Quote:
Originally Posted by bloodbubble
I'm working on a multi-mic'd kit which I didn't compress on the way in. The snare was played what quite aggressively on a few tracks, so much so that all I'm really getting is a loud cardboardy snap, no body no ring etc, its really mostly peak.
So obviously I'm thinking I'm going to have to compress this peak down with a fast attack, slow release to get more of the sustain out yeah?
But then I seem to lose the punch that's so popular these days, am I being too heavy handed??.
Or should I be aiming to set my compressor so finely that its misses the very first instance of the peak then clamps down, then releases for the sustain? OR...
set the compressor so it clamps down for the very first instance of the peak then releases super fast to leave the rest of the peak and sustain in place.
OR... should I compress the snare right down and lay the original uncompressed snare over the top for the punch??
I realise that a lot of my snare sound comes from overheads and room mics but the danger is always washing things out with cymbals/hats, which also increase on the snare mics as I compress.
I do not want to use samples, this is actually something I've laid awake thinking about for a few years now!! I am surely over complicating things
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Are you starting by dialing up your main drum sound from the overheads?
Is the snare just louder than everything else? Even the cymbals?
I might do something like:
Compress the OH bus until it's leveled. (Fidelity be damned.)
Or use a multiband if the issue is limited to a particular frequency.
Dial this up with the intention of using it as is if necessary.
Maybe make a parallel OH bus and remove the snare here as much as possible. Severe eq to try to cut it right out. Maybe be a high cut down into the mids. Maybe a cut at a hot frequency. You'll have to experiment. This one may or may not make sense to do.
Then a bus that's just the raw OH. EQ'd if there's something really wild in general but raw dynamics.
Now mix between those 3 buses.
Finally, blend in some of the close snare mics to get the presence you want from the snare in the mix.
Now if the thing is still just so blazing loud in the OH tracks that there's nothing to be done... Well, that's what I've got.
One more idea:
Dial up a track - probably the top close snare mic - to isolate that. Especially around a center frequency.
Use that track to parameter modulate an eq cut on the hottest frequency of the snare in the overheads. Dial to taste so you don't hear artifacts.