recording help! taming the beast

  • Thread starter Thread starter jaeden
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jaeden

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Hi all. Looking for some expertise. Ive been working on micing a 5 piece kit and the sound is almost perfect to my ears, yet im having great difficulty taming the cymbals in the overheads. ive tried quite a few different mic techniques, including that sweet 3 mic technique posted on this site. just need some opinions and suggestions. heres the set up.

kick sennheiser 602
snare sm57
OH mxl 603
and a sm 58 between the toms for a little added depth.

the cymbals are so damn dominant. ive tried playin em softer but thats kinda difficult to remember. should i somehow muffle em?
need.....help....
 
This may sound silly, but have you tried lowering them so that they're further from the mics? :confused:
 
Mark7 said:
This may sound silly, but have you tried lowering them so that they're further from the mics? :confused:
Click to expand...

Or pull them to the rear a bit or down and to the rear.
 
thanks guys. it seems i have them pretty low. the cymbols that is. i even have the OH on the ride side pointing towards snare. is muffling the ride my only hope?
 
It sounds like you're using a single overhead (plus spots on the snare and kick). Maybe you need to rethink your positioning of it.
 
Also: what other mics do you have? It may be that the one you're using is exaggerating the frequencies where cymbals rule, thus making them seem louder.
 
hey mark, i think you might be right. i am using two mxl 603's as OH, but i think they are too bright for my liking.
 
jaeden said:
hey mark, i think you might be right.
Click to expand...

Now there's a phrase I'll never grow tired of hearing :D

jaeden said:
i am using two mxl 603's as OH, but i think they are too bright for my liking.
Click to expand...

Bright condenser mics were developed to make up for apparent shortcomings in the high end response of analogue systems. They don't really make much sense in the digital world where capturing the upper frequencies is less of an issue. As an alternative to buying a whole new pair of overheads you might like to try messing around with the high EQ in your DAW or PC (which is what I'm guessing you track to). :)
 
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