Can this track be salvaged

[holidayhell]

Got a terrible sounding ride going on in the drum overheads. A horrible whooshing sound. Bad placement on the mics and lack of attention to them while recording. Can this be fixed/made less noticeable/salvaged with some EQing or something else? Or is it scrap em and rerecord.

Here's the offending sound
http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/47893/R ... alvage.mp3

[darjama]

It seems like that ride takes up a whole a pretty wide frequency range above 2khz. I'd say it would be hard to save, but it would depend on what other drum tracks you have and how high the overheads need to be in the mix. A multiband comp could tame it a little,

[eh91311]

Got a terrible sounding ride going on in the drum overheads. A horrible whooshing sound. Bad placement on the mics and lack of attention to them while recording. Can this be fixed/made less noticeable/salvaged with some EQing or something else? Or is it scrap em and rerecord.

Here's the offending sound
http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/47893/R ... alvage.mp3

Scrap em and rerecord.
Drum performance isn't the best.
Try a different mic placement. Stereo X/Y cardiod pair over the kit, Stereo coincident pair out in front of the kit or a mono overhead might help tame the cymbal whoosh.
I think the drummer is contributing mightily to the problem, not the mic placement so much.

[fossiltooth]

Scrap em and rerecord.

Yeah. The ride isn't the only problem either.

Back to it. You can do better.

I believe in you, baby!

[drumsound]

When you re record make sure the cymbal isn't hitting the near tom rim. That or you need cymbal sleeves so there's no metal to metal contact with the stand.

[Dave-H]

I am with Tony on this one I also find raising all my cymbals a inch or two really helps with bleed problems. I used to get a lot of ride bell in my floor tom mic.I raised the ride a couple of inches & it helped greatly. I like my drums & cymbals pretty high anyway so it didn't bother me. A little
gaffers tape on the ride might help also to reduce the build up.
I think the real problem besides performance may be the cymbals them selves. What brand & model cymbals is he using?
Dave H.

[Colin F.]

If you can't re-record:

Just notch out the nasty sounds on the ride. It is a BAD sounding ride (sorry) so its going to need some EQ no matter what...

De-ess it.

Try placing in some samples.

Etc, etc...

There is always something that can be done to salvage this sort of thing. Usually its just lots of little things and some automation...

[Dave-H]

Please don't take any of my comments as being mean. I just want to help your problem.
I think you ought to look at what mic you are using on the hats. They sound real mushy & once again I have a strong feeling it may be the cymbals themselves. I have used Zildjian B20 cymbals for 35 years. They have worked for me. Yes they are expensive but for me worth the money. I have bought most of my cymbals used at Pawn shops for I have found that if a Zildjian is going to crack it will do it in the first few years. Also the metal is rearanging its molecules the first few years & the sound can change quite a bit. Zildjian sells "Preaged" cymbals at a premium price!
I get them preaged at less than half price.
All that said I think the High hats are as much of a problem as the ride.
Try borrowing some good cymbals for the project. Everyone says get it right at the source but the source has to be good for the rest of it to work.
I think with a little work & some good cymbals your project will be fine.
Please, no harm or meanness was meant or implyed.

Dave Huffman

[holidayhell]

Thanks for the feedback. Its all appreciated.

Its gonna be rerecorded and played differently. I sat with the drummer for a while messing around with the mix and he agreed he played it way too aggressively.

[philbo]

The best way to fix this is to use a noise reduction plug-in.

Select a small snippet of background noise as a noise sample, then tell the plug-in to remove everything except the noise.

When done, listen carefully to the background noise left, and notice how much better it sounds than the same track with drums in it.

As a last step, go back into the studio and re-record the drums.
Or, if the drummer has ego issues, replace the drums with BFD or Drumagog, and tell him his kit recorded really well...
________
CHOLESTEROL ADVICE

[themagicmanmdt]

it sounds like the ride is cracked. is it?

[holidayhell]

it sounds like the ride is cracked. is it?

I think it has developed a crack. Good catch.

[audioboffin]

The best way to fix this is to use a noise reduction plug-in.

Hmmm.. gating and/or using something like Sound Replacer will decrease the apparent level of the undesired sound in the mix, but really a good drum recording is reliant firstly on the player, then the cymbals and drums and then the gear involved. Great playing and great kit/cymbals will sound great no matter what mic/s and where you put them...

So if you are re-tracking, perhaps ask the drummer to use lighter sticks and try different cymbals lifted a bit higher... good luck. The few minutes it takes to re-record something versus the hours of forensic work to attempt to repair some problems are often the most worthwhile minutes you will ever spend.