Isolating Ride Cymbal in Drum Mix

[Harley Maxwell]

Hello people of the internet, was just mixing and doing EQ on my latest drum tracks and they sound great, but when it comes to the overhead tracks, the first thing that comes to mind is; "how am I going to isolate the ride cymbal, from the other cymbals?"

I have two overhead mics set in a spaced pair configuration. (I put this information here just in case if there is a better way to isolate the ride cymbal if the answer calls for mic placement change advice)

I have tried to use some of the presets that comes with Reaper in it's EQ's and as expected, the preset sucks and doesn't give me what I want.I have also tried to use the Reafir Eq/Compress/Gate plugin to try and find the right frequency that the ride cymbal is flowing in, didn't work.

As the thread post reads, how do I isolate the ride cymbal in my overhead tracks?


Only started mixing about half a year ago, so I am still figuring out the craft and the ins and outs of it,so if this is a question that has an easy answer, I would greatly appreciate the knowledge!

[Lokasenna]

I think what you tried with ReaFIR is the best approach, although I always forget ReaFIR's there and just do it myself.

- Create two copies of the track. One will be your "finished" ride, the other will just be for sidechaining.

- Use as much EQ as necessary on the sidechain track to try and isolate the attack of the ride. Seriously, go nuts with it if you have to (a large narrow boost at the ride's fundamental frequency, maybe). It doesn't have to sound good, you don't need any decay, just the initial "ting!" as consistently as possible. Add some compression if necessary to even out the level.

- Send that to your main track on channels 3/4, add ReaGate, and set it up to use the sidechain signal:

Pre-Open: Probably a few milliseconds, just to make sure you get the attack as cleanly as possible.

Attack: 0.

Hold/Release: These are going to control both the decay of the ride and the amount of bleed you get from the rest of the overhead track. Really short = just the ride's attack, etc.

If you can get a consistent sidechain track, but the bleed from the overheads is just not manageable, consider sampling the ride:

- See if there's a spot somewhere in the track where you can cut out a nice, clear ride hit from top to tail. Save that to a .wav. Alternatively, if the kit is still set up, hit Record and go play a few hits on the ride.

- Put ReaGate on your sidechain track and tick off the "Send MIDI" box at the bottom.

- Add ReaSamplomatic5000 (I think it's 5000) on your "good" track, open the sampled ride in it, and have it listen for the MIDI being sent from ReaGate. I haven't used ReaSamplomatic in years, but I think it's fairly straightforward to set up.

[Harley Maxwell]

Thanks for the help, all of this information is a a lot to take in, but I will try my best in order to get the sound I want.

Thanks for the help.

[serr]

Originally Posted by Harley Maxwell

Hello people of the internet, was just mixing and doing EQ on my latest drum tracks and they sound great, but when it comes to the overhead tracks, the first thing that comes to mind is; "how am I going to isolate the ride cymbal, from the other cymbals?"

I have two overhead mics set in a spaced pair configuration. (I put this information here just in case if there is a better way to isolate the ride cymbal if the answer calls for mic placement change advice)

I have tried to use some of the presets that comes with Reaper in it's EQ's and as expected, the preset sucks and doesn't give me what I want.I have also tried to use the Reafir Eq/Compress/Gate plugin to try and find the right frequency that the ride cymbal is flowing in, didn't work.

As the thread post reads, how do I isolate the ride cymbal in my overhead tracks?


Only started mixing about half a year ago, so I am still figuring out the craft and the ins and outs of it,so if this is a question that has an easy answer, I would greatly appreciate the knowledge!

Why do you want to isolate it? Is it too quiet?

If so, start with just the 2 overhead mics up. Play with the panning to initially get a good balance. Maybe next make a parallel instance of that and heavily compress it. Mix that in to fatten things up. Then when the kit sounds mostly mixed right (just from the overheads so far), start blending in the other mics to taste.

Start with simple stuff like that instead of going wild with processing.

If the ride is still too quiet, adjust your overhead positioning to favor it more next time.

[phil_golden]

Could also try to isolate OH and invert its signal and eliminate it from the ride. Then invert the ride signal and eliminate it from the overheads with its signal not inverted.

[Judders]

Either move your OH mics until you get the balance you want, or add an additional spot mic for the ride.

And never forget how much easier drums are when you play with the kit piece balance you want to hear