Drum tracks leakage

[tepmldm]

I was wondering if anyone care to share tips on minimizing drum tracks leakage, like hi hat leaking into snare mic,etc. Specially the stuff that you do before it gets to the DAW, as in room acoustics, drum setup, mic technique, preamp choice,etc.

[donreynolds]

be real careful which direction your mics are pointing, that help a lot.
but unless you HEAVILY gate each drum track you will get bleed.
You could also spend serious editing time deleting bleeds.
BUT saying all that, with proper equalization it will minimixe bleeds. But personally, I like some bleed. It makes the drum kit seem more real to me.
Just my .02 worth

[surrenderband]

im not by any means a seasoned professional engineer but i think ive read more online posts about it than anyone has!! anyways, most of the "big guys" like a little bleeding of the drums, so i wouldnt worry about it. (as long as its a little) take care

[Larry Sheehan]

Yah, I just think of the drum kit as 1 big instrument. I wouldn't obsess about leakage between the mics on a piano, nor on an acoustic gtr. Why would I get so concerned about drums. Place the mics to minimise bleed and get a good sound. Gate or edit after the fact if you feel compelled to.

[XYZ]

I'm in the process of taking a slightly different approach. I've been getting such fantastic sounds from BFD, that I'm putting acuoustic triggers and then just 2-4 kit mics to capture the hat/cymbals. With BFD, I can get as much or as little bleed as I like, and I can change the sound of the set after the fact.

I can also get zero bleed, if I like.

Just a thought.

[Don T]

Hello:
Here's the deal, if you have bleed it will only sound good if you make sure the mics are in the correct position. The phase relationship of the prominent frequencies will either add coolness or turn everything slushy.
Example: Hi hats will be picked up by the overheads as well as the snare mic. The time delay causes the hat to sound slushy and less articulate. If you position the overhead with the crash cymbal blocking the direct sound of the hi hat, the hat will sound much clearer. Sometimes engineers will put half a wrap of foam taped to the snare mic so hi Fz's from the hat will be attenuated. The overheads can pick up the hat more directly and you get a smoother, less mid rangey hi hat. If the hat has a prominent role in the song then they might do both and mic the hat. I routinely slip drum tracks in DP to adjust phase. It's like being able to move the mics after you have recorded. If you have low ceilings in your basement studio, you can slip the overheads later essentially raising their position so the kick drum track low end is now in phase with the kick low end in the overheads. Suddenly you hear that fat low end you were looking for.

<small>[ April 26, 2005, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: Don T ]</small>

[calaveras]

I have to concur that it's best to think of the instrument as one big instrument. I play drums, record bands and have recorded in bands. If you NEED the hihat to be isolated from everything else for a particular reason (mayeb you are putting an effect on that one track) the best policy is to record a seperate track of you just playing the hihat. Many bands do this (police, metalica etc) I personally like to run just 3 mikes, 2 OH and a kick. Then throw mikes on the underperforming offenders as neeed be.
If I was recording a funk tune, maybe I would just mike the snare hat and kick ala Jackson 5.

The best result I get for isolating the hat are a good directional mic condenser or even a 57, facing down from the top about 8" up, and away from the kit a little, aimed between the edge and the bell. Hats all sound different, so move it around a little. This is difficult, as most drummers will wack it there!

[sholland]

The other day my little three piece band experimented by sticking a stereo pair of Gefell M300s in ORTF configuration down the other end of the garage. We put a mic (one of those Behringers that come for 50 bucks Canadian for three, forsooth!) on my guitar amp and put the bass straight in from the line out.
I really like how the drums sounded, even without a mic on the kick, and despite the M300s also picking up some of the guitar amp.
It wasn't the world's greatest recording, that's for sure, but it made me realize that one can get too anal about these things. Then again, all I want to do with that band is get recordings that capture the energy of our garage sessions.

[sholland]

Oh, in case anyone wants to hear what it sounds like (just tossing some condenser mics at the end of the garage), it's "Idjits Stomp" at
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/seanhollandmusic.htm

The goal was to capture the beer sodden vibe of my garage. I'll leave it to you to judge if we succeeded.
The tune was invented as we played. This was first time, first take, good bye.