Topic: Loud Snare in Acoustic Set - Adobe Audition

[dettam]

So I recorded my friend's band at a bar this past weekend and the snare drum is INCREDIBLY loud in the mix, it was loud at the bar too.  I'm a newbie at all of this so be gentle but I'm trying to figure out how to lower the volume of the snare.  I've tried playing around with the equalizer and various filters without much success.  Do any of you have any ideas I could try?  I can post a clip if that would help.
Thanks,
Doug

[Roving Sign]

I dont have any Audition specific info...

But try some compression or hard limiting - combined with normalization...

[dettam]

The hard limiting worked fairly well.  I couldn't seem to find the frequency that I wanted to edit out but I think I have it listenable now.  We'll see I guess.

Thanks.  I'm sure I'll have some more dumb questions after this one too.  Hopefully in a different, topic though.
Thanks again man,
Doug

[Church-Audio]

So I recorded my friend's band at a bar this past weekend and the snare drum is INCREDIBLY loud in the mix, it was loud at the bar too.  I'm a newbie at all of this so be gentle but I'm trying to figure out how to lower the volume of the snare.  I've tried playing around with the equalizer and various filters without much success.  Do any of you have any ideas I could try?  I can post a clip if that would help.
Thanks,
Doug

With snare it can be anywhere from 800hz to about 2.5k only problem is these frequencies are also needed for vocal articulation. I would compress not limit.. I would try a 3:1 ratio with a fast attack and a slower release time.. Then as RS suggested I would normalize.

[dettam]

Thanks I'll try that this evening and see how that works out.  The hard limiting worked but it doesn't sound exactly right.  Thanks again.
Doug

[Church-Audio]

Thanks I'll try that this evening and see how that works out.  The hard limiting worked but it doesn't sound exactly right.  Thanks again.
Doug

Hard limiting is very tricky because it does tend to work great with a single source but when you get into using it for music ether you have a really good limiter or your don't and its pretty obvious when its at the point where it does not sound "right" that you might be going down the wrong road. I have only heard a few limiters that I would use with music and none of them were plugins. I would trust your ears if it does not sound right try increasing the release time and reducing the ratio or threshold. With limiting too quick of a release time will give your pumping the sound goes up and down and you can hear it.

Chris Church

[John Kary]

Never ever normalize your recordings, a good limiter will produce a better result in terms of maximizing loudness.  Drums can take a lot of compression and not suffer much in quality.

As for your snare problem, I think Audition has a Dynamics Compressor in it.  Open it and try compressing the frequency range between about 700-1.2k to like a 5:1 ratio with a 3ms attack and 50ms release.  I can't give exact measurements without looking at it, so use my numbers as a starting point.  Lower the threshhold to just above your vocals level, and up the ratio until the snare sounds even in loudness with the vocals, otherwise you'll start compressing some of the vocal sound.

It's always tricky combating vocals with a band mix.  If you have the resources, get a stereo submix of just the instruments and a separate mono submix of the dry vocal or a stereo submix if the house is using a stereo delay/reverb on the vox channel.  This allows for the best tweaking once you get into a DAW.

[dettam]

It's always tricky combating vocals with a band mix.  If you have the resources, get a stereo submix of just the instruments and a separate mono submix of the dry vocal or a stereo submix if the house is using a stereo delay/reverb on the vox channel.  This allows for the best tweaking once you get into a DAW.

Thanks for all of your replies.  I'm going to try working with this some more.  As far as the "house" goes, the band brings in their own PA and board.  While it is a decent set up for a small Chattanooga band, most don't even have a PA, it leaves some things to be desired, such as a sound man.  I'm actually trying to learn to use the soundboard for them and after I get it going, I go try and record.  There wasn't any feedback the last show. 

[Church-Audio]

It's always tricky combating vocals with a band mix.  If you have the resources, get a stereo submix of just the instruments and a separate mono submix of the dry vocal or a stereo submix if the house is using a stereo delay/reverb on the vox channel.  This allows for the best tweaking once you get into a DAW.

Thanks for all of your replies.  I'm going to try working with this some more.  As far as the "house" goes, the band brings in their own PA and board.  While it is a decent set up for a small Chattanooga band, most don't even have a PA, it leaves some things to be desired, such as a sound man.  I'm actually trying to learn to use the soundboard for them and after I get it going, I go try and record.  There wasn't any feedback the last show. 

No feedback thats a good thing