Minimizing Cymbal bleed on tom tracks

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wireneck
  • Start date Start date
Bounce the tracks one at a time while muting. You can do it over and over until you get the mutes right on.

"If you have enough tracks available, solo the tom tracks and play them while recording onto blank tracks and mute as necessary as you go. Then you'll have basically cleaned-up tom tracks to use that you won't have to fuss over."

This is basically what I do in a DAW when I edit the hash out and insert silence everywhere BUT the tom hits. Even with close micing I get bleed from other toms, etc. but the one being hit is WAY louder so that's the one you hear!
Once you get the bounce right for one tom track, you could erase the original, freeing up another track for another bounce. One empty track is all you need to get started and NO extra money will be spent!!

Does this make sense or am I missing what you're trying to do?
 
Thanks everyone, i understand what you are saying about going in and muting the tracks.
Shailat, its the cymbals that are coming through when the toms are not being hit that is annoying me. I also understand that the cymbal sound will still be there when the gate opens.
The main reason i was looking into getting a gate was for projects that i don't have alot of time to spend going in and editing the tom tracks. I guess a little bit of lazyness as well but seeing that im broke im going to give it a shot.
 
Wireneck said:
Thanks everyone, i understand what you are saying about going in and muting the tracks.
Shailat, its the cymbals that are coming through when the toms are not being hit that is annoying me. I also understand that the cymbal sound will still be there when the gate opens.
The main reason i was looking into getting a gate was for projects that i don't have alot of time to spend going in and editing the tom tracks. I guess a little bit of lazyness as well but seeing that im broke im going to give it a shot.
Click to expand...

Ok !
So now that we understand that its only when the toms ARENT playing then you really have nothing to worry about.

Of course you can do what Sjoko suggested :"Get some spring loaded clamps, some cardboard and a couple of mic stands, and use them to shield the mics from the unwanted noise sources as much as possible".... or....you can mute it instead:p
 
OK i gave bouncing to a different track and cutting out the open parts a shot and it seems to work pretty well. I can see where it could get really tedious though on a song where the drummer was on and off the toms constantly.
Do you guys use this method for snare as well? Just curious, im not really having a bleed problem here but i thought i would ask.
 
Personally, no on the snare. It doesn't sound natural to me. I usually just slightly boost the eq on the main body of the snare sound and shelve off everything else. This takes care of a lot of bleed from the hats and kick.
Yeah editing can be a bitch but the more you do it the quicker and easier it gets. Also once it's done, it's DONE!
 
Shailat,
thanks for the link. The article was very informative as well as the info everyone has provided in this thread.
I think the sound of my drum tracks are already sounding improved since i went in and muted the sections where the toms aren't.
 
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