Which kit to record with???

piperdoog

Silver Member
Hello fellow drummers I'm in a bit of a flux.
I am hitting the studio here in a week and have 2 kits to decide from which to use.
First off the style of music is good old rock 4 on the floor hard hitting rock.
The 2 kits I have are
1) Sonor S Classix 24,12, 14 16 floor.
I love this kit and have recorded with it before and it's a great sounding kit.
2)Vintage 3 ply 1967 Ludwigs 22, 13, 16.
I love this kit it has tons of mojo and a sound all it's own (have never recorded with it, but when I play live with it it has huge sound)

So advice would be great go with what I know or try something new.
I would try both kits, but only have the studio for the day for drums, due to finance reasons and time I really can't bring set up and mic both kits..

Thanks so much for your advice.
 
I have a soft spot for the Vintage Ludwig and I like that size combo so I vote for the Luddies.
I recorded with my 2012 Club Date a few weeks ago and I am still smiling.
I got many comps on the sound and playing.
 
Either will be great. If the room is really lively I'd use the Luddies, if not, the Sonors. What snare? Which cymbals?
 
Either will be great. If the room is really lively I'd use the Luddies, if not, the Sonors. What snare? Which cymbals?

Thanks Ian,
I'm probably going with my trusted Ludwig 402, sabian hhx groove ride and hats, aax and HHX xplosion fast crash's 18, 19. and an 18' aero crash.
 
I often find myself using golf analogies in conversations about drums. It helps with my student's parents too, because there are more golfers than drummers out there.

The golf analogy for this is "be decisive". It's more important to commit and then think your shot through with one club - regardless of whether or not it's the perfect choice - than to address the ball with the doubts about club selection lingering in you mind. Obviously, if you're recording and thinking about your other drums rather than concentrating on your playing you won't sound too good. My advice is to go with your gut.
 
When you are recording if you have a good engineer it's not going to make too much difference. He shoud be able to get a great sound out of either kit. I also like Wsabol idea of 13, 16, 24. And Bsquared's advise was just right on. Good luck. John
 
Either will be great. If the room is really lively I'd use the Luddies, if not, the Sonors. What snare? Which cymbals?
This!!!! The room will dictate which kit sounds best. I understand you don't have the luxury of trying both kits fully mic'd, but a quick walk around the room hitting a 12" tom from each kit will give you a fair impression of what to expect. If you can do that in advance of the session, even better. Tune both 12" drums to where they're happiest, & take them down there to try. Unless the studio is a huge distance away, it's worth that effort. If you really can't get in there in advance, take both kits, prepare in the same way, & walk those toms around the room before you set up the kit you decide will work best. Another hint, if you can, get the drums into the recording environment the day before. It saves time fighting tuning on a kit that's adjusting to it's environment. If you can't do that, tune up your drums then store them in a similar environment prior to the session. Don't bring them into a warm dry studio after they've been stored/transported in the cold.

Good luck :)
 
Either will be great. If the room is really lively I'd use the Luddies, if not, the Sonors. What snare? Which cymbals?

Agree with this comment. I just recorded in a pretty lively room and had to use several pieces of Moon Gel to calm the toms down a bit. The engineer offered to let me use his vintage Ludwig kit, but we had already eaten a bunch of time up just getting sounds.
 
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The sonors will have more attack, I'd go for the sonors but like some other folks said, room, tuning and engineer will dictate a lot how the drums sound at the end.
PC
 
Ok lads the room is quite large and open and big sounding, so I'm still on the fence. The ludwigs fill the room and have such mojo if you will, but the Sonor's are just butter when you hit them. It's a straight up rock in your face kinda sound..
AHhhhhh I just can't decide, one day I'm Luddies, next I'm Sonor....
It's this Sunday...
 
In my experience, you want to go with the kit that is warm and has some attack but if you bring in a kit that cracks real loud (some birch kits) in an open room like that, you are going to be fighting overtones and mic bleed. Everyone records drums differently. I prefer a very controlled, semi-dead room with drums full of resonance and close micing the set with 2 condensers overhead. If the drums have enough tone and sustain, the mics will pic that up and it helps me to not fight the room and everything going on in the mix later.

Some like a live room and only a set of mics to pic up the room characteristics. Hard to tell without hearing.
 
Ok lads the room is quite large and open and big sounding, so I'm still on the fence. The ludwigs fill the room and have such mojo if you will, but the Sonor's are just butter when you hit them. It's a straight up rock in your face kinda sound..
AHhhhhh I just can't decide, one day I'm Luddies, next I'm Sonor....
It's this Sunday...

Bonham used Ludwig kits from the 60s/70s and he sounded okay. :)
 
Ok I'm going to try to fill up the van with both kits.. Talking to guys who have recorded here are in a complete divide!!
Haha, literally 3 say the Ludwigs, and 3 say the Sonor's..
Sooooo with all the great advice from my fellow drummers here and my fellow drummers at home here the conclusion is......
Bring the whole lot!!!
It seems either one will work.... It seems....
 
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