Drum overhead question?

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Petrhino

New member
Hello everybody!
What are your levels when you tracking the drums? Especially overheads!What are the levels of individual elements of the kit(e.q Kick,Snare e.t.c.) and the overhead mic itself. I like the idea of recording at -18 dbfS . That is what i do with all of my instruments. I want to know how the big guys do it in the real recording studios!
Thanks for help everyone!!!
 
-18 is plenty safe. A few transients can jump up past that and not be a problem because they're just transients, they don't stay up there. Just don't clip anything and leave yourself plenty of wiggle room.
 
Greg_L said:
-18 is plenty safe. A few transients can jump up past that and not be a problem because they're just transients, they don't stay up there. Just don't clip anything and leave yourself plenty of wiggle room.
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Whether you're recording in 16-bit or 24-bit makes a difference on what levels you should be shooting for, right? If you're recording in 16-bit, should you go for louder than -18?

Unfortunately I can't record in 24-bit because my mixer sucks. And there is always some variation on what level I hit because the strength of my snare hits and kicks aren't always consistent (plus the accidental rimshots), so I tend to err to the side of recording too loud. My drum recording levels are usually in the red... I was going with the assumption that they'd be better off sounding too loud than too weak. What do you think?
 
NotThatBright said:
Whether you're recording in 16-bit or 24-bit makes a difference on what levels you should be shooting for, right? If you're recording in 16-bit, should you go for louder than -18?

Unfortunately I can't record in 24-bit because my mixer sucks. And there is always some variation on what level I hit because the strength of my snare hits and kicks aren't always consistent (plus the accidental rimshots), so I tend to err to the side of recording too loud. My drum recording levels are usually in the red... I was going with the assumption that they'd be better off sounding too loud than too weak. What do you think?
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I don't know what you mean by "in the red" but that doesn't sound at ALL good to me :D. The great thing about digital is that there's no need to get a great signal-to noise ratio like you used to have to do with analogue tape. You're perfectly ok recording well below -12 dB because the noise floor is naturally so low nowadays. What I'm saying is, don't record too loud, ESPECIALLY with drums, because the sounds have come and gone so fast the meters don't respond quick enough for you to judge what the "real" volume is.

Stay out of the red, dude. :D

Also, I would imagine a greater bit depth would mean that a greater dynamic range can be captured, therefore you can record louder?
 
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In 16 bit the notion was try to stay a little higher on average- due to the noise floor and dynamic range was 'only' -96'ish ;) But that's still plenty wide for most of what we do without worry.
So the same general rule' would still apply- Don't hit red/ 0dBFS (or only very little and very briefly- you can get away with some.
In most cases there's still no reason to push it. You other noise floors -amps, mic, room are much nosier.

Also, I would imagine a greater bit depth would mean that a greater dynamic range can be captured, therefore you can record louder?
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No, the noise floor is lower, so you can record very low in 24bit and our real world noise' still swamps it!
 
NotThatBright said:
Whether you're recording in 16-bit or 24-bit makes a difference on what levels you should be shooting for, right? If you're recording in 16-bit, should you go for louder than -18?

Unfortunately I can't record in 24-bit because my mixer sucks. And there is always some variation on what level I hit because the strength of my snare hits and kicks aren't always consistent (plus the accidental rimshots), so I tend to err to the side of recording too loud. My drum recording levels are usually in the red... I was going with the assumption that they'd be better off sounding too loud than too weak. What do you think?
Click to expand...

No, keep the levels lower. I'm not one of those nazis that tries to hit a certain number because no one actually knows what they're talking about, but just don't clip anything and leave yourself lots of headroom. Nothing should be in the red expect the asses of crybabies in here.
 
NotThatBright said:
Whether you're recording in 16-bit or 24-bit makes a difference on what levels you should be shooting for, right? If you're recording in 16-bit, should you go for louder than -18?

Unfortunately I can't record in 24-bit because my mixer sucks. And there is always some variation on what level I hit because the strength of my snare hits and kicks aren't always consistent (plus the accidental rimshots), so I tend to err to the side of recording too loud. My drum recording levels are usually in the red... I was going with the assumption that they'd be better off sounding too loud than too weak. What do you think?
Click to expand...

I have found that recording any thing soft or rather low signal level, I can make it louder later on.
 
Thank everybody for help!
I have another question for you! How do you balance your OHs? When i have all my drum kit elements at the same level (eq Kick/Snare/Cymbals) it sounds flat to me... Do i have to go by ear and just balance to my taste or is the some kind of technic exist?
Thanks all!
 
Bubba po said:
I don't know what you mean by "in the red" but that doesn't sound at ALL good to me
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It always means something bad, as it turns out. I was referring to the lights on the mixer that rise and fall for each track as the signal gets stronger and weaker. Mine are green until they hit 0 db, at which point they turn red. When I recorded drums, I would turn the signal strength knob for each track to where a good hit on the drum would get it just up to the red.

Thanks for all the info. Red no more.
 
Yeah that's too hot. Simma down some. Simma down. Try to get your biggest baddest peaks no higher than say -8 for drums.
 
NotThatBright said:
It always means something bad, as it turns out. I was referring to the lights on the mixer that rise and fall for each track as the signal gets stronger and weaker. Mine are green until they hit 0 db, at which point they turn red. When I recorded drums, I would turn the signal strength knob for each track to where a good hit on the drum would get it just up to the red.

Thanks for all the info. Red no more.
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0db what? Is that a VU meter, or a peak meter? If the meter you are looking at has numbers above zero, it's a VU meter, and you should be bopping around the zero mark. If zero is the highest number, then Greg's -8dbfs advice is as good as any.
 
dobro said:
I guess. Is that what a digital mixer is? Interface plus mixer?
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Most cheap mixer/interfaces are analog mixers with built-in 2-channel interfaces. Everything is done in analog except the connection to the computer. Many are designed just to capture a live mix and/or let you use a computer for playback of backing tracks etc.

A digital mixer converts analog inputs to digital and does all its routing and processing in digital, then it converts back to analog at the output. It will also probably have some digital I/O, but it doesn't necessarily have any computer connectivity.
 
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