Why would we want to reduce or remove snare from overheads when mixing drums?
Well, let’s start by asking a question.
What is the main purpose of the overhead mics generally?
To capture the cymbals.
Yes, it’s important that we capture a comprehensive, balanced representation of the drum kit as a whole. But, at the end of the day, if we had no overhead mics in place, we’d lose almost all of the cymbals!
Snare Struggles
So where does the snare come into all of this? There are two main sources where most of your snare signal is going to be captured – the overhead mics, and of course, the snare mics.
You can mix your snare mics to sound as punchy and as fat as you like, but if your overhead is overpowering it, the snare might not sound how you expect it to!
One tricky thing that you’ll likely have to deal with when mixing drums is making sure that your overhead mics don’t interfere with the rest of your drum tracks. It can be difficult when they’re taking up similar areas of the EQ spectrum, but it’s important that we don’t let them muddy each other.
Also, if we’re mixing our overheads to make sure our cymbals are nice and crispy and stand out, we don’t necessarily want to be applying that same processing to the snare.
In this video, I share with you my go-to techniques on how to remove snare from overheads. You’ll learn how to reduce the snare bleed on your overhead mic tracks. Some of the tips are simple, some are a little more involved, but all can be very effective when used correctly.
If there’s anything else you struggle with when mixing drums, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll expand on this in the next drum mixing video!