Critique my drum recording quality.

V

visa

New member
I've been trying to record drums for a while now. I really don't know if i'm any good at it but i've been learing alot during the last two years.

please tell me what you think of this. it's from a song I did with my band. we never recorded the rest of the band but i thought it was a nice one to test my mixing skills.

I'm looking for some advice on my sound in general. snare, kick, cymbals and my use of reverb on the snare.

here's the mp3
 
They sound OK from what I can tell. I can't judge them solo'd though. I have to hear them in the context of whatever song they're going to sit in. They might sound decent until you get them near instruments and then they might dissappear.
 
To me sounds like a minimal mic set up maybe just one overhead and a kick mic? I dont know I like the sound of everything but the kick needs some balls to it. It sounds like it was recorded with a sm57.
 
thanks for the replies.

it's two B1s for overheads. a pro37r on hihat. sm57 on snare and a D 112 for the kick.

for the kick which frequency range needs some more strength? 100Hz? i

is the snare punchy enough? does it lack something? i have the sm57 and the D 112 very low in the mix to add just a tad more strength to the snare and kick.

I EQed the D 112 track to cut alot of lows while adding alot of 6KHz punch and then put it very low in the mix to add smack because the kick is very prominent on the bass side of the overheads already?

I also gated, compressed and EQed the hell out of the snare track and put it very low in the mix.

What i realy don't know is how to EQ the OHs. any hints?

are my techniques acceptable or can you find some major mistakes in them?
 
I think I hear some phasing between the OHs. Are you applying the 3-to-1 rule? Or using a coincident set-up?
The BD sounds a bit low in the mix (just a taste thing).
Nice playing!!! I’m digging it.
 
drumzealot said:
I think I hear some phasing between the OHs. Are you applying the 3-to-1 rule? Or using a coincident set-up?
The BD sounds a bit low in the mix (just a taste thing).
Nice playing!!! I’m digging it.
Click to expand...

What??? Man shut the fuck up.
visa, it sounds fine...good in fact. The snare could use a little bump in the mix...just a touch. Good job.
 
visa said:
What i realy don't know is how to EQ the OHs. any hints?
Click to expand...

Yeah.


Don't.


Don't EQ anything unless you have really crappy mics. You have a D112 for God's sake. You shouldn't need any EQ on that mic. Are you sure it's pointing the right way?

Why are you gating and compressing everything? Why don't you start out with the kick and snare mic as the loudest and then bring up the overheads.

You should be able to get the sound without any EQ, compression or dampening and do it all with good tuning and mic placement.
 
PhilGood said:
Don't EQ anything unless you have really crappy mics. You have a D112 for God's sake. You shouldn't need any EQ on that mic.
Click to expand...

that's exactly what i was thinking. the D112 should sound great without any effects. mic placing or tuning is definitely an issue here.

drumzealot, what the 3-to-1 rule? the only thing that shouldn't have any phase issues at all is the snare because i used the string method to measure the distance between the snare and the OHs to make sure of that. there may very well be some phase shit going on on the cymbals. how do i take care of that? string method again or what?

about starting with the snare and kick and then bringing up the OHs. well, that would be exactly the other way around of what i always thought was the correct way but i'll definitely try that.

seriously tho, why does the kick sound so fucking muffled with the D112 when it's not EQed to taste? do i need to tune up?
 
what the 3-to-1 rule?

*generally* if you have 2 mics on a single source, as long as 1 of the mics is at least 3 times the distance away from the source as the 2nd mic, you shouldn't encounter phase problems.
 
visa said:
seriously tho, why does the kick sound so fucking muffled with the D112 when it's not EQed to taste? do i need to tune up?
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What do you have in it? I find that the less muffling I have, the more punch I get. I use a couple rolled up shop towels taped to the shell just touching the heads. Then I put down another towel in the middle of the shell and set up a full one gallon paint can on top of it. That adds punch. I have my kick mic pointed into a 4" vent in the front head (off centered) sticking in about 2" pointed straight down the shell. I get a hella kick sound.
 
visa said:
that's exactly what i was thinking. the D112 should sound great without any effects. mic placing or tuning is definitely an issue here.

drumzealot, what the 3-to-1 rule? the only thing that shouldn't have any phase issues at all is the snare because i used the string method to measure the distance between the snare and the OHs to make sure of that. there may very well be some phase shit going on on the cymbals. how do i take care of that? string method again or what?

about starting with the snare and kick and then bringing up the OHs. well, that would be exactly the other way around of what i always thought was the correct way but i'll definitely try that.

seriously tho, why does the kick sound so fucking muffled with the D112 when it's not EQed to taste? do i need to tune up?
Click to expand...

The 3 to 1 rule is not possible if you are also using the “recorderman” technique with your OHs.
The 3 to 1 rule: measure the distance from sound source A to OH mic 1. Multiply that by 3. The product should = the distance b/w OH mic1 and 2.

For minimal mic techniques I typically use what you call the string method or the “recorderman” in the OHs to deal with phase issues and refer to the spot where the stick hits the snare as “ground zero” and point both mics at that spot. Like you said, this should bring the snare in phase in both mics, but there may be phase issues with the toms or cymbals.
To test this hit each drum and cymbal (one at a time) and then zoom-in on your tracks to check if the sound waves are moving in the same direction and start at the same time on each track.
But your ears should be the ultimate test. If you can’t notice any phase issues with all the tracks playing in mono then you’re good to go. With this method there will be phase issues but they are usually too slight to notice.
 
sounds good visa !!

this is how i judge my drum sound:
is the sound in my speakers what i would hear if i stood 6 ft away from the live kit.
if yes, then i add my little effects to taste ( to complement the rest of the music)

you should really add some music to the drums, then you will see how your drum mix stand out. this will also help you with you drum recording / mixing.
 
I don't think I'm hearing any significant phasing. Maybe just a hair, but not enough to sweat over. Your hat mic is probably picking up a significant amount of snare and throwing it off a little. Sounds pretty clean though. That kick sounds like it's tuned too tight or may be too muffled. I think you should be getting way more thud out of it. Play with the tuning and mic placement. The snare does sound kind of thin, but that's really just personal taste. I like big meaty rock-god snares. It's my opinion that if your room isn't good for drums, use your close snare and kick mics for most of their sound and bring the O/H's in for the cymbals and flavoring. If your room is good, you can go with more O/H's and less snare mic. If you want a clicky thump metal kick sound, you will definitely have to get it tuned right and do some EQ work.
 
tuning

at least for your bass drum, i think some better tuning would be in order. i find that single ply heads are a lot more punchy, especially when the batter is tuned really loose and the resonant head pretty tight. it seems like you might have muffled a little bit too much.
as for the snare, i love reverb, but its a personal taste thing. like everyone said its easier to tell in the context of the song.
 
alright. thanks for the replies. here's my second atempt at mixing the drums properly.

still without any additional instruments. i'll do that later.

what i did was to do the mix without the OHs and then bring those up slowly.

i also completely removed the kick's EQ and merely added some slight compression.

the hat is now much lower in the mix.

for the snare i increased the release time to 200ms on gate of the snare track and added some slight compression.

mp3 download
 
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