell me something????

Actually, my stament was too simple. Of course, too much bleed is not good. But if you place mics right and do as much as you can to isolate stuff, it shouldn't be a problem. Not as much of a problem as gating a snare will be. I'm talking about the bleed you hear when you solo an instrument and then barely hear a bit of something else in there.
Also, I try to get most of my drum sound from my overheads (which is all about bleed), and then bring in as little snare mic as I might need. So, my snare mic doesn't play a big role. The kik, I usually don't have a problem with too mcuh bleed in there, I isolate it well.

Sometimes a little bleed can make the drums sound like a kit as opposed to a bunch of different drums. There are even times when the hi-hat in the snare mic was just enough to get the hats to cut through. It's not always bad.