Andy
Honorary Member
Hi gang,
I'm back in the studio in 2 weeks time after a recording layoff of 25 years. No big deal from a playing point of view. I used to earn my living from live & recording session work but I'm grossly out of date with new methods & technology. It's my band's first foray into the studio so we're starting in the bargain basement and making things easy on ourselves. $200 / day local demo studio, 3 cover tracks, 1 day recording, half day mix & master, you get the idea.
Let me tell you about my step method to getting a good drum sound and see if you guys can give me alternative tips or let me know if there's better gizmo's out there to simplify things.
Ok, start with well tuned kit. Got that nailed. I like a semi live environment (not the padded cell approach). I put a high spl dynamic 2/3rds into the kick drum facing the beater striking point and a ld condenser at 45 degrees about 6" outside the reso. Toms close mic'd with hypercardoid dynamics. 57 or similar to the snare batter, condenser snareside, usually don't bother with the hats. 2 x condensers overhead. 1 x boundry mic at least 12 foot away on wall facing the front of the kit. I don't have gaffer or any form of dampening to the kit apart from the Emad 1 on the kick batter.
I hit around the kit and listen through isolation phones to tweek the basic tuning & mic placement. I then record a couple of minutes of round the kit playing and single drum / cymbal hits. Listen back in the control room. If further tuning / mic placement tweeks are needed, get them done then record the adjusted bits of the kit. Once happy, I then spend a few minutes EQing each line from the recording. I do this only to ensure I can get the sounds out later on that I want. i.e. I'm not missing anything. I then set everything back to flat & record the session. I'm a great believer in recording flat as you then have the best acoustic sound you can get and you've not EQ'd something out that you may need to give you separation later.
On mix & master, I rely heavily on the overheads for the general kit sound with the exception of the kick drum. The tom mics are used only to add a little mid & bottom, tom attack best coming from the overheads. Same story with the snare, the close mic's are the supporting act. I like to bring the boundry mic into play. This brings a live vitality and a bit of natural reverb into play. It's also a great balancer. Maybe a touch of plate reverb on snare & toms and that's my sound.
Ok, that's how I used to do it 25 years ago. I'm sure things have changed and my method of getting a good sound probably sounds amusingly old fashioned to some members. If you know a better way, have some handy sound tech hints, know of latest technology that makes life easier, please let this out of date drummer in on the secret.
I'm back in the studio in 2 weeks time after a recording layoff of 25 years. No big deal from a playing point of view. I used to earn my living from live & recording session work but I'm grossly out of date with new methods & technology. It's my band's first foray into the studio so we're starting in the bargain basement and making things easy on ourselves. $200 / day local demo studio, 3 cover tracks, 1 day recording, half day mix & master, you get the idea.
Let me tell you about my step method to getting a good drum sound and see if you guys can give me alternative tips or let me know if there's better gizmo's out there to simplify things.
Ok, start with well tuned kit. Got that nailed. I like a semi live environment (not the padded cell approach). I put a high spl dynamic 2/3rds into the kick drum facing the beater striking point and a ld condenser at 45 degrees about 6" outside the reso. Toms close mic'd with hypercardoid dynamics. 57 or similar to the snare batter, condenser snareside, usually don't bother with the hats. 2 x condensers overhead. 1 x boundry mic at least 12 foot away on wall facing the front of the kit. I don't have gaffer or any form of dampening to the kit apart from the Emad 1 on the kick batter.
I hit around the kit and listen through isolation phones to tweek the basic tuning & mic placement. I then record a couple of minutes of round the kit playing and single drum / cymbal hits. Listen back in the control room. If further tuning / mic placement tweeks are needed, get them done then record the adjusted bits of the kit. Once happy, I then spend a few minutes EQing each line from the recording. I do this only to ensure I can get the sounds out later on that I want. i.e. I'm not missing anything. I then set everything back to flat & record the session. I'm a great believer in recording flat as you then have the best acoustic sound you can get and you've not EQ'd something out that you may need to give you separation later.
On mix & master, I rely heavily on the overheads for the general kit sound with the exception of the kick drum. The tom mics are used only to add a little mid & bottom, tom attack best coming from the overheads. Same story with the snare, the close mic's are the supporting act. I like to bring the boundry mic into play. This brings a live vitality and a bit of natural reverb into play. It's also a great balancer. Maybe a touch of plate reverb on snare & toms and that's my sound.
Ok, that's how I used to do it 25 years ago. I'm sure things have changed and my method of getting a good sound probably sounds amusingly old fashioned to some members. If you know a better way, have some handy sound tech hints, know of latest technology that makes life easier, please let this out of date drummer in on the secret.