Please Critique My Acoustic Drum Track

L

LaceSensor

Member
This is my first experience recording my own drum kit, also my first time learning to play drums. I produce music and will have professional drummers come in for sessions but I wanted to get a good idea of what I’m doing, before wasting anyone’s time.

Overheads - 2x Royer R10. ~ 4 feet apart.
Kick - Beta52A in sound hole. AT2035 in front of resonant head.
Snare Top - SM57
Hi Hat Top - sE8

The overheads are feeding into a pair of BAE1073 preamps. I only have 2 of these preamps to work with. Would it be better to run snare into one of the BAE1073 preamps?

Some of my mic’s I have matched pairs of, so I have options for mic choices. I wanted to use one of the AT2035 on the kick and one of the sE8 on the HiHat, and later another on the ride or crash. I could use the AT2035 pair or sE8 pair, for overheads, but then I wouldn’t be able to use them elsewhere. This is why I chose to use the R10s for overheads.

This recording is my first take after setting gain levels. I’d like to work on my mic placement and drum tuning before I start adding any eq or processing. This mix does have a bus compressor with a few dBs of gain reduction. But nothing else has been applied. Please let me know what I need to work on here (besides my own playing lol!)

Drum Kit Raw Mix.wav

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
I don't know anything about your mics and preamps, but I do try to record my own drum kit.
There are so many ways to adjust and damp a drum kit. That's the starting point. Get the drums sounding good.
Your hi-hats sound clunky. Adjust the lower hi-hat so it tilts a bit.
Explore damping inside the bass drum. I use pillows in there.
Tuning of the toms - one notch above wrinkle.
I don't have room around my kit, so have a Samson mic on each drum, plus some Samson pencil mics above the cymbals
It all goes into a live mixer, then the stereo result currerntly goes through a compressor. Sounds better with than without.
 
Slouching Raymond said:
I don't know anything about your mics and preamps, but I do try to record my own drum kit.
There are so many ways to adjust and damp a drum kit. That's the starting point. Get the drums sounding good.
Your hi-hats sound clunky. Adjust the lower hi-hat so it tilts a bit.
Explore damping inside the bass drum. I use pillows in there.
Tuning of the toms - one notch above wrinkle.
I don't have room around my kit, so have a Samson mic on each drum, plus some Samson pencil mics above the cymbals
It all goes into a live mixer, then the stereo result currerntly goes through a compressor. Sounds better with than without.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the tips. I’ve already got dampening pillows on both of my kick heads. The room sound of the kick is actually the only piece I’m completely happy with. The AT2035 is where the sub-boom is coming from so I will try lowering this mic in the mix.

I will try angling my lower hi hat as I agree these don’t sound so great in the recording. Kind of flat and cheap sounding.

I don’t have any toms in the mix yet however one of my drummer friends suggested I tune the snare higher. I also think the snare doesn’t sound great and has a boingy sustain. One thing I forgot to do was point the SM57 to the stroke point of the snare. When I recorded this, it was aimed at the Remo logo at the top of the snare.
 
LaceSensor said:
This is my first experience recording my own drum kit, also my first time learning to play drums. I produce music and will have professional drummers come in for sessions but I wanted to get a good idea of what I’m doing, before wasting anyone’s time.

Overheads - 2x Royer R10. ~ 4 feet apart.
Kick - Beta52A in sound hole. AT2035 in front of resonant head.
Snare Top - SM57
Hi Hat Top - sE8

The overheads are feeding into a pair of BAE1073 preamps. I only have 2 of these preamps to work with. Would it be better to run snare into one of the BAE1073 preamps?

Some of my mic’s I have matched pairs of, so I have options for mic choices. I wanted to use one of the AT2035 on the kick and one of the sE8 on the HiHat, and later another on the ride or crash. I could use the AT2035 pair or sE8 pair, for overheads, but then I wouldn’t be able to use them elsewhere. This is why I chose to use the R10s for overheads.

This recording is my first take after setting gain levels. I’d like to work on my mic placement and drum tuning before I start adding any eq or processing. This mix does have a bus compressor with a few dBs of gain reduction. But nothing else has been applied. Please let me know what I need to work on here (besides my own playing lol!)
Click to expand...
You aren't playing the drums hard enough or hitting the heads correctly - plus with out music it's impossible to tell if your drum sound works - do you have some music you could play along side the Drums?
 
LaceSensor said:
I don’t have any toms in the mix yet however one of my drummer friends suggested I tune the snare higher. I also think the snare doesn’t sound great and has a boingy sustain. One thing I forgot to do was point the SM57 to the stroke point of the snare. When I recorded this, it was aimed at the Remo logo at the top of the snare.
Click to expand...
It is all down to taste, but that's what I do - Tune the toms low, but have the snare drum higher. There's a whole bunch of ways to dampen the snare drum:
Taping a bit of tissue to it - There are some sticky pads you can buy - Or, just place your wallet on the side of the head.
Then, there's tension of the snares to adjust.
I point my close mics at the centre of the head.
So many variables, it is all taste.
 
