ecktronic
Mixing and Mastering.
Can someone tell me some rough settings for tom gating please.
T
tsl92802
New member
It's impossible to do that without now how you recorded them. You'd have to actually look at the wav to determine how you'd need to set the threshold in occordance to the peak level of the track. One thing you can try is to look at the track, find the lowest db level of the quietest tom hit, and set the threshold maybe 1 db lower than that. However, it would probably be more beneficial to just mix the toms (i mean this in the least insulting way possible) better, unless there's some really extrodinary circumstance. If you have a reason why you want to gate them, and you post it on here, someone might be able to give you some advice on how to remedy the problem.
C
Cloneboy Studio
.
Personally I don't like gating toms unless I'm using a Drawmer PowerGate (second time I've plugged this gear in five minutes on this board!). Honestly, they don't pay me!
Anyway, what I do is mix the toms down into a stereo subgroup and silence the parts where the toms aren't playing, and then use an amplitude envelope to shape the start/end points so the tom rings out.
90% of the time the bleed from tom mics are annoying and a major source of audio mud. Lose that stuff until the drums play, and then go back to losing it.
YES, you will get some bleed--this only adds to the overall 'excitement' when the toms hit. It makes it sound IMHO better. It's faster as well, unless the drummer is just insane with tom hits, than setting a gate and not chopping off the first transients while eliminating the bleed.
Now doing this on a snare track... fuggedaboutit. Too much effort. Use a gate. Personally the best gate on the market is the Drawmer PowerGate ($1000 bucks though). Way cooler than the SPL Transient Designer. For those of you that don't know the PowerGate lets you EMPHASIZE stuff that opens the gate--either in a select frequency band or the entire signal. Up to +18db of emphasis!!! Also, the key trigger for the gate works off a high and low pass filter so you can narrow in on what freq triggers it--amazingly simple gate to set.
If you have the budget you need one. All larger studios should have at least one of these. I used one a few weeks ago and instantly wanted one. This thing is useful for snare, kick, toms... wow. You can probably even do some nice things with synthesizers with it. I wish all gear was made this intelligently. BEST GATE EVER.
Anyway, what I do is mix the toms down into a stereo subgroup and silence the parts where the toms aren't playing, and then use an amplitude envelope to shape the start/end points so the tom rings out.
90% of the time the bleed from tom mics are annoying and a major source of audio mud. Lose that stuff until the drums play, and then go back to losing it.
YES, you will get some bleed--this only adds to the overall 'excitement' when the toms hit. It makes it sound IMHO better. It's faster as well, unless the drummer is just insane with tom hits, than setting a gate and not chopping off the first transients while eliminating the bleed.
Now doing this on a snare track... fuggedaboutit. Too much effort. Use a gate. Personally the best gate on the market is the Drawmer PowerGate ($1000 bucks though). Way cooler than the SPL Transient Designer. For those of you that don't know the PowerGate lets you EMPHASIZE stuff that opens the gate--either in a select frequency band or the entire signal. Up to +18db of emphasis!!! Also, the key trigger for the gate works off a high and low pass filter so you can narrow in on what freq triggers it--amazingly simple gate to set.
If you have the budget you need one. All larger studios should have at least one of these. I used one a few weeks ago and instantly wanted one. This thing is useful for snare, kick, toms... wow. You can probably even do some nice things with synthesizers with it. I wish all gear was made this intelligently. BEST GATE EVER.
X
xfinsterx
New member
i just use automation in my daw.
But i rarely even do that.
In certain situations you may have a cymbal basher of a drummer.
When drummers like these hit the toms theres usually a fair amount of bleed going on.
The thing i dont like about gating these type of drummers is youll get a surge of cymbals a half second, during, and a splict second after the drummers fill.
I think that sounds like disconcerting crapola.
If its a controlled drummer who understands dynamics?
Gates or mute button/volume fader automation can be used to avail in these situations FME.
But i rarely even do that.
In certain situations you may have a cymbal basher of a drummer.
When drummers like these hit the toms theres usually a fair amount of bleed going on.
The thing i dont like about gating these type of drummers is youll get a surge of cymbals a half second, during, and a splict second after the drummers fill.
I think that sounds like disconcerting crapola.
If its a controlled drummer who understands dynamics?
Gates or mute button/volume fader automation can be used to avail in these situations FME.
G
glimmer_doll
New member
wow...great answers...but what would you do in a tape situation? does anybody remember tape...?
BrettB
Well-known member
xfinsterx said:
Right now I'm recording a metal band and I reallt have to gate the toms: The guys has 5, and to keep metal drums tight you gotta have a powerfull kick and snare and much control over the cymbals. Cymbal bleed in the tom mics can muddy things up.
I usually loop a drum fill and fiddle with the gate knobs untill I have a good setting; Treshold and release are very, very important, attack is always 0 so you won't gate that attack.
MadAudio
Damned if I do
Once I actually erased all the spots between the tom hits. It took forever, but it worked great.glimmer_doll said:
G
glimmer_doll
New member
MadAudio said:
that would be a huge pain in the ass...especially for me...i use toms a lot...thank god i've never had any need for a gated tom sound
ecktronic
Mixing and Mastering.
My drummer does some very fast drumming on the toms as with the rest of the kit, so will this make it a problem to gate the toms?
I am wanting to get rid of the ringing sound of the toms, i have two options. One is gating them and the other is to put cotton balls in the toms to calm the ringing and make the ringing stop quicker. Any suggestions on what i should do would be great.
Cheers for the info.
I am wanting to get rid of the ringing sound of the toms, i have two options. One is gating them and the other is to put cotton balls in the toms to calm the ringing and make the ringing stop quicker. Any suggestions on what i should do would be great.
Cheers for the info.
Farview
Well-known member
ecktronic said:
Tune the drums so they don't ring. If you aren't using remo pinstripes, use them. It also helps if the drummer hits hard, that way there is a bigger volume difference between the drum humming and him hitting it.
E
earworm
New member
i got a bunch of gates,
on one of 'em i can adjust the HOLD,
so imangine that your drummer does a real long and fast tomfill-in,
then you set the HOLD on like 1 second or less (probably i guess
)
but that's not even necisarry, if your release isn't TOO fast, then the gate won't close if you do real fast drumhits on the toms,
i think the most important thing is to set the treshold,
attack, thats always pretty fast with me,
and release....mhhhh.......just in the middle of you don't know what to do with it
i just follow my ears, don't have any presets,
mess with it, alot
on one of 'em i can adjust the HOLD,
so imangine that your drummer does a real long and fast tomfill-in,
then you set the HOLD on like 1 second or less (probably i guess
)but that's not even necisarry, if your release isn't TOO fast, then the gate won't close if you do real fast drumhits on the toms,
i think the most important thing is to set the treshold,
attack, thats always pretty fast with me,
and release....mhhhh.......just in the middle of you don't know what to do with it
i just follow my ears, don't have any presets,
mess with it, alot
