Recording tips for capturing snare ghost notes

[The Seeker]

Greetings everyone!

I'm looking for some tips on capturing ghost notes. I'm aware that ghost notes are manually amplified in many cases, but I'm also curious if there are any mic positioning tips or other factors (such as requesting the drummer to perform the ghost notes loudly) that aid in capturing ghost notes.

A good example of great sounding ghost notes can be heard on the latest Opeth album, Ghost Reveries.

Thanks in advance!

 

[006]

Usually this is easiest done by mic'ing the bottom snare head. Be careful of phasing issues. Compress, limit, gate, eq, etc. accordingly. That's what I do anyway. I'm sure others have different approaches but this seems to be the easiest and best way to me, from my experience. Hope I helped.

~006

 

[006]

BTW, a bit of helpful info...no matter who the drummer is, you MUST make sure you get them to hit as hard as they possibly can *consistently*. Make it a point for them to be consistent as FUCK. **OR** when doing levels, get them to hit each drum as hard as they possibly can once or twice, and then normally, then very lightly. That way you can set-up your compressor in squash mode so that it's all even. Again, this is just how *I* do it, and this isn't a perfect science. You gotta try different stuff all the time. Good luck.

~006

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I agree. Have the drummer hit consistently. Soft ghost note hits wind up getting lost.

 

[egan.]

Really take your time and make sure you're getting good seperation in the mics....in particular make sure you don't have too much high hat creeping in there. It's worth explaining to the drummer that if he's killing his HH while ghosting on the snare that the notes will get lost.
Of course a good multisampled trigger can work too...

 

[Glenn Fricker]

It's worth explaining to the drummer that if he's killing his HH while ghosting on the snare that the notes will get lost.

Not to mention the snare in general.

This is a point I've tried to drill into the minds of countless drummers. The hard part is finding a drummer with a functioning mind

 

[006]

Yeah, you have to get really surgical with your gating and compression/limiter for that bottom snare. Depending on the drummer, you have to figure out which way to route your signal, as in...gate first then compress/limit, or compress/limit then gate. You have to try different things. Sometimes you will end up gating the shit out of it, and having to compress/limit it to death, or compress/limit it lightly, gate it really well, then eq the rest of the hats out. I wouldn't recommend gating first for somebody who is new to trying it, it makes things difficult if the drummer isn't consistent. Because you may have it gated a certain way, THEN compressed/limited, and some of the hits won't come out, of course. I recommend it for people who have an "A game" when it comes to compression.

The hats are just a pain in the ass when it comes to recording drums. There's no way to avoid it...well no way that I've found yet, hehe. One tip that always helps me out is to request that the drummer raise his hi-hats as high as possible, where he can still play of course. I've had guys come in and had their hats setup like Travis Barker (Blink182) and they were literally level with their heads, easiest drum session ever. And then I've had guys playing death metal doing a lot of blast beats (very small movements) and had the hats, no joke, basically in the same exact spot as the snare. You may be an asshole at first, but the recording process is a lot easier and will come out very nicely in the long run. Just be sure to explain to them the importance of them raising the hats, if they are dying for a good recording of their stuff, they'll help you out. Cheers.

~006

 

[The Seeker]

Excellent. I appreciate all of the feedback. It definitely makes sense for the drummer to be playing the ghost notes as loud as possible, but it also creates a dynamic conflict because ghost notes are called "ghost notes" for a reason. But, if they want the ghost notes to be heard live, they'll have to find a decent dynamic balance anyway.

I had never considered utilizing the bottom snare mic in order to capture the ghost notes. All of the times I've used or have been in sessions where a bottom snare mic was utilized, it was usually thrown out because it didn't contribute to the overall "goodness" of snare sound (top snare mic and overheads are the breadwinners). It'll be fun to experiment with this.

Thanks again.

 

[~BURNY~]

I knew a tip with side-chain gate involved but...


I forgot it...

 

[ArthurD]

NECROBUMP. (This thread must go to FOH)
What are yout technichs nowadays? I tend to use a condenser attached to the dynamic on top, a bottom mic and a snare side mic.