How can I make my cymbals decay faster?

[Vagodeoz]

Dig a hole in your garden and bury them for a couple of years.
When they go out they should be pretty rusty, green, and dampened.

 

[Greg_L]

Try stacking all of your cymbals on one stand and duct tape them all together around the edges.

 

[RAMI]

Try stacking all of your cymbals on one stand and duct tape them all together around the edges.

........under water.

 

[Nick The Man]

good thread

 

[Greg_L]

........under water.

Pirhana infested water.

 

[Supercreep]

Try hitting the cymbals directly with the microphone. I have no idea if this will work or not.

 

[brsanko]

Wow I never thought a thread about micing cymbals could be so entertaining!

 

[donkeystyle]

I have been setting up a drumset I plan to record a few tunes on. Everything sounds great, but the cymbals ring on forever (especially the ride). Is there any TEMPORARY remedy to this problem that won't damage the cymbal?

If not, what can I do to my Overhead tracks to hide the ring?

The cymbals:
Zildjian ZBT Ride 20"
Zildjian ZBT Crash 16"
Zildjian A Custom Crash 15"

I read that you already tried using tape. If the tape isn't enough or you feel like it's killing the tone of the cymbal you can try compressing with a slow-ish attack and a medium release time. You should only need a couple decibels of gain reduction on the cymbals though.

 

[drossfile]

get a box of expensive auralex 2" foam, which will absorb the higher frequencies. since you want your cymbals to stay nice and pretty on the top side, coat the bottom side with the tube-tak that comes with auralex foam, paste on the foam, and then cut around the cymbal like your giving it a bowl cut. voila!

 

[RAMI]

.....and the LAST thing you even want to try is gating cymbals. That's just plain non-sense.

 

[donkeystyle]

oh, my suggestion won't make them decay any faster, but it will bring up the transients which will make the decay seem quieter.

I guess it might take a bit more than a couple db of gain reduction. Just listen, you'll hear when it's right.