how to record drums....

[buryher17]

i guess this is probably the best place to put this. Im doing an essay on how to record durms for my college english class and im going to do it in a pdf file, but i just wanted to see if anyone had any interesting way they record drums and i could add it in, or any specific mic's they use.

I know what im going to do for the most part, but i just wnated to have some extra ideas, im tyring to write a 5-6 page paper on it with diagrams and fun pictures.

[mrhotapples]

I record drums by tuning the drummer's kit for him, making him raise his cymbals really high, having him play to a click for a few minutes to establish some kind of tempo in the bastard and then putting mics up...Usually one on every drum even if I won't use it in the end and I set up a room mic at some point in front of the kit to pick up some natural click/projection of the kick and a good image of the kit, which doesn't usually get used either.

You'd better include that the biggest obstacle to a great drum sound is usually a shitty drummer that doesn't understand how to tension drum heads let alone tun them OR play to a click when he doesn't have consistent internal tempo...I've lost so much sleep over what I've done wrong recording local bands before realizing that it was usually poor musicianship that was preventing us from achieving a more pro sound.

Garbage in garbage out, especially at that first interface of human vs. instrument.

[aidan_m]

Originally Posted by mrhotapples

I record drums by tuning the drummer's kit for him, making him raise his cymbals really high, having him play to a click for a few minutes to establish some kind of tempo in the bastard and then putting mics up...Usually one on every drum even if I won't use it in the end and I set up a room mic at some point in front of the kit to pick up some natural click/projection of the kick and a good image of the kit, which doesn't usually get used either.

You'd better include that the biggest obstacle to a great drum sound is usually a shitty drummer that doesn't understand how to tension drum heads let alone tun them OR play to a click when he doesn't have consistent internal tempo...I've lost so much sleep over what I've done wrong recording local bands before realizing that it was usually poor musicianship that was preventing us from achieving a more pro sound.

Garbage in garbage out, especially at that first interface of human vs. instrument.

PAH! Drummer-hater!!

Don't forget overheads!! Most important mic on the entire drum kit recording arsenal!

[Seafroggys]

you put your drummers cymbals high up?

That's BAD!

[giraffe]

moving the cymbals up seems like a good idea, but it may throw the drummer off, making for a loooooooooooong day.

i usually try to just work with thier set up, but tuning and the inability to hit the drums harder then the cymbals are usually key player issues that need to be dealt with.

[Seafroggys]

High cymbals is bad setup and technique practice. Usually n00b drummers have their cymbals insanely high, where seasoned drummers who know their shit have their cymbals low. If you can't record a good sound with low cymbals, something is wrong with you.

[buryher17]

Originally Posted by Seafroggys

High cymbals is bad setup and technique practice. Usually n00b drummers have their cymbals insanely high, where seasoned drummers who know their shit have their cymbals low. If you can't record a good sound with low cymbals, something is wrong with you.

haha im going agree. Luckily the bands i've been workign with for the most part are incredible mucisians. so i've been very blessed haha

and yea i know how the set up goes, and i agree 100% though. about 5 or 6 sessions ago i did this one band that the recording could have bene so much better but the drummer had noc lue what he was doing. he couldnt play to a click, he could play.... his durms were tunned to shit and heads were shit, so me tunning them didnt even matter, and his cymbals were crap. so i was really not veyr impressed with hwo it came out...

funniest part is, after recording them they come to me and realize "the recording was recorded about 3 times too slow"

i saw a live video.... well lets just say the live video was abut 3:30 seconds.... the recording was about 4:20 seconds!

haha

but yea, im definately including tunning the drums, get new heads, the standard mics [ie: sm57, d6/beta52a/d112, e604, c 1000 s], im going to discuss the angles to put the mics at and how much of a difference it will make if placed in different ways [such as top/bottom], ambience/room mics, im going to discuss recording on a click, and im going to discuss triggering and im also going to tell some tricks about getting your drums to souinds better [ie: pillow inside drum....etc]

does anyone have different mics that work well? thats basically what i was curious of. i want to tell the standard mics, then some other good ones.

[mrhotapples]

Raising the cymbals closest to the tom mics can oftentimes help a lot with getting more tom tom than cymbal. A lot of drummers are terribly inconsistent with the volume they play at. they pummel their snares and cymbals (my drummer likes to use his 20" ping ride as a crash and it really isn't pleasant) and lightly caress their toms.

Raising the cymbals even a few inches can save your ass and make using close mics on the toms pertinent...Or it can lead to the guy extending his swing and coming down right onto those precious tom mics.

There's a good thing to add though.

Nothing is taboo. Everything goes when tracking a drum kit. The only guidelines anyone might suggest as a must are that microphones be pointed at a drum kit, and then some people don't even do that. Screw digital drums though...