Drums: stereo or mono?

Do you usually record/mix drums in mono or stereo?

  • Mono

    Votes: 5 17.2%

  • Stereo

    Votes: 24 82.8%
  • Total voters
    29
J

James K

Member
Hi,
thought I'd make a poll to see what people prefer: mono or stereo drums? I always mix my drums in mono. I prefer having the drums as a single point in the middle of the mix. I also find it gives them more power and allows more room for the other instruments; I usually have a few guitars panned to different places and I find having the drums in mono helps this sound. So, vote away :)

James
 
Mono allowing more room for other instruments?

Quite the opposite has been my experience.

Even with drums panned fully 100% LR on the overheads, they don't actually sound that spaced apart. But again, it depends on how your OH mics are.
 
Mono allowing more room for other instruments?

Quite the opposite has been my experience.

Even with drums panned fully 100% LR on the overheads, they don't actually sound that spaced apart. But again, it depends on how your OH mics are.
 
I mean that why would I hobble myself with a rule of "no stereo" when it exists and can be taken advantage of.... like talking without using (interesting) adjectives...

If it floats the OP's boat then fine... but not for me..
 
Sounds like a silly self-imposed rule but I usually go with either all-stereo or all-mono when tracking stuff. I don't like hugely panned drums, it gives the impression that the drum set is as wide as a stage and I like to close my eyes and imagine the mix as if I were a listener in a club. drums are pretty much right in the middle, but having left and right reflections of the room I record in adds spaciousness without making it sound like the drummer has a 20 foot reach and toms or cymbals set up out by the fire exit, behind the bar, and standing in the bathroom line. So the close mics stay centered or minimum panning just so they don't mess with each other cancelling stuff out, but I keep a left and right room mic to get some ambience in the ears. I think when everything else is recorded stereo it blends better that way.

On the other side, my 4-track roots sometimes come back to me and I like having a simple spread of "guitar/bass/drum/vocal" tracks to work with. I think I work very quickly and get simple but balanced sounding results, only adding a touch of stereo reverb to space it out into the L and R when I'm mixing it. It is limiting but the simplicity keeps me moving and keeps my composition and phrasing of the instruments sparse in a good way if I'm not hiding behind layers and the song sounds exactly as it would be played, no extra vocal cords or 8-armed guitarist mutant band members. Mono-for-all tracking is cool for that mentality to be refreshed in me sometimes.
 
Armistice said:
I mean that why would I hobble myself with a rule of "no stereo" when it exists and can be taken advantage of.... like talking without using (interesting) adjectives...

If it floats the OP's boat then fine... but not for me..
Click to expand...

I just usually prefer mono drums in my mixes, is that unreasonable of me?
 
James K said:
I just usually prefer mono drums in my mixes, is that unreasonable of me?
Click to expand...
Not in the slightest particular. If you like the kick panned left and the snare right, it wouldn't be unreasonable. Well, not to me. Because of some of the music I listen to and when it was recorded, I'm used to drums in a few configurations. I think what Armistice was getting at was that even if 99% of the time that's how you like your drums, a little openness to something different isn't a bad thing. We're mostly creatures of habit and preference ~ but with a little potential to deviance thrown in. :eek:
I like the drums nowadays in 'stereo' but the first 15 years of recording, they were always mono because I was limited with tracks. Sometimes sounded good, panned at maybe 2 O'clock. Less so hard panned, but still workable.
I find it harder to mix stereo drums {it's still relatively new to me} but I'm working on it.
 
grimtraveller said:
Not in the slightest particular. If you like the kick panned left and the snare right, it wouldn't be unreasonable. Well, not to me. Because of some of the music I listen to and when it was recorded, I'm used to drums in a few configurations. I think what Armistice was getting at was that even if 99% of the time that's how you like your drums, a little openness to something different isn't a bad thing. We're mostly creatures of habit and preference ~ but with a little potential to deviance thrown in. :eek:
I like the drums nowadays in 'stereo' but the first 15 years of recording, they were always mono because I was limited with tracks. Sometimes sounded good, panned at maybe 2 O'clock. Less so hard panned, but still workable.
I find it harder to mix stereo drums {it's still relatively new to me} but I'm working on it.
Click to expand...
I'm not closed to the idea of recording in stereo. I've experimented with it before. I've just found that in the mixes I've made so far, I prefer them in mono. I probably worded my original post badly. i should have said 'I have always mixed drums in mono so far' rather than 'I always mix drums in mono'.
 
James K said:
I'm not closed to the idea of recording in stereo. I've experimented with it before. I've just found that in the mixes I've made so far, I prefer them in mono. I probably worded my original post badly. i should have said 'I have always mixed drums in mono so far' rather than 'I always mix drums in mono'.
Click to expand...
You don't come across as narrow minded and closed.
Just out of interest, how many mics do you record with ? Greg made a comment earlier about mono drums sounding awesome in 1964. More often than not, the drums were only recorded with one mic then, at least in British studios. Then they started adding more mics but still mixed drums mono. They did often sound damn good.
 
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