Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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By Perfect 5th Mon May 27, 2013 9:28 pm
I have been messing around with trying to emulate the sound of an overhead drum mic for a live drum kit.

At present, I am tracking in my drums individually, kicks, snares, hats, shakers, etc. I really like the additional fullness if you can call it that, that an overhead mic gives on a live drum kit.

I've been trying to figure out a way to track in after all the individuals are done, the entire 'kit' and adjust the sonic properties which would emulate this sound if that makes sense. I've tried some EQ, some gentle reverb, some delay, different things to get that sound to try and add some more swing to the drums.

Hope that makes sense, any suggestions are appreciated.
By m56p87 Tue May 28, 2013 6:00 pm
Most overheads pick up higher frequencies with more room sound than individual drum mics, when I run overheads it usually lends it self to cymbals and toms depending on the positions and amount of overhead mics. So a slightly high passed version of the mix with very little kick in it and emphasized cymbals with some room reverb for flavor might be a good start?
By manji Wed May 29, 2013 12:45 am
I am also extremely interested in anybody who wants to share techniques on how to emulate this.
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By Perfect 5th Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:30 pm
On my most recent track I looked to try and re-create this OH drum sound.

I analyized a number of other OH tracks from different songs that I had found. I listened to the types of sounds and frequencies being picked up by the OH mics. I also looked at where the mic positioning would be on a live kit (as mentioned above)

It turned out pretty well actually. I HP filter'd the stereo track, leaving nothing below mid/low freq, basically just the beater head of the kicks, and high freq of the snares & hats. I added a HF shelf, and EQ sculpted the remaining frequencies, removing and 'muddy' sounding ones, to get a more hollow sound (but not thin), if you can call it that. I added a very small amount of delay to compensate for the mic distance, barely noticable but there. I added the same room reverbe as the rest of the drum tracks to blend it equally (through sends to a verb aux track). After that I played with the mix levels so it wasn't over powering, and very subtle. Sounded very full, and with the proper EQ sculpting the snare cracks, and hats actually came through better on the mix than without it since those frequencies were slightly empazized. Glad I tried this out, added a different sound to my mix that was looking for, and was relatively easy to do.
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By Metatron72 Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:39 pm
Here's some multitracks of drums with an overhead WAV from a couple famous songs. These are the real OG recordings sourced from an old Avid PT demo in which they were illustrating re-comping the drum multis. Good for hearing what the overhead picks up in a real studio.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/jagdm ... _WAV_A.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/download/n2qb0 ... _WAV_B.zip (Marvin "Grapevine")

http://www.mediafire.com/download/m57rq ... DB_LTR.zip (Doobie Brothers "Long Train Running"