Mixing a drummer that hits like the Hulk

[Mooseman0389]

Hey guys. Having a curious kind of "problem". I tracked a drummer recently who beats the ever living shit out of his shells, which is awesome. But he hits his kick so hard that it's all over the OH's and Rooms. Luckily he's already 90% to the grid before editing so it doesn't sound unnatural. But how would you go about getting rid of it outside of the usual hi-pass or a brickwall? And what tips would you have to avoid this in the future when tracking monster drummers?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Did you build a tunnel around the kick's reso side? Unless he's hitting a practice pad that's triggered, you're never going to quite get all of the kick out of the OH's, in my experience.

 

[Christian WUFU]

Go the opposite route. Embrace the kick in the rooms and OHs. Use them to get more low end throughout the kit and boost less lows in the direct kick tracks

 

[Machinated]

why do you want to get rid of it? the sound in the OH and room's is probably a more natural representation of how his kit sounds anyway - try and build the sound out of just the OH and rooms and then blend in close mic's from there.

 

[Trevoire520]

Yeah, if he's hitting like a beast and performing well then just embrace it, not everything has to be 100% to the grid.

 

[HiramThurizas]

Use it on your side! that bleed on OH's and Rooms could be used for such cool things like giving a lot of body to the general drum mixing and to get a very distinctive "room" feeling to the drum mixing

 

[mva801]

Yea man, don't assume you have to try and get rid of the kick drum. At least experiment with different methods. As long as the close mica are in phase, maybe it'll sound best to boost a shit load of low end in the overheads and leave it all in.

What you're describing as the problem (A drummer that hits hard) is what i'd consider a god-send. Most drummers hit like pansies and then decide to hit their hi hat like it killed their mother.

You could load up the overheads so we can take a listen.

 

[nezvers]

Yeah I'm also for using OH as main sound and use close mics to fill what they lack. I probably in that situation tried to go bass below kick approach but it depends how it sound and your preferences.

 

[johnny ForTiorI]

what kind of style are you going for? if it´s something that needs a more raw and natural sound i´d have to agree with the rest. if you´re going for modern overproduced i´d try side-chain compressing the OH and room with the kick to get the bleed under control. fast attack, fast release so the cymbals themselves aren´t too noticeably affected.

 

[Mattayus]

Just echoing what a lot of others have said here; If it's a great sounding room then you have literally zero problems. Breathless, airless kits sound absolutely rubbish and so artificial. Even if you're sample-replacing the entire kit or having very strong close-mic content, a lot of kit in the OH/room gives the kit a sense of size and realism that just can't be replicated.

 

[Mooseman0389]

Thanks for the responses! I guess I'm so used to this not being the case that I was confused by it. But man does it sound killer! I'm definitely going to go the "embrace" the bleed route.

 

[Jordon]

Go the opposite route. Embrace the kick in the rooms and OHs. Use them to get more low end throughout the kit and boost less lows in the direct kick tracks

This. The mentality of killing all low end information in the overheads or rooms of a drum kit has gotten a bit out of hand these days.