Poco
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Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
I recorded an acoustic drum set with a studio session player who really knows how to tune his set and plays exceptionally well. We decided not to damp any of the drums. I have recorded this guy before, and I always produced a sound that he liked, and I consider him to be someone who offers a real learning opportunity every time we record. There is a song in the set that uses a significant amount of tom tom, and I would like to improve my damping technique. Right now I use Ozone to gate the overall sound and roll out some of the higher frequencies, but to my ears, it's just not the same as natural physical damping. Does anyone here have any magic up their sleeve when it comes to getting a real tight, punchy, natural sounding damping? I was thinking about using Ozone's multiband capabilities to tamp different frequencies at different rates to try to emulate the real world dynamic EQ that takes place with physical damping, but any shortcuts would be appreciated. I am using X2 Thanks, Poco
post edited by Poco - 2015/08/22 22:39:28
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tlw
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/22 22:50:56
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Try the transient shaper, it can be pretty good at killing note tails. But the simplest technique has to be the opposite of this -> Poco We decided not to damp any of the drums.
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ampfixer
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/22 23:33:16
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+1 If it's not right going in, you're making work for yourself. Transient shaper or perhaps the multi-band compressor are what comes to mind.
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mikedocy
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/23 00:02:41
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If the drums are close mic'ed and have good separation then you have some chance of doing it but like everybody else said, you've made a lot of extra work for yourself. It's better to get it right from the beginning instead of trying to fix it in the mix. Unfortunately, the long decay characteristic of an undamped drum doesn't make it any easier. That said, here is my suggestion: Try a dynamic EQ such as the Melda MDynamicEq. Use the Sonitus gate to get the rough decay shape then use the Mdynamic after that to reduce the highs as the drum decays. Another thought would be an auto filter (after the gate) set to low-pass. It would be wide open when the drum hits, then sweep down in frequency as the drum decays.
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Bristol_Jonesey
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/23 05:33:43
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+1 for the Transient Shaper - I use it on all of my toms
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TPayton
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/23 09:57:25
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A Transient shaper plug sounds better than most gates. My fovorite for this is the SPL Transient designer. Next time try Moongel on the way in.
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/24 09:18:36
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As someone who's done a lot of acoustic drum recording, I'd recommend using felt to damp toms and snare. Too much ring in the snare just sound bad. Cut a crescent of felt that fits the round contour of the snare (about 1.5" at the widest - 6"-8" in length). Place that crescent of felt next to the rim on the snare (on the side facing the drummer). This way the felt won't get hit/bumped (move) when playing. The felt controls the ring/resonance without making it too dead (moon-gel). Just a simple coated Ambassador head with this piece of felt... and you've got a great sounding snare For toms, create felt "zero-rings" that go around half the circumference of each tom. The felt rings should be 3/4" to 1" wide. Place these felt (half) zero-rings around the bottom half circumference of each tom. Take the time to tune the toms well... The resultant sound will have clear/defined attack... with a natural pure decay. The quality of the drums and mounting system will have a dramatic impact on the sustain of the toms. Expensive "Pro level" kits generally have the best mounting systems (designed not to impede resonance). Felt is rather inexpensive at fabric stores. Hardest part about this project is taking the time to trim the felt. You'll need to cut multiple pieces to create the half zero-rings for larger toms.
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TPayton
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/24 16:20:20
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Hey Jim, Yeah, some older snares have a felt damping mechanism for the bottom head built in. pretty cool. Never tried felt rings, but have tried rings made of other materials. I like moongel. You can use as litlle or as much as you like, and move it around on the heads for different results. Different strokes you know..
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konradh
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/24 21:23:11
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The original question is about post-processing, but for those discussing ways to dampen the drums, is there any love for tea towels? That's the classic Come Together sound.
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/25 12:06:07
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TPayton Hey Jim, Yeah, some older snares have a felt damping mechanism for the bottom head built in. pretty cool. Never tried felt rings, but have tried rings made of other materials. I like moongel. You can use as litlle or as much as you like, and move it around on the heads for different results. Different strokes you know..
Hi Tom, I'm not trying to criticize MoonGel. I have some here...  I just like the felt better (half rings)... as it doesn't deaden the head/response quite so much. Don't like zero-rings for the same reason (makes the head/response a bit too dead/dry for my taste).
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: Natural Sounding Tom Tom Damping
2015/08/25 12:09:55
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konradh The original question is about post-processing, but for those discussing ways to dampen the drums, is there any love for tea towels? That's the classic Come Together sound.
For a more subdued/controlled sound... I think tea towels are fine. For a big Nashville type "DOOOOM!" on the low toms... probably not. C414 delivers the goods on low toms.
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