Drum Sound Change

riddle

Member
I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section, but i can't seem to find anywhere else.

anyway, i have my drums in a big room, without sound insulators, so they're harder to tune and its almost impossible to achieve that "short and focus recorded sound".

so recently i got in ear earphones, you know the type that gives you lots of bass

1) I played my drums, sounded okay
2) i put my earphones on
3) I played my drums and they sounded so heavenly! the snare was super thick and ploppy, toms singing like a million dollar kit recorded by million dollar mikes.
4) I took the earphones out after playing for awhile, and the drums sounded so crappy i couldnt play it anymore.

can anyone explain this to me, why is it that when you get used to that sound with phones on you get a very very very very yes i emphasize very horrible sound when you take them off? the snare sounded like plastic hitting plastic.
 
Earphones act as a form of filter, taking out certain frequencies. They absorb them before they get to your ear, exaggerating certain characteristics. Get your drums to sound good without them.
 
the drums sounded okay before i had them on, and after getting used to sounds with them on, they sounded horrible. btw, if i move my drums to a smaller, surrounded room with sound absorbing stuff, will it help?
 
Like mediocrefunkybeat said, you have to make drums sounds good without the headphone on. Sure it will never sound as clean as when you put the headphone...but you have to hear the toms resonating and the snare buzz it's the melody of your instrument.

Try to deplace your drums set in your room like put it in front of a canape or bed.
 
It's all acoustics. The headphones filter out the "bad sounding" frequencies, but the room doesn't. You can rest assured that if a drumset doesn't sound good, it could be the room, not the drumset. (possibly it's tuning though).

Also you have to listen to your drums from a place other than behind the kit, preferably from 10 feet away more or less before you can really understand what your kit sounds like. Distance is very forgiving to drums. That's why I don't muffle. The overtones are what makes a drum sound like it should.
 
It's all acoustics. The headphones filter out the "bad sounding" frequencies, but the room doesn't. You can rest assured that if a drumset doesn't sound good, it could be the room, not the drumset. (possibly it's tuning though).

Agreed, room acoustics play a big part and something drums can really 'energize', especially low frequency overload due to room resonance. Perhaps some sound absorbtion material like Auralex, Sonex, RealTraps, etc. If i saw pics of the room i may be able to better analyze it.


Also you have to listen to your drums from a place other than behind the kit, preferably from 10 feet away more or less before you can really understand what your kit sounds like. Distance is very forgiving to drums. That's why I don't muffle. The overtones are what makes a drum sound like it should.

Argh, where were you like two months ago ;) After recording a track or two i realized the drums were over muffled (esp the bass drum) and yes tuning was off a bit from the mic capture versus what i heard behind the set. Larryace is spot on.
 
the drums sounded okay before i had them on, and after getting used to sounds with them on, they sounded horrible. btw, if i move my drums to a smaller, surrounded room with sound absorbing stuff, will it help?

The best way I can explain that phenomenon would be that when you first start playing your drums without your earplugs, your ears are properly adjusted to the actual decibal level of the drums. After playing with the plugs in for a while, your ears adjust to the lower decibals and when you take them out, your ears temporarily get a bit of a sound overload and the drums will generally sound slightly brash and even possibly distorted, depending on the decibal reduction of your earplugs. That's normal, You'll probably find that after 5-10 mins without the plugs in, your hearing should be back to normal.

If you moved to a smaller room, with some sort of sound absorbing material, it would definitely be easier to get that tighter recordable sound without having to add any extra muffling on the actual drums themselves. Big rooms are great, but only if they sound great to begin with. You'll always have trouble with a harsh sounding big room, unless that's a tonal quality you're looking for in your sound!?!?


Distance is very forgiving to drums. That's why I don't muffle. The overtones are what makes a drum sound like it should.

That was one probably one of the most valuable things I ever learned about drums. Now I generally make drums sound pretty great (ya, I'll toot my own horn!). It's the overtones that make a drum sound "jump out" at you and sound "lively".
 
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