Drums!

[newsoundguy]

I am using adobe audition, and I also have a couple signal processors, what can I do either in the program or with the signal processors to optimize the recorded sound of my drums?

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by newsoundguy

I am using adobe audition, and I also have a couple signal processors, what can I do either in the program or with the signal processors to optimize the recorded sound of my drums?

Define "optimize". What needs optimization; i.e. what is it you don't like about the sound of the drums you're getting now?

Without info like that, it's like asking your doctor "What treatment should I follow to feel better?" without describing first what's not feeling right about you.

G.

[newsoundguy]

well, I am mostly just wondering what kind of tweaking I can do to the souond, it is nothing in particular, althoug I would like to acheive a brighter sound if I can do that in the program, it seems to be able to do everything else.

[ecktronic]

Apply EQ to the drums which can brighten them. Apply compression (if you need it) to make a sharper attack and/or control the dynamics. Add reverb to give depth and maybe even short inaudible delays to thicken them up.
Hope this helps.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Arguably the best sound tweak that can be made in recording and mixing drums happens long before you get to the software editor stage and that is to make sure the drum kit itself is tuned properly before you even start recording. A poorly tuned drum kit will not make an "optimal" recording no matter how one tries to tweak it in the mix, whereas a well-tuned kit will almost make a good tweak-free recording that will fall into your lap by itself (emphasis on the word "almost" )

Second to that is microphone technique (selection of mic type and placement). No hard and fast rules here, it takes some expirimentation to see what works for you and what doesn't. But if it's "brightness" you're looking for, three good areas to begin your adventure at might be

1) Placement of the kick mic to accentuate the attack of the beater hitting the kick skin.
2) Selection and placement of a separate snare mic in such a way as to accentuate the snare's brighter fomants.
3) Finding which mics work best for you as overheads to get the most out of the cymbal sounds you record.

Then there's always the question of the recording environment (e.g. the deader the room, the deader the drums, etc.), but that's a whole other topic for a whole other lungful of air...

The implication of all of the above is that the steps taken *before* you even get close to the Audition stage will have a much greater (and better quality) effect of drum sound than any "fix in the mix" tricks will have.

That said, however, once you get that far, record kick and snare and overheads each to seperate tracks (the overheads can be a single stereo track if you wish) and make any EQ adjustments you need to those individual tracks to bring out the desired freqs for each instrument in the kit. Here's some basic guidelines as to some key frequency ranges for eack part of the kit:

KICK
80-100Hz bottom, hollowness below 400Hz, 3-5kHz attack

SNARE
120-240Hz fatness, 900Hz ring, 5kHz crispness, 10kHz snap

TOMS
240-500Hz fullness, 5-7kHz attack

FLOOR TOM
80-120Hz fullness, 5kHz attack

CONGA
200Hz ring, 5kHz slap

CYMBALS/HI HAT
200Hz clang, 8-10kHz sparkle

EQ to taste, but I'd recommend not boosting any given freq by more than a few dB at most. If you think you need more boost than that, you'd probably be better off cutting some surrounding freqs by a couple of dB to accentuate the difference, instead of having a huge EQ peak of 8 or 10dB.

Finally, sprinkling some compression on the kick channel can give some punch to it, if desired.

HTH,

G.

[ecktronic]

Someones looking for a brownie point. Only kiddin Glen.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Nah, that's not the kind of "brownies" I could really use right now



G.

[ecktronic]

Ahhh deep fried # browns mmmmm DOEnuts.