dun dun dunnnnn...

or at least sample reinforcement. Sample replacement on fills sounds gash.

[QUOTE=benfan;18245874]How do you guys EQ your snares?

Im currently trying to get rid of a horrible ringing sound thats hanging around in the mid frequencies of my snare top. Its a juggling game between eliminating that and keeping some mid range to give it abit of oomph. I have my snare bottom to EQ aswell (no idea how to go about it).

Any tips? Its for a fast metal song so i want a nice bright snare with some body to complement the kick drum.

Heres what iv set so far for my snare top -

EQ 1 - Boost 6.4Db @ 131Hz Q7
EQ 2 - Cut 20Db @ 362Hz Q12
EQ 3 - Cut 24Db @ 786Hz Q12
EQ 4 - Boost 5.6Db @ 6584Hz Q9

So im cutting quite abit of the mid range out although im using a narrow Q. Its the only way i can see to get rid of the nasty snare ring.[/QUOTE]

if you have to eq that hard you should take a step back and look at the snare type, what mic you're using, cables, preamp and maybe any other fx you might be running on the way in. Most people's problem is they think they'll get a lot of attack when they throw the mic right up next to the skin of the snare, bring it off a bit (think audio sine waves) the further away the mic is from the snare the larger you allow the sine waves to grow (peaks) It may also be that your METAL drummer likes a tight snare because it bounces the stick back at him so he doesn't have to work as hard to do rolls etc, on top of that i'm sure he's doing rimshots every hit which sounds cool live but are a bitch to tame in a recording so if you can convince him to actually play for the song and not for himself good work, if not, just tune his snare down way low.

and for a short winded lazy fix:

gate, aux send, fat reverb, boost both the snare and the verb at 250hz

Sorry guys i should of explained im using the standard snare that comes with the Superior Drummer 2 package.

Iv read some info about creating an aux send and using alot of compression on it but im not that advanced yet so has anyone else had any experience of this?

And Xombies thanks for the post man, could you explain a little more about the gating process?

ohh well superior drummer shouldn't be giving you a ring, maybe your chain/ blend of mics / mic bleed are a little askew. Are you using the Avatar soundplate?

I started recording with Cool Edit 2.0 back in the day, its now bought out by Adobe, caleld Adobe Audition 3.0, its a pretty nice little program for live instrument tracking, there is no midi input as far as I know, but it worked for a long time for me, the interface is very simple to navigate through, i used a shure sm58 mic directly into my sound card for a long time, then I upgraded to a USB interface with a condensor microphone for tracking live instruments, i just recently started using Cubase 5.0 for all my recording now cause it supports both live instrument and midi, im lovin' it. For programming drums Ive used EX Drummer (but not the fabricated beats that come with it), I set it up to a midi track in my Fruity Loops or Cubase and used piano roll and just programmed my own with that

I have a few old recordings I did with audition up on myspace, feel free to check em' out myspace.com/thecolorofwe

[QUOTE=Xomblies;18247721]ohh well superior drummer shouldn't be giving you a ring, maybe your chain/ blend of mics / mic bleed are a little askew. Are you using the Avatar soundplate?[/QUOTE]

Yeah im using the N.Y Avatar library, and ive got the Ludwig Black Beauty snare selected. I do all the panning within SD and then export into Cubase for the mixing.

all i do on the snare is boost 250hz by a few db, pop on a comp with a late attack and quick release a high ratio and only a little bit of a threshold rolloff just to lop off the super huge peaks (which shouldn't be too bad considering it's an electronic kit) eq again cutting a small amount of mids (500hz) and bosting 1.5kish by a few db

So you have a different eq before and after your compression stage?

yep, if you have the ssl comp, don't let the meter peak too much above 4

Iv started messing around with the compression but it doesnt seem to make much difference overall, maybe something to do with SD?

Should i compress both top and bottom mics using the same settings?

Im using the Cubase 4 band EQ and the standard compresser aswell, so im not sure which stage comes firts, the EQ or Compresser.

some of it may be the plugs you're using, i forgot to mention throw a compressor on the final 2bus (if you're sending sd all over the place) and send it to an aux channel with some nice medium size room verb. A trick i do often to attenuate annoying frequencies is to get a thin notch eq and boost as high as you can, move it around until you find the native frequency of the ring and cut that frequency a little bit, widen the q to scoop all the accidentals around the frequency in question. Are you using headphones? also are there other instruments going on? a lot of that ring will go away once you start adding other elements...

