Drum Bleed and Solutions

[Studdy]

I know there are many ways to deal with drum bleed on close mics (software etc). But for a lot of songs I find myself wanting to replace the close mic hits with clean samples taken from the kit before tracking. What i mean is i always take multiple velocity samples from each piece of the kit at the start of the project. When i try to use the close mics in the mix i find im getting cymbal bleed other toms ringing etc. When i drop the kit samples on top its a bleed free way and gives my drums more punch and they take eq better. Anyone else doing this? This doesnt refer to adding or using sample re-enforcement on top of the close mics. It means lately I dont like the sound of the close microphones bleed.

Basically make samples of the kit being recorded, and using those samples to replace everything but the overheads.

Anyone else doing this, is it really common? Hope this makes sense.

 

[JeffTD]

Yup, do it a lot. One thing I did on a recent mix was to bounce out replacement tracks like I was going to sample-replace the entire kit with samples of the same kit taken while tracking (bleed was a huge issue in the toms but the drums sounded good themselves) but then comp the live and replacement tracks together to get the best of both worlds. Sometimes I left the original bleed-heavy track, sometimes it was 100% sample replaced. Turned out great.

 

[juarez]

Do you ever run into phase problems when combining the kit samples with the overheads? I use kit samples to replace bad or weird hits, but never considered completely replacing the close mics with samples of the same drum. Seems like it could phase weird with the OHs.

 

[Studdy]

I havent found that. As long as the close mics were initially in phase with the overheads and the replaced samples are lined up, i notice a major inprovement in punch and clarity. Most of the stuff I do is fairly straight forward from a dum standpoint, im sure if i had a super dynamic drummer with loads of fills and hits it might be a different story.

 

[JeffTD]

My samples are phase consistent with the original track in the first place so there isn't an issue.

 

[Studdy]

My samples are phase consistent with the original track in the first place so there isn't an issue.

+1

 

[Heabow]

Do it a lot too, especially for toms.

 

[xFkx]

I have two ways of approaching drums

Metal - manualy gate the toms, sample replace kick and propably snare, thin out the overheads, and a tiny bit of room for glue
Other stuff - don't gate anything but the kick drum, and try to mix the drums as a whole, eq with all the channels running (soloing the tracks leads to a dead end eventually)

bah