Cymbals

[not_so_new]

I think I might have posted a thread about this before but how many of you are replacing cymbals in your productions?

Something I have never done but, hell I might try it because I am more curious than anything else. I am working on a heavier production and it just seems like replacing the cymbals might help to get them to cut in a dense rock mix. Maybe because I started my recording career on 2 inch machines, ADATs and DA-88's replacing cymbals just seems foreign to me... but I guess I got used to augmenting drums with samples so maybe it is not so far fetched for me after all?

I am going to try it either way but I am interested in hearing about the experience of others.

[picksail]

I've had to do it a few times.

It just takes a little patience to scroll through your sample library to find cymbals that match the 'relative pitch' of the originals.

Plus, with all the harmonics and overtones inherent to the cymbal, it's almost impossible to pitch-shift it without any overt digital artifacts.

Try adding the samples to emphasize the accents.

We cut three songs for an artist back in July. Both the drummer and the sound of the kit were not cutting it and we were in no position to call someone else in.

So I went to chopping, first replacing the snare, kick and toms. As we continued, it was apparent that the cymbals were thin and wimpy. So I pulled up some samples from the Clearmountain library and it worked quite well.

[davedarling]

I find myself adding crashes pretty regularly. I think it's because I use less overheads in my pop and rock mixes than I used to - trying to get a very isolated kick snare thing.

In a more organic mix where the OH's and rooms are the body off the drums replacing the cymbals sounds like a bad idea, and a nightmare.

see ya - Dave Darling