Overheads

I listen again the devil driver album mixed by Andy, and the overheads sound amazing, I don't know how i could get that sound......
 
I like to sweep with a parametric eq and dial out alot of midrange muck. The end result is really clean and punchy. rolling off depends on how much samples i will use. I tend to go around 200hz normally.
 
I don't understand limiting to kill the snare in the overheads? I've never paid attention but do the snare peaks actually peak louder than the cymbals do in the OH tracks? If they don't then I have no idea how this limiting would work without destroying your overhead sound the whole time...
 
I usually find the "body" of the snare, and cut just below that. Usually around 400Hz.

Add a 3dB boost to the ultra high end (7K) to add some sizzle to the OHs.
I find that my cymbals translate a lot better than other mixes due to this boost, the high end isn't lost in conversion and crappy playback systems.
 
I don't understand limiting to kill the snare in the overheads? I've never paid attention but do the snare peaks actually peak louder than the cymbals do in the OH tracks? If they don't then I have no idea how this limiting would work without destroying your overhead sound the whole time...

I usually only limit overheads to remove snare. for the spot mics, i try to aim away from the snare and im pretty close to the cymbal so snare bleed is minimal. doesnt work so well for hi hats, so i may need to limit them as well.

I hi pass at 700 - 800 hz s well

another thing i want to mess around with is automating the overheads up for each cymbal hit, then back down to bring down ambience from the other drums.
 
I usually find the "body" of the snare, and cut just below that. Usually around 400Hz.

Add a 3dB boost to the ultra high end (7K) to add some sizzle to the OHs.
I find that my cymbals translate a lot better than other mixes due to this boost, the high end isn't lost in conversion and crappy playback systems.

I always found the body of the snare to be around 200hz, and 7khz is exactly ultra high end, especially for OH's.
 
Wouldn't side chaining the snare into a compressor on your overheads work better than just straight up limiting them?


it would, but i could see it being a problem if the snare is hit while the drummer is riding a crash or something. it would also compress the crash. maybe side chaining a limiter to that it only limits the snare, and leaves the cymbals untouched (set the threshold so it only catches the snare) of course this only works if your snare is louder than everything else in your oh`s (which it usually is)
 
I always found the body of the snare to be around 200hz, and 7khz is exactly ultra high end, especially for OH's.

the fundamental tone of the drum is probably around there, but the fullness is usually around 400Hz for me (which is probably the first harmonic) but if I went any lower I'd just clutter things up down there!

I try and keep the snare sounding somewhat nice in the OHs though, so I've got no hard and fast rules :)
 
it would, but i could see it being a problem if the snare is hit while the drummer is riding a crash or something. it would also compress the crash. maybe side chaining a limiter to that it only limits the snare, and leaves the cymbals untouched (set the threshold so it only catches the snare) of course this only works if your snare is louder than everything else in your oh`s (which it usually is)

If the drummer is riding the crash and you use a limiter it will still reduce the crash volume on every snare hit just the same... It adjusts the volume of all the audio that crosses the threshold and if the snare pushes it over, the crash is still there behind it so it will get reduced by the same amount as the snare, the limiter can't tell the difference between the two parts of the kit in one waveform.