How do you guys deal with sympathetic vibration when tracking drums? For example when the kick drum is hit the toms give off some sound that is picked up in the overheads. Another common problem is the snares rattling when other drums are hit. Just curious if there are any tricks/secrets i dont know of. Obviously tuning, placement etc is all important when trying to reduce vibrations but even then it is impossible to 100% eliminate it. Look forward to this discussion, cheers \m/\m/
Sympathetic Vibration on Drums
- Thread starter Studdy
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bryan_kilco
Member
I'm interested in this as well. We normally use Moon Gels or anything that will help with vibrations but probably over half the time we end up killing the ringing but the drum is then too dead.
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
Snare rattle is good! Once you cut the bleed from the closemics on the toms you'll hear that rumble clear up and it shouldn't be a huge issue. The other option is to change up the tuning of either the kick or the toms.
MartijnPaauwe
Member
Getting a set of double ply drum heads (Remo Emperor, Evans G2) on your toms definitely helps quite a bit in my experience. Furthermore placement and tuning helps
egan.
daylightdies.com
Moongel is a big one (bottom heads too) but if the drums are in tune (with each other) then the tom ring instantly becomes less annoying and gross. Plus what everyone else said (heads/mic placement/editing/etc.). Ultimately this is part of what a kit sounds like. Making it work for you is a healthier long term goal than simply trying to eliminate it which is impossible.
Machinated
Member
id say just tame it a little so its not an issue. if you worry about it too much you'll end up making your drums sound worse. a little bit of ringing usually makes drums sound better as thats what they naturally do. I only deal with stuff if its noticeably annoying. some drums are a pain in the arse admittedly.
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mva801
Member
- Nov 18, 2009
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Don't focus on eliminating that entirely. The toms are going to ring and the snares are going to rattle no matter what. To minimize it, you have to experiment with a combination of dampening, tuning changes, snare wires & tightness, etc.
As long as the drums are tuned well and the drummer is hitting nice and hard, it shouldn't be too noticeable. Go listen to some old Led Zeppelin recordings, you can always hear the snare rattling when he's playing the toms. Of course metal requires a bit different drum sound, but a little cutting of bleed from the close mics and maybe a bit of a gate on the snare mics should tame it enough.
As long as the drums are tuned well and the drummer is hitting nice and hard, it shouldn't be too noticeable. Go listen to some old Led Zeppelin recordings, you can always hear the snare rattling when he's playing the toms. Of course metal requires a bit different drum sound, but a little cutting of bleed from the close mics and maybe a bit of a gate on the snare mics should tame it enough.
