New Recording with Added Kick Mic

B

BRX rad

New member
Hey again,

I made a thread a week ago and posted a recording that was done with a snare mic and 2 overheads. I mentioned I was getting a kick mic in within a week. Well it's here, and I made another recording with it added to the mix. All of the settings are the same from the previous recording I posted, this one just has the kick mic added in. I'm liking the sound of the kick, now I just need some help with the levels. What do you guys think should be brought up, brought down, stay the same, be different?

Here is the link to both recordings. I'll label each recording so you know which one is the old one, and which one is the new one.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=756906

And for those of you who don't know, here's my situation. I use Garageband on my Macbook Pro because I don't have any other recording software. Therefore, all I do is plug my mics into my mixer board, and run the outputs of the mixer board directly into the line-in jack of my laptop. Not the best, I know, but it's all I have, and I try to make everything sound decent on one track.

Mics are Shure Beta 52A on kick, SM57 on snare, and 2 Audio Technica 2020's as overheads.

Thanks!

Chris
 
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Pretty good. You really need to get some instruments in there to see how everything fits. That kick sounds good on it's own, but it may get lost or sound mushy next to some bass guitar and rhythm guitars.
 
Concur with above. You're getting fade-out on the toms too, might want to get another SM57 or two over there. The hat could use a mic too. Sound is very good though for what you have, the kit sounds great. Gotta love those B52s on the bass drum:cool: Keep up the good work.
 
Greg_L said:
Pretty good. You really need to get some instruments in there to see how everything fits. That kick sounds good on it's own, but it may get lost or sound mushy next to some bass guitar and rhythm guitars.
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Thanks Greg! I know, and when it comes time to record the band, I won't have any control over that mic alone. I'll have to go back and re-record the whole track if that's the case. I'm just glad it sounds alright as a mix right now :)
 
1 said:
Concur with above. You're getting fade-out on the toms too, might want to get another SM57 or two over there. The hat could use a mic too. Sound is very good though for what you have, the kit sounds great. Gotta love those B52s on the bass drum:cool: Keep up the good work.
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I've tried adding 57's to the toms, but with my current recording setup and only using one track for all the mics, it's almost impossible to get a good mix with that many mics. Either the overheads pick up the toms so much that the tom mics aren't doing anything, or the tom mics are turned up so high that you get a lot of nasty overtones and whatnot. It's very hard t find that happy medium, as I'm very limited with what I can do as far as settings go with each mic. I think the overheads pick them up pretty decently. I have a spare MXL 604 condenser mic, would that work for the hi hat?

And thanks! :D
 
BRX rad said:
Thanks Greg! I know, and when it comes time to record the band, I won't have any control over that mic alone. I'll have to go back and re-record the whole track if that's the case. I'm just glad it sounds alright as a mix right now :)
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Yeah but right now means exactly jack shit.

Record some scratch guitars and bass to a click, and then record the drums. It's probably gonna take some trial and error, but tweak your kit and mics until you get it sounding good against the guitars and bass. Take your time and keep track of what changes you make so you can go back if you need to. This way, you'll at least be close when it's time to record for real.
 
Greg_L said:
Yeah but right now means exactly jack shit.

Record some scratch guitars and bass to a click, and then record the drums. It's probably gonna take some trial and error, but tweak your kit and mics until you get it sounding good against the guitars and bass. Take your time and keep track of what changes you make so you can go back if you need to. This way, you'll at least be close when it's time to record for real.
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Will do man.
 
I really liked the recording overall, and the playing was nice and funky. The kick is a little 'loud', but really, for what you have and how you're recording, it sounds waaaaaaaay better than what I've heard some people do with a lot 'better' gear. But the real test is how you add bass and guitars to the mix. That will tell you if you have the 'producer' chops.
 
ranjam said:
I really liked the recording overall, and the playing was nice and funky. The kick is a little 'loud', but really, for what you have and how you're recording, it sounds waaaaaaaay better than what I've heard some people do with a lot 'better' gear. But the real test is how you add bass and guitars to the mix. That will tell you if you have the 'producer' chops.
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Haha thanks man! :D
 
Sounds pretty good dude :)

A couple of gripes though:
1. Consider close-miking the toms if your mixer has room for it. They're getting lost behind the kick and snare.

2. Re-tune your high rack tom. Every time you hit the kick drum you can hear the overtones coming from it. You could probably do some EQ'ing to get rid of it, but it's definitely distracting in this mix.
 
daaaaaaaaamn dude, like stated above about how this sounds better than people that have better gear...im a prime example...i have better gear than what you have and more mics....but my drums dont compare at all

everything sounds so clean and crisp...yet full and great!

awesome job, and cool groove!
 
Everybody said:
daaaaaaaaamn dude, like stated above about how this sounds better than people that have better gear...im a prime example...i have better gear than what you have and more mics....but my drums dont compare at all

everything sounds so clean and crisp...yet full and great!

awesome job, and cool groove!
Click to expand...

Thanks man! :D
 
doctorfungi said:
Sounds pretty good dude :)

A couple of gripes though:
1. Consider close-miking the toms if your mixer has room for it. They're getting lost behind the kick and snare.

2. Re-tune your high rack tom. Every time you hit the kick drum you can hear the overtones coming from it. You could probably do some EQ'ing to get rid of it, but it's definitely distracting in this mix.
Click to expand...

Thanks man. With my current setup using Garageband and just a mixer, it's hard to mix in tom mics. I've tried it before, but everything just gets muddled together. They pick up too much of everything else. I'm limited with my EQ abilities, so I do the best I can with two overheads. As far as the high tom, not sure what you mean there. I think it sounds fine, but thanks for the observation. I'll go back and listen to it again :D
 
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