Why don't you record each cymbal separately?

[Glenn Fricker]

2 overheads... maybe a spot mic on the ride. If a drummer wants a particular cymbal to stand out, just say "hit that harder." "Hit that softer" works for the opposite effect. Life's too short & drummers bitch too much to mic cymbals individually.

 

[tgs]

The mic on the hihat is just so you can crank it during recording in the hope the drummer might not hit it so hard, so it won't dominate the drumsound in the end (in a lot of cases anyway).

Tried that once. The drummer asked if I could turn down the hihat in the headphones. The end.

 

[amarshism]

I've heard of guys Micing the hats and cranking it in the drummers mix so they hit them softer.

 

[AboutBlank]

Hats are the biggest bitch!

I think I have never used the hat mic in the mix, I got plenty of that in the OH's...

HIT the snare like a mofo and stroke the cymbals, but some drummers simply can't.

 

[LBTM]

I've heard of guys Micing the hats and cranking it in the drummers mix so they hit them softer.

That's a great idea to stop bleeding on the snare haha.

 

[Loki Laufeyiarson]

Tried that once. The drummer asked if I could turn down the hihat in the headphones. The end.

Should have told him it's not even in the headphonemix...

 

[fade_2_black]

I've heard of guys Micing the hats and cranking it in the drummers mix so they hit them softer.

Nice, haha. That's a common psychological technique with vocalists, in order to coax more aggressive or softer performances out of them. I also do it sometimes live with monitors.

Back to OP -

I've done this a few times. It's especially common to group them or to go for the more commonly used or FX style cymbals. I always try mic splashes and mini-chinas wherever possible.

When I was touring as FOH for Mayhem I was spot-miking all cymbals as well as overheads.

 

[Clark Kent]

If the drum room is good I see no point. Once again it comes down to personal taste. I'd be afraid of mic phase issues.

I feel like I get the best sounds in a good sounding room with room mics and only use the close mics for emphasising stuff. I wouldn't probably emphasise any other cymbals except hihat or ride.

 

[Uros]

hihat doesn't need emphasizing, what it needs is de-emphasizing

 

[Deuteronomy]

Sounds cool but many phase issues might appear.
I usually put 2 OH,and then 1 for the hi-hat and 1 for the ride,helps me to have a good stereo panning

 

[LBTM]

hihat doesn't need emphasizing, what it needs is de-emphasizing

most of the times yes, the bleed is annoying. but sometimes you get good isolation and there's no hi-hat bleed to the snare.

 

[Fox Mulder]

When I have no other option than to hp the overheads above 500hz or so, I'd blend in a mono ldc mic above the drummers head. The el cheapo MXL 990 works wonders here for me. IME it's a pretty grainy sounding mic without too much higher-mids, which is kind of what I need.

As for mic'ing cymbals separately, I failed every time I tried that but was lucky enough to have a pair of sdc's mic'd for backup Would love a tutorial. Cheers!

 

[Uros]

most of the times yes, the bleed is annoying. but sometimes you get good isolation and there's no hi-hat bleed to the snare.

I meant more on overhead tracks, not the snare