Well depends on if you plan on recording using mics or via usb.

I've recorded with both. I personally prefer a mic. I would go with an Shure SM57. Very versatile mic. One of the most used in the our studio.

In terms of a DAW I prefer pro tools. Our studio uses HD, but that it pricey for a home studio. I would go with the LE version, works pretty well from my experience (haven't used LE a heck of a lot, so maybe someone else could help you more).

If you only plan on recording guitar you wouldn't really need any outboard gear other the a POD or Tc electronics G major if you wanna dish out a little more cash.

You can get a great Reverb plugin for pro tools for about 400 dollars. Which i know sounds like a lot but it can be used on as many tracks as you want either in line or parallel and it really is a great reverb.

Good luck with whatever you decide to get.

[QUOTE=Xomblies;18251442]some of it may be the plugs you're using, i forgot to mention throw a compressor on the final 2bus (if you're sending sd all over the place) and send it to an aux channel with some nice medium size room verb. A trick i do often to attenuate annoying frequencies is to get a thin notch eq and boost as high as you can, move it around until you find the native frequency of the ring and cut that frequency a little bit, widen the q to scoop all the accidentals around the frequency in question. Are you using headphones? also are there other instruments going on? a lot of that ring will go away once you start adding other elements...[/QUOTE]


I have been sweeping the snare top with a narrow Q, but i have have to cut quite excessivley to hear any difference. I think its a case of trial and error cause im still quite new to this.

Can you explain further the method you mentioned first, Im sending SD as multichannel to Cubase and then exporting the sounds to audio tracks. So after the midi is mapped and exported to audio im not using SD its all audio files.

And yeah im using headphones, i got a pair of Beyer DT990 Pro's.

i think the headphones is most of the problem (mix on speakers to win), but, if you're sending all your drums out different audio channels:

Eq the snare, cut a little at maybe 1k boost between 250hz and 500hz, unless you want to scoop the snare then cut 500hz but i've been favoring the mids on a snare lately. Then run a noise gate (i use the sonalksis s19 gate) set it for a quick attack, quick release 25% hold and set the threshold accordingly, then eq again boosting the top end and some low end as you see fit, then send THAT snare signal to a reverb, medium room or hall should do it, boost 200 to 300hz. It'll take you a while to find your snare sound, don't give up easily or quickly, snare is one of the hardest things to tame on a kit in my opinion

Im getting close to the sound i want. Im mixing the snare in with another that iv used the SD envelope on and then with the snare bottom.

so you gave the snare a big ass? i actually kinda like snare drums that are almost a kick but with snares on em lol

Hi guys. I record a lot of music at home, but my set consists of an SM57, a cord that can plug from that into my computer, and my laptop (and of course my guitar/amp/pedals). What would you guys recommend getting to make it better? Some of the songs can be found here:

[URL]http://www.soundcloud.com/ted-jachimowicz[/URL]

And of course all criticism of these songs are welcome.

[QUOTE=Xomblies;18262015]so you gave the snare a big ass? i actually kinda like snare drums that are almost a kick but with snares on em lol[/QUOTE]

Its sounding promising, if abit wooden at the minute!

what type of plugins do you guys use for pad/ambience stuff?

[QUOTE=The Transporter;18265355]what type of plugins do you guys use for pad/ambience stuff?[/QUOTE]

Ultra Analog.

Transporter: what for the actual virtual instrument?

ya like a vsti that is for ambience basically

I use Xpand!2 (Pro Tools LE 8), find a good pad and then transform it with other plugs to get the sound I'm going for. My favourite plug for that at the moment is the Izotope Spectron. Awesome spectral processor.

Synth1 has a lot of good synth pad presets, and quite a few people online have whole banks of patches they made.

omnisphere and fab filter are legit

...really considering buying reaper. Heard it'd be compatible with my 003 Rack as well. Any users? Gonna download the 30 day trial

Thinking about getting a Zoom H4N, anyone have any experience with it? Would use it for recording during band practice, myself at home, etc. Do you have to buy a lot of extra stuff to use it to its full potential?

[QUOTE=EmbraceRandom;18269973]...really considering buying reaper. Heard it'd be compatible with my 003 Rack as well. Any users? Gonna download the 30 day trial[/QUOTE]

i use my 003 rack with reaper

Reaper is extremely irritating sometimes

Gais just man up and get Pro Tools 9 already and all your prayers will be answered.