Recording hi-hat/snare

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flapo1

flapo1

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¿How can I record snare drum preventing hi-hat sound to flood in? I've tried isolating it with everything, but either it doesn't let the drummer play or it doesn't works at all for isolating. ¿What can I do?

Saludos de Mexico, Amigos!!!
 
That's a hard one - you will always get some hihat bleed into your snare mike. If you use a SM57 you will get the minimum bleed as that mike is really tight.

cheers
John
 
I find the best way to avoid something bleeding into the snare, is to mic the snare from underneath, about 1/4" from the skin and/or the snare's, wherever just happens to sound best.
 
Thanx guys, your info is very welcome. By the way, I do use a SM57, but I haven't tried to mic it from the other side, and I wonder if the sound could get wasted by the little metal thingies It's called "entorchado" in spanish. I would agree any other suggestion, because it was a tremendous problem in our last recording. When I was tracking the drums, the hi-hat slider would be at 0 and I would still be hearing it from the snare mic! The trouble came when putting reverb in the snare.
 
try a noise gate, yes there will be bleed thru but you can limit it during mixdown with a gate.
 
I assumed he was already using a gate. Even with a gate, I've still had some hi hat bleed.
 
What ever hi-hat is still there after the gate will be masked in the mix and you won't be able to notice.
 
Try and get your drummer to not play as heavy on the hats. Tough thing to do, but easier to stop the problem at the source. Easier if it's your music and not another band you may be recording for money.

"when I was tracking the drums, the hi-hat slider would be t 0 and I would still be hearing it from the snare mic! The trouble came when putting reverb in the snare."

Your micing the hi-hat as well I gather? Overheads should get most of that. What placement do you have for the mic on the snare - height of the hihats in relation to the snare, dead side pointed at the hats should help a bit to reduce hi-hat bleed. Gating can work depending on the style of the song, most times I've find it messes it up too much in relation to the overheads.

But, a lighter touch on the hats, playing drums like your recording instead of gigging was the easiest route for me. Bit restricting and not all drummers can do it without sacrificing the performance.
 
do you have a gate?
if so, get a drum trigger and use it to open the gate via the sidechain input. You'll be able to hit everything around the snare and the gate will stay closed ... but if you even just *tap* the snare, the gate will open.

[Edited by BigKahuna on 02-03-2001 at 22:20]
 
Other then what has been said, I think you should understand that a bit of leakage is not always a bad thing.
A sterile sound is what you get from a drum machine. One of the reasons is that there is no leakage.
Leakage can smooth and help blend your kit causing GOOD interaction between the differnt parts.

As Emeric said try to use the overheads for your hihat sound if it seems to bother you to much. I would mic the hihat if it played an important part in the song. Don't forget there is hihat leakage in the toms and kick mic as well.
I personaly gate and am not botherd by a bit of hihat leakage.
As Wallycleaver said in the mix you won't be able to tell the difference.
 
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