HELP! Getting major bleed into condensers!

[skiz]

Hey guys, started doing some recording of drums this weekend, and no matter what, my snare bleeds like crazy into my overhead condensers.

This doesnt matter initially until i start EQing the snare, then it just sounds terrible with the un EQ'd bleed into the overheads.

Does any one have any way of rectifying this? I know that absolute isolation of each drum is not feasible, but is there a way of working around this or making it less noticable?

 

[lucky13]

Overhead mics are used to give you a representation of the entie kit, not just the cymbals. The best thing is just to make sure the overhead mics are equidistant from the snare to eliminate any phase problems. When it comes to eqing your snare track listen to it and eq it so it sounds good when blended together with the overheads.

 

[metalhead28]

Well, I don't think most people would call it "bleed" considering that is where alot of people get most of their snare sound .

Are you really mangling it with EQ or something? It seems wierd that it would clash that much. Perhaps you could try time aligning the snare with the snare in the overheads to see if that improves the blended sound.

If I want to cut down on the snare in my overheads when tracking (when I'm planning on doing triggering or timing correction or something like that) I'll put the overheads slightly inboard of the cymbals and aim them outward slightly, away from the snare.
Also you could try to kill the snare in the overheads by side chaining the snare track to a compressor on the OH's (that could possibly sound terrible) or with some EQ.

I suppose you could always record the cymbals separately if you are a really good drummer and want to be super anal.

 

[gcapel]

i;ve heard of people using something called the snarextractonator. You hook itinbetween the mic and micpre. There are some tricky presets though. You have to dial in the how far away the snare is away from the mics.

 

[RAMI]

OK, so you have 2 mics about 3 feet away from your snare.pointing down at the drum kit....and they seem to be picking up the snare???? I have no idea how that could have happened.

 

[In Tune Audio]

As was mentioned before, you will get the best and most natural and accurate drum sound by using mostly the overheads. Use your close mics for helping the snare to stand out if you need it.


If you try to get each part of the kit on its own it will sound very unatural. And as a whole, drums are so loud everything is usually picked up in every other mic.


Spend the most time when micing your drum kit, getting the best overhead sound you can. Then focus on Kick, as your overheads won't pick the bass up great. Then the snare.

 

[chessrock]

OK, so you have 2 mics about 3 feet away from your snare.pointing down at the drum kit....and they seem to be picking up the snare???? I have no idea how that could have happened.

I have the exact same problems, and not just with the drums.

No matter what I do with the vocal mic ... I just keep getting all this nasty vocal bleed and I don't know what to do. Even my talkback mic is almost all me bleed.

And you won't believe this ... but I plugged an electric guitar in to an amp the other day. And this is the weirdest thing, but all I could hear bleeding in to the amp speaker ... was the damn guitar! ! WTF ? ! ?
.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I have this Audo Technical microphone that I have hanging upside down because it looks so cool that way. Anyway, I keep bumping into it and I can't get rid of the forehead bleed.

OK, I am sorry for that one. Sometimes an easy punchline is like leftover pizza; I just can't let it sit there. It's not my fault, it's a disease...

G.

 

[RAMI]

Actually,that was pretty good.

As opposed to something like:
I put 2 SM57's in the same case. When I opened it the next day, there was a third, tiny little mic (SM27.5?)...So I guess mine don't bleed...they breed!!!

(I really am sorry)

 

[ericlingus]

skiz? you're not skitz from guitar.com are you?