To me it all sounds a bit dull and loose with too much room sound. The feel on the hi-hat also makes it sound like you are struggling a bit, rather than comfortable with the beat, though this is typical if you have only just started to play drums. Given you are just starting out, try recording with just the overheads. If you can adjust your playing style so that you can get close to a decent sound with just overheads you are well on your way to a decent drum sound.
 
PorterhouseMusic said:
Snare sounds ringy with a long trail after each hit - as opposed to tight and snappy?
Click to expand...

I agree. Today I spent about an hour tuning the snare and watching videos. I would say I made a huge improvement in the snare sound. I also cut a small/thin piece of fabric to dampen the top.

Some other adjustments I made today. Move Hi Hat behind snare mic diaphragm. Repositioned the overheads for more centered and aligned placement. Lowered OH height and angled the R10s (they were pointed straight down/and up b/c figure 8). Pointed snare mic towards the strike point, previously it was pointed at the Remo logo at the top of the head.
 
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jamesperrett said:
To me it all sounds a bit dull and loose with too much room sound. The feel on the hi-hat also makes it sound like you are struggling a bit, rather than comfortable with the beat, though this is typical if you have only just started to play drums. Given you are just starting out, try recording with just the overheads. If you can adjust your playing style so that you can get close to a decent sound with just overheads you are well on your way to a decent drum sound.
Click to expand...

My studio is on the crappier side of sounding good. So the overheads only work sitting underneath the mix, to bring in some ambience. I could try lowering them down a bit.
 
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I don't like the bass drum on any of them, but the 2nd was the best.
The snare is.....well, it has no snap or meat on any of them. It's close in sound to the kick. Too close.
The hi-hats are OK sound-wise.
Can you include some toms and cymbals in the clips ?
Can you also include some bass or guitar, just so we can hear what it's like in a musical context.
Bear in mind that these thoughts are according to my taste and are not in any way definitive ~ and neither should they be.
 
I'm very very happy with this one. I'm an idiot and had not been panning my stereo overheads this entire time. I’ve also figured out the best routing for bus processing to avoid pumping and artificial sounding attack. I can definitely use this sound for sessions and recording.

Drum Kit Mix (5).wav

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
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grimtraveller said:
I don't like the bass drum on any of them, but the 2nd was the best.
The snare is.....well, it has no snap or meat on any of them. It's close in sound to the kick. Too close.
The hi-hats are OK sound-wise.
Can you include some toms and cymbals in the clips ?
Can you also include some bass or guitar, just so we can hear what it's like in a musical context.
Bear in mind that these thoughts are according to my taste and are not in any way definitive ~ and neither should they be.
Click to expand...


Yea I'll make one with electric guitar and bass this weekend. Keep in mind it will be hard to listen to because I can only play this one drum groove. I really need to learn another groove at this point. I was holding back on toms because I wanted to get the core pieces sounding good. The music I create is mostly kick, snare, hats.
 
I'm weakest recording drums - always have. Oddly I'm OK with live drums. The one thing I do know is that drums are really individual, so while your last setup works to a degree with a new kit, you end up adjusting everything. My personal wierdness is that I love Beyer M201 dynamics as overheads because of the pick up up pattern.
 
LaceSensor said:

Drum Kit Mix (5).wav

drive.google.com drive.google.com
Click to expand...
Sounding better. Little bit of reverb in there now.
The hi-hats are maybe a little too prominent.
Bringing in the toms for simple fills, and a crash, will make it more interesting.

One of my favorite things to do is (I have 2 bass drums) Right Kick - Left Kick - Right Floor Tom - Left Snare. Played rapidly, evenly spaced, and repeated say 4 times.
Just imagine a 4-cylinder engine ticking over.
 
Slouching Raymond said:
Sounding better. Little bit of reverb in there now.
The hi-hats are maybe a little too prominent.
Bringing in the toms for simple fills, and a crash, will make it more interesting.

One of my favorite things to do is (I have 2 bass drums) Right Kick - Left Kick - Right Floor Tom - Left Snare. Played rapidly, evenly spaced, and repeated say 4 times.
Just imagine a 4-cylinder engine ticking over.
Click to expand...

I think it’s a good sign I’ve moved past the recording techniques and now this is probably a better topic for the mixing forum category. With my snare tuning, what you’re hearing is…. I properly tuned the snare and then loosen the front two lugs on the top head. I’m thinking to add some tension back to these lugs to add crack/sizzle to the snare, so I can reduce some of the eq I’ve applied. I love the way it sounds in the room but I’m adding in that crack/sizzle with eq. I also added a small mix of room reverb to the snare. It sounds good dry too, just a different style/vibe.

My 2 overhead mics were panned far left/right and I crushed them with an 1176 plugin using heavy compression. These two techniques combined, may be why the hats sound exaggerated. I’ll remove the compression and bring the panning in some.

I believe I have also removed too much sub bass with processing and I’m planning to add some back in.

I think at this point I need to practice my drum playing and/or bring in an actual drummer. If I start adding toms and crash/ride I won’t be able to play all of these pieces in a groove. I also agree it’s probably best to place this recorded drum sound into a full mix to see how it sits.
 
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