Sloppy drummers...

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Jaymzzb
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Sloppy drummers...

Post by Jaymzzb »

Morning folk,

What do you guys do if you record a sloppy drummer?

For instance, I've recorded a few songs this weekend with a drummer who's timing hasnt been quite spot on a few times but if I move the hit to be on time it will cause problems with thats heard on the overheards and if I move the hit in the overheads then I'll be left with a gap in the audio?

I know the ideal situation would be for the drummer to play in time but as we all know, that doesnt happen!

Thanks in advance.
Glergo
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 10:32 am

Re: Sloppy drummers...

Post by Glergo »

Give him practice? Also metronome if you're not using it.
Jaymzzb
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Re: Sloppy drummers...

Post by Jaymzzb »

Unfortunately we used a metronome...

He just didnt play in time and now I need to use magic to fix it before guitars get recorded.
Glergo
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Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 10:32 am

Re: Sloppy drummers...

Post by Glergo »

I guess it kind of depends on how you micced up the drumset, if you have a complete set of 8 microphones it shouldn't be too hard to correct.
Jaymzzb
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Re: Sloppy drummers...

Post by Jaymzzb »

I used 8 mics.
2 Overheads, 2 on snare, 1 on kick, 1 on hihat and 2 toms.

I didnt think it'd be difficult to correct either at the time but when I thought about moving an out of time kick or snare I was worried I was going to have problems as they were captured in the overheards. If I snip the overheads and move them too i'll be left with a gap?

Any suggestions?
Glergo
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 10:32 am

Re: Sloppy drummers...

Post by Glergo »

If there a gap somewhere, then perhaps you could stretch the sound a little bit?
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TrevsAudio
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Location: Rhode Island

Re: Sloppy drummers...

Post by TrevsAudio »

Here's something I picked up from a video called "jump start to editing" which I bought from http://therecordingrevolution.com/

Link all the drum tracks together so they will stay in phase. Remember that the snare and snare bleed in the overhead will not be on the exact same place on the time line because of the difference in mic spacing (albeit nanoseconds)

Set MC to beats and move the kick and snare tracks so they are tracks 1 and 2. This is for convenience only. Zoom in and concentrate just on the kick and snare hits. Select one section at a time (maybe a few bars - depending on how sloppy the skin man is) and then split each track (kick and snare) at their respective individual hits on the time line. Sure, it will split all 8 tracks but don't worry.

Start with the kick. Highlight from the first instance to the next split line. Move anything off beat to its correct position on the time line. Any gaps are nano seconds and can be stretched or faded (in - out) with reference to the beats on the time line. A hint here is to work backwards - start with the last hit in your selection then move back to the next (left) hit - just better for screen real estate.

Do the same with the snare hits and you should have things more or less on track.

Quite time consuming but you could end up with a nice tight sounding drum track.

... Now sync the kick with the bass...
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