Hi Tchad. How would you make a drum sound feel realistic when youve been sent drums recorded inadequately, where the room sound is too washy/noisey/spilly, and the close mics require gating? the result i often find is great sounding close mics that dont naturally exist in a realistic space. thanks, matthew
I don’t try for realism. The studio is a fantasy. If I get drum tracks that don’t sound like they fit the music I go to extremes until something reveals itself against the other instruments (I think of the vocals as instruments first, lyrics second). Mute the overheads or mute the rooms or only use the rooms and maybe drastically filter the top and crush it then add an unfiltered, uncompressed duplicate of the room back in just a bit for some top…etc… I rarely try to create a realistic space. I try hard not to do natural.
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Hey, thats interesting thank you, i like the philosophy of trying not to force something out that isnt there, and instead turning left.
as a follow up question, when processing close mics, using saturations etc like yourself to really bring out character in the drums - mixing them into the whole kit never seems natural, the kick and snare always end up sounding like different kits, with or without triggering samples.
as you seem to both use distortions and samples, can you recommend a way of reblending them that feels authentic? is it just relying on the room mics for that? is it important to have something that tonaly binds them thats real?
thanks again!