So I've recorded the drums... now what?

[Alexbt]

Had a short but educational session yesterday recording the drums for our new EP.

There's a lot of stuff to be worried about here. I don't think our drummer was playing his best, but I'm mainly concerned with my mic placement.

I'm not liking some of the sounds I'm getting, and I could use some tips.

Here's the mic setup I used:

(1 & 2 were scratch)
3. XY overhead pointing left
4. XY overhead pointing right
5. hi-hat mic
6. low tom/ride mic
7. kick mic
8. snare mic

Here are some basic mixdowns with extreme panning on the overheads and hi-hat/ride mics, all at their recorded volume.
I can post individual tracks if anyone wants to hear.

Example 1 http://www.shrynerocks.com/OTTN.mp3
Example 2 http://www.shrynerocks.com/CFTW.mp3

Thanks,

Alex

[Halion]

I'm hearing practice-area sound here. Am I right? Ok, anyway, here we go:
Overheads: can't say much about that.
Hats: Sound fine to me.
Kick sound small. Not many lows. I'd mic less of the beater, move the mic away from the beater and not pointing directly at it.
Snare could use a bottom mic, to bring out the highs.
The toms I don't know. No my cup of tea but I could give you any advice on another way.

This is from someone with very little experience with recording drums, so take it with a grain of salt

[Alexbt]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying about the kick... Mic was hardly in the kick for much of the session until I inched it in a bit.

[scrubs]

They sound alright to me. The snare could use a little more "snare rattle," imo and the hat and ride are a little harsh, but would probably sound ok in a mix. What aren't you liking?

[Scrubucket7]

I dont think the recording is all that bad, the drums just sound like they might need to be tuned a little. And try to tighten up the sound of the kick.

[Alexbt]

I feel like I'm getting some kind of delay or echo with the hat and the snare.

When he gets the hat going it kinda sloshes throught the entire stereo image.
Sometimes I think I'm hearing the snare in delay between the different mics too.

[LeeRosario]

Well it just sounds like its in a room, thats all. Dosn't sound mixed, other than for panning and volumes being set.

However, not that it can't be fixed in mixing.


So it's probably more a mixing thing than what you did in the recording. I can say you would then consider recording all your other stuff before you go back to mix it and bring "life" to everything evenly.

[Alexbt]

Well, I have no idea how to mix drums. I'm only engineering the album, and leaving it up to a pro to mix. I just want to be sure everything sounds as good as possible before I pass it off to the next person.

We will most likely be going in for another session, because I'm not satisfied with the performances. I think I'm going to experiment with different mic placement.
I really didn't like the XY overhead placement (very little difference between the mics) and will probably go back the one I've used before.

[LemonTree]

What mics do you have at your disposal?

In the first clip I'm hearing too much hats, in the second too much ride...actualy too much hats in the second clip too (listening as I type)

Are all your toms mic'd, or just the floor tom like you mentioned? If that's just your overheads picking up the other toms you're getting a good deal. I'd probably try just the XY overheads with a kick and a snare mic if it's your first time micing drums. See how that sounds then add in what other mics you have as you need them. Less is usualy more.

I actualy like your kick sound, the snare needs more smack and less thwak...I think the toms sound ok, nothing a bit of compression won't fatten up.

Sounds pretty good to my ears, I've had a lot worse to work with and made it work.