Recording - January 2016 - 21

the hi-hat's most undesirable frequency,
which was around 6.5 kHz in this case.
After really squashing the hi-hat down,
we added a noise gate and one last EQ
boost to the highs. This actually lent a
certain amount of animation to the hat
part, as it floated in and out between
the snare and overhead tracks.
When tracking bands live in the studio, I always have a Shure SM58 set up
for scratch vocals. Sometimes, we get so
used to hearing this being a part of the
drums' sound that we forget the vocals
are going to be re-recorded later.
Muting the scratch vocal track sometimes
results in a noticeable difference, removing an immediacy and excitement from
the drums that we may have become
accustomed to hearing throughout the
session. I've found great results in ducking out the scratch vocal by "cutting out
around it" and either lowering its level
or deleting it from the track altogether.
Sometimes this just sounds too obvious
when it cuts out, or it can be heard doubling the lead vocal. There's still hope in
the form of broader edits, like bringing
this track in on the intros, breaks, and
solos. Or maybe the doubling sounds
good on the choruses. Used discerningly, this can actually heighten the song's
dynamics and make things feel as if
they're 'opening up' in sections.

Reducing the overhead
There are some problems that aren't
fixed without a certain amount of sacrifice and a modicum of surrender.
Overheads are ripe with this sort of negative possibility. If the two sides don't
mesh due to phasing or unfortunate mic
positioning, there's little you can do, outside of corrective EQ and/or lowering
them deeper into the mix.
Completely removing the overheads
rarely sounds good, because there's so
much more going on in them then just
crashes, splashes, and rides. Room
reflections, air, and literally all of the
drums exist within them.
One alternative is to delete one of the
sides and pan the remaining track to the
center. Again, try fluctuating its volume
up and down to find the most agreeable
level. In the worst situations, I manually
lay in all the cymbal hits, using multiple
samples to impart as much realistic variation as possible. I then try to blend in
the original at a much lower level, raising the volume until it sounds like it's
worsening and then pulling back a
smidge.
Hi-hats are the toughest of all offenders, in my experience. Some replacement
plug-ins have samples and presets specifically geared toward hi-hats, but I've
never gotten them to work 100 percent

of the time. The best solution I've discovered is to re-track just the hi-hat part, or
introduce another one that complements
it, à la Manu Katche on Peter Gabriel's
"Red Rain".
What it is
Sometimes, despite all our best efforts
we're left with a far less than perfect
result. We can accept that and move on,
or it might be time to try and retrack
them completely. Maybe there are some
complementary loops that can be blended in.
Another alternative is to get even
more creative by deliberately making the
drums sound even worse. Some of the
most compelling work by artists like Tom
Waits, Los Lobos, and Suzanne Vega
features some of the ugliest drum sounds
ever, purposefully rendered and offered
unapologetically.
If your studio magic abandons you,
take heart. If you've got the best performance, you've already tackled the hardest part.
Sven-Erik Seaholm (seaholm@recording
mag.com) is a San Diego-based singer,
songwriter and independent record producer. His latest release "The Sexy" is
available everywhere.
http://www.hafler.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2016
