How do I get clicky or dead toms?

[tentimesover]

Hey Guys,
I've been reading the forum for awhile but I'm a new poster.

I've been working on some demos in Logic and I'm using Superior Drummer 2.0.

When I use the toms they seem to be really ringy. I'm looking for a tone that has the initial hit but then doesn't have all the mud that follows on the low toms.

I'm not sure what I have to do to make this happen.

Thanks everyone.

 

[paladin shredder]

have you tried using a noise gate?

 

[Jaymz]

Try Digital Fishphones Floorfish, I use it to gate my toms, works really well when set right. Lets the hit through with a bit of decay then gradually clamps down on the boomy crap you experience afterwards. I highly reccommend it! Its free too!

 

[ahjteam]

click: boost 1-10khz
dead: use noise gate and no reverb

 

[tentimesover]

thanks guys! I'll try everything. I understand these are all pretty common things probably but I'm really new to this so I will mess around with the gate and try to boost the 1-10k in the EQ!

Thanks a ton!

 

[Ihsahn1981]

A Transient Designer?

Im looking to get the UAD SPL Transient Designer..
Was pretty impressed with their demo.

 

[greyskull]

5k

 

[xturbox]

if you want to cut transient use envelope in S2.0, but it will make toms sound a bit artificial, so you have to try different decay time.

 

[jacare]

Reagate is a very good gate too !

 

[zvish]

i like G-gate ;] simple and good on toms

 

[462studio]

Not that it helps after the recording is done, but I prefer to get my toms sounding dead before recording them rather than trying to do it during a mix using muting rings/moongels.

If you still have access to the drums, or a set of drums that would be a suitable replacement, you could always throw some muting rings, moongels, tape, whatever, on the toms and make samples out of them and then replace the recorded tom tracks with the samples. You also may be able to manually fade out the tom hits with a very very quick fade out to get rid of the tails and any ringing.

 

[Ermz]

Reagate is a very good gate too !

+1. Best I've used.

 

[Aaron Smith]

If you're talking about recording an actual kit, the mic placement plays a role in the clickiness of the attack as well. Aim more towards the center "hitting point" of the tom for more clickiness, or aim further towards the outside edge if you want less clickiness.

 

[ahjteam]

If you're talking about recording an actual kit, the mic placement plays a role in the clickiness of the attack as well. Aim more towards the center "hitting point" of the tom for more clickiness, or aim further towards the outside edge if you want less clickiness.

from OP: "I'm using Superior Drummer 2.0."

 

[Aaron Smith]

Ah, missed that somehow. There are so many people using the exact same drum sounds out there...it's not even really any fun to talk about!

 

[vespiz]

Am I in the minority here, when I don't use gates? (plug-ins or otherwise)

I volume automate the tom hits, so that they bleed just a little bit (-16 - 20dB) when not playing and hit 0dB and then gradually slope down. This way the attack gets through nicely and I can control the decay/ring a bit better. More work, yes, but I just can't get gates to behave how I like.

 

[Aaron Smith]

I just manually cut and fade the audio, piece of cake.

 

[ahjteam]

I volume automate the tom hits, so that they bleed just a little bit (-16 - 20dB) when not playing and hit 0dB and then gradually slope down. This way the attack gets through nicely and I can control the decay/ring a bit better. More work, yes, but I just can't get gates to behave how I like.

You can do the same with expanders, it just does it automatically.

 

[Torniojaws]

You can do the same with expanders, it just does it automatically.

But it's too easy

 

[vespiz]

Yeah, I've tried 'em, but still, for me I much prefer volume automation. There's also the added bonus of going in and tweaking the individual hits if they need it (ie. drummer has a weak hit, bring it up a few dB).