promesis
Black Knights of the 4H.
Just some general opinions from some folks here about gating drums and other associated stuff..
In general, I do not like gating drums .. to me the totality of the sound is the sound .. that is to say, that on a kit with mics on the kick, snare, overheads, and two tom mics and hi hat .. there is definitely "bleed" .. however, that is the "totality of the sound of the kit" - that is what hits your ears afterall - the "bleed" .. the object for me at that point is to "get the bleed to work for you"; to combine those mics into a mix utilizing the bleed and making eq adjustments accordingly. Depending on the kit and drummer, this may work out... but in the case that it doesn't .. or the band insists upon gating .. I have some questions:
1. Is it better to gate going to tape or at mix down?
2. If compressing elements of the kit .. isn't it better to gate before the compressor.. because if compressing "pre gate" then the louder transients are attenuated, thus making what needs to be gated (the "bleed") "louder" .. and harder to gate out.. as opposed to compressing the gated sounds - compressing ONLY those signals that remain after gating..?
3. If compressing after gates is preferred then all compressing of drums need to be done at mix down and not tracking.. right? .. does anybody compress going to tape?
What do you think .. anybody done extensive study or have strong opinions of any of this?
I am picking up a Rane G4 Quad gate on friday and was wondering if anyone had any insight on the gating/tracking/compressing scheme .. and of course.. what opinions folks have of the G4?
-thanks
In general, I do not like gating drums .. to me the totality of the sound is the sound .. that is to say, that on a kit with mics on the kick, snare, overheads, and two tom mics and hi hat .. there is definitely "bleed" .. however, that is the "totality of the sound of the kit" - that is what hits your ears afterall - the "bleed" .. the object for me at that point is to "get the bleed to work for you"; to combine those mics into a mix utilizing the bleed and making eq adjustments accordingly. Depending on the kit and drummer, this may work out... but in the case that it doesn't .. or the band insists upon gating .. I have some questions:
1. Is it better to gate going to tape or at mix down?
2. If compressing elements of the kit .. isn't it better to gate before the compressor.. because if compressing "pre gate" then the louder transients are attenuated, thus making what needs to be gated (the "bleed") "louder" .. and harder to gate out.. as opposed to compressing the gated sounds - compressing ONLY those signals that remain after gating..?
3. If compressing after gates is preferred then all compressing of drums need to be done at mix down and not tracking.. right? .. does anybody compress going to tape?
What do you think .. anybody done extensive study or have strong opinions of any of this?
I am picking up a Rane G4 Quad gate on friday and was wondering if anyone had any insight on the gating/tracking/compressing scheme .. and of course.. what opinions folks have of the G4?
-thanks
