Sympathetic res good or bad?

SmoothOperator

Gold Member
Since I noticed a very nice harmonization between my tom and floor tom/bass, I've been trying to get more of these. So far I have been successful, and I can get a huge blend with seamless transitions, but I have noticed that sympathetic resonance is huge between the drums, I think this is considered a bad thing for example when recording. Any thoughts on harmonically tuning vs. distinct tuning?
 
Rather depends on what you're trying to achieve, & in what context. Sympathetic resonance is not automatically a bad thing in recordings so long as the recording method embraces it rather than seeking to stifle it. In some applications, very sharp distinction is desirable. In others, a "whole sound" approach is used.

My personal preference is for a kit to be recorded as a single instrument. To me, it has much more life & a much greater/wider dynamic, but each to their own. Recording such a "wide open" kit, & placing it into a recorded mix, is more time consuming & arguably takes greater skill than closing everything down & building it up from the outboards. In modern music production, many would not have the time, patience, or indeed, the instrument to make it worthwhile. That's a shame, as the "factory" method is what makes many kits/recordings sound generic, whereas a whole instrument recording accentuates the character of the instrument, & also, to some extent, the player IMHO.
 
In modern music production, many would not have the time, patience, or indeed, the instrument to make it worthwhile. That's a shame, as the "factory" method is what makes many kits/recordings sound generic, whereas a whole instrument recording accentuates the character of the instrument, & also, to some extent, the player IMHO.

Perhaps that is why there are some classic nice recordings of drums on older work, where it was done with the 3 mic 'Glyn Johns ' setups.?
 
Rather depends on what you're trying to achieve, & in what context.

I agree, I would add that within the two approaches are probably multiple disjoint goals, similar to the various tempering schemes found around the world. I think one of the advantages to an open sound(non harmonic), is you have the ability to really make each individual drum sound fabulous, as long as you don't get incidental sympathetic resonance. Another disadvantage of sympathetic tuning systems, would be integrating it with other musicians with different musical instruments, though one could argue that they should be able to work around the drums.

Perhaps that is why there are some classic nice recordings of drums on older work, where it was done with the 3 mic 'Glyn Johns ' setups.?

Maybe they spent more time tweaking their drum sound than, grooming their tracks?
 
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