Harsh cymbals

[GeertSamuel]

I've got a bit of "harsh" sound cymbals. It feels the top end just screams on top of it like scratching your fingernails over a chaulkboard sometimes.
You guys got any clue to done this down a bit? Haven't tried a hell-ov-alot yet...but maybe some of you guys can give me some pointers or tips how you solve that issue.

Thanks!

 

[vespiz]

I've used some tape-emulators (Massey Tape Head) and sometimes even a de-esser works.

Sometimes it's just that the cymbals are so crap that there's nothing to do but to live with it

 

[Aaron Smith]

Cheap OH mics and/or a room with low ceilings also add to the problem. Massey Tape Head has helped a bit in my experience, but be careful with it. Also, tweak while guitars are playing back as well, because you might be able to back off some extra high end on the cymbals if you have a guitar tone that has some good airiness in it. Never tried that, but it might work out better than having harsh cymbals attacking your brain at all times.

 

[ahjteam]

harsh usually means there is a lot stuff in the 1-6khz, try reducing from that areas

 

[akarawd]

harsh usually means there is a lot stuff in the 1-6khz, try reducing from that areas

I've found 600Hz to 1Kz add to the above range so watch out for that too.
Since you're trying to correct a sound, anything goes (de-essers, dynamic eqs, multibands) , just make sure you do any changes while listening to the guitars as mentioned above, or you'll loose perspective sooner than you think.

 

[Machinated]

Recorded some aax's this week and they were really smooth - good cymbals has always been the main thing for me.

Also sometimes there can be some weird resonant frequencies - have a sweep around and notch out if you need to.

 

[GeertSamuel]

It was the 4k that fixed the harshness on the cymbals...
It was aax, aa & hh all the way..so cymbal quality wasn't the problem... the height of the room is tho!

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[DanLights]

It was the 4k that fixed the harshness on the cymbals...
It was aax, aa & hh all the way..so cymbal quality wasn't the problem... the height of the room is tho!

Thanks for the input guys!

so Anssi knew what he was talking about. Does the "harsh" sound you mean sound anything like the cymbals on Nile's In Their Darkened Shrines? I love the sound on that album but those OHs kill me everytime

 

[Eduardo Apolonia]

Big narrow cuts on the harsh frequencies, or you can use a multiband compressor like the C4 to compress that area, it ends up working like a de-esser.

 

[ahjteam]

so Anssi knew what he was talking about. Does the "harsh" sound you mean sound anything like the cymbals on Nile's In Their Darkened Shrines? I love the sound on that album but those OHs kill me everytime

I've just wanted to communicate with the non-technical musicians and forced myself to learn to the connect the dots between certain adjectives and frequency ranges or ADSR curves, like "boxy" means something has too much 400-600hz area, "harsh" means that there is too much 1-6khz, "boomy" means too much bass, "spitty" means the 4-10khz area, "smooth" means slow attack and long sustain when "agressive" means really fast attack and short decay etc. It's really easy after a while when you just remember what is what.

And the reason why it's that 1-6khz area that gets irritating is because of the Fletcher-Munson curve

 

[Machinated]

And the reason why it's that 1-6khz area that gets irritating is because of the Fletcher-Munson curve

its because the ear is most sensitive around the frequency talking is out, which is strongest around 1-2khz, therefore these are the freq's that become fatiguing quickly

 

[AllanD]

so Anssi knew what he was talking about. Does the "harsh" sound you mean sound anything like the cymbals on Nile's In Their Darkened Shrines? I love the sound on that album but those OHs kill me everytime

Have you not heard the guitars?