Taming the cymbals in the overheads

[AceFireForce117]

Hi everyone !

I say it is good to be back on the forum ! Haven't posted here for some time now, i've been busy with my 3 bands.
I've started an acoustic project !
It's not really metal, sort of alcest like songs.
My goal was to see what i could do all by myself with minimum gear.
I'm happy with the results so far.

The thing is the cymbals are too loud compared to the rest of the drumkit. So they're basically crushing everything in the song.
I tried to eq them out a bit just to tame them but the kit just doesn't sound that much "alive" anymore. I'm wondering how could i tame these cymbals without touching the rest of the kit ? or at least less affect it.

Bear with me on this one : I only had 2 mics so yeah just overheads. an AT2035 and a sm58.
They were positioned as follows

Also can't retrack them as the kit belongs to my brother and he's far away now

Any help would be appreciated !

 

[Bay Studio]

My first guess was automation, but since there are only 2 overheads for the entire drumkit, i guess it will not work.
I would sit down and programm the drums exactly as he played them, with the cymbals (midi) too, and then i would try blending in the 2 overheads you used, compressed nicely, and blend to taste. Should give you that more "real" thing when added to the programmed drums. I´ve done this pretty often already and it works great! Just make sure the (real) drums are quantized.

 

[Revson]

Duplicate the tracks and use HP and LP filters to create a high track and a low track, kind of like you may do a bass. Blend the volumes to taste. That might do the trick

 

[xFkx]

crush the kit with compression and a bit of distortion, blend in some artsy blipity-bloopity electronic drums, profit.

 

[Arsenu,]

HP pretty harshly. hard compress with no release and adjust attack to get the transient through. pumpy? profit.

 

[colonel kurtz]

in my experience, the best way to do that - without killing the attack of the shells with subtractive EQ - is to set a high-threshold compressor or limiter with an attack that's just long enough to catch the peak of the cymbal hits, but not the rest of the drums. you'll notice if you look at the waveforms that cymbals don't peak immediately when hit like drums do...so fuck around and find that sweet spot where you'll be lowering the level of the cymbals only.

 

[AceFireForce117]

thanks for helping me out !
Already tried the 2 tracks, one low and one high just like the bass. Didn't turn out quite well maybe i'll give it another shot.

I'll try all the solutions you've given me and keep you updated

 

[sbwakfk1]

Get a better drummer that doesnt bash the cymbals to hard. A really great drummer will be able to balance the kit using only 2 mics

 

[Chris Lucas]

Try multiband compression on just the highs. I've done that and it can help.

 

[juarez]

Along with all the other good suggestions so far, if the style permits a more mono drum sound you could always just use whichever OH mic is picking up less brass and more drums, and ditch the other one. Or Low pass the shit out of one to kill the cymbals and treat it like a room mic to beef up the kit.

 

[thefalloftheheretic]

What these guys said, and upload the drums so we can derp with it. It's always fun to do less than ideal projects.

 

[nezvers]

^ This.
I always love natural drums and check my skills.

 

[AceFireForce117]

had an idea at work today i could probably use a de-esser

 

[Uros]

Try tape saturation to bleed off the highs. ReelBus is awesome for this, 15 & 7.5 ips Swiss models especially (I think it emulates Studer).

 

[Nimvi]

Try tape saturation to bleed off the highs. ReelBus is awesome for this, 15 & 7.5 ips Swiss models especially (I think it emulates Studer).

You beat me to it. This, a multiband comp or a sidechain comp with a highpassed copy of the track feeding into it would probably work.

Good to see you again btw Uros, don't think I've seen you around for a while. Or maybe that's just a coincidence. In that case just ignore this

 

[Uros]

Haha thanks
Yeah, been rather busy so I haven't visited the forum for a month or two. That hilarious Bendeth vs Sturgis thread was a good reason to come back tho!

 

[thefalloftheheretic]

STEMS!

 

[AceFireForce117]

I got a way better result using c4 and with wiser eq cuts.
Only problem left is the snare, i can barely hear it now. I tried to get a good balance but i wonder if there's anything to get the snare a bit punchier again without affecting the cymbals (otherwise it would be vicious circle).

 

[cfh11]

I got a way better result using c4 and with wiser eq cuts.
Only problem left is the snare, i can barely hear it now. I tried to get a good balance but i wonder if there's anything to get the snare a bit punchier again without affecting the cymbals (otherwise it would be vicious circle).

try a boost at 180-200hz with a very narrow Q... usually does the trick for me

 

[thefalloftheheretic]

Perhaps give a transient designer a try?