Recording hand claps
- Thread starter jmeager
- Start date
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Make sure you clap with the rhythm. 
It's not a hard thing...don't over-engineer it.
If anything, don't cup your hands directly perpendicular to the mic so as not to cause any air "whoosh"...just do it a bit off-axis...you can just tilt your hands downward some.
You might also want to record a few hand/mic positions, that way you will have more than one handclap sound/style to pick from.
It's not a hard thing...don't over-engineer it.
If anything, don't cup your hands directly perpendicular to the mic so as not to cause any air "whoosh"...just do it a bit off-axis...you can just tilt your hands downward some.
You might also want to record a few hand/mic positions, that way you will have more than one handclap sound/style to pick from.
philbagg
Just Killing Time
Experimentation always yields the best results.
TheChikenMaster
I'm Unbalanced
And now a round of applause
The Cancers
New member
In my experience, if you can get two or three friends to join you for it, it'll be a lot easier to get a really thick, "handclappy" (I can't think of a better word for it) sound. It's been hard for me to get a sound recorded that sounds like a handclap on playback just doing it myself. Three or four people in the room, though, and it's just automatic.
philbagg
Just Killing Time
And now a round of applause
Little off topic but...
I lol'd when I read your user title
TheChikenMaster
I'm Unbalanced
Actually is was quite on the dime
Chibi Nappa
New member
Hand claps are way harder than they should be...
* Get the right amount of people. Hand claps with one person can be simple, but songs usually call for more than one.
* Decide on the amount of meat and air. Some songs want flatter palms than others. Some songs want different people simultaneously doing both.
* You probably need heavy compression. Fast attack and release. Natural claps usually can't stand up to a drum kit.
* The big one: Keep the clappers around for as many takes as they can stand. Edit the good claps together. Most people aren't professional clappers. You will be surprised how rare it is that all of them hit correctly together.
* Get the right amount of people. Hand claps with one person can be simple, but songs usually call for more than one.
* Decide on the amount of meat and air. Some songs want flatter palms than others. Some songs want different people simultaneously doing both.
* You probably need heavy compression. Fast attack and release. Natural claps usually can't stand up to a drum kit.
* The big one: Keep the clappers around for as many takes as they can stand. Edit the good claps together. Most people aren't professional clappers. You will be surprised how rare it is that all of them hit correctly together.
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
It also depends on the sound you're going for.
I've done a bit of recording with my uncle and my dad, and one song we did was a mid-to-fast tempo acoustic blues sort of sound. There was no percussion, but something about it had a very "live" feel to it, so I proposed overdubbing what sounded like a bunch of people in a bar clapping in time, on the 2 and 4 of the beat.
I just used a X-Y array of SDCs, simply because they happened to be convenient, and did three or four takes of the three of us clapping along. I moved us around a lot - one from a foot or two back from the mics, one from maybe 6' back, and one from the far side of the room, as far away as I could get us. Combined, this gave a pretty decent sense of space. Furthermore, Chibi is right in that not all of the claps were 100% on the beat, but given the vibe we were after (a slightly rowdy bar crowd), it actually fit the performance much better than a bunch of machine-precise handclaps would have, and gave it a lot more "depth" somehow.
We then all sort of broke into applause and cheering at the end of the song - it was actually a lot of fun to overdub. After the first pass, my dad and uncle kind of looked at me funny, like "Drew, what are you thinking here?" but once we got a few more takes down, it really sounded pretty cool.
Given the sound we were after, I really didn't do very much to them - I may have added a bit of compression, but I don't think I did anything more than maybe a bit more room reverb, especially on the more distant take.
iownrocknroll
New member
step back from the mic.
embrace the room sound of the hand clap.
it tends to help them sit in the mix.
sometimes if you record them stereo and delay one side 1-5 ms it thickens it a bit as well
embrace the room sound of the hand clap.
it tends to help them sit in the mix.
sometimes if you record them stereo and delay one side 1-5 ms it thickens it a bit as well
TheChikenMaster
I'm Unbalanced
Add some cowbell for some love
Todzilla
New member
antichef
pornk rock
I remember being on a long drive and hearing an interview with the band Korn where they described recording handclaps - they wanted a big heavy clapping sound. They said they all (along with everyone else in and around the studio who had enough hands) clapped and that they also recorded all sorts of other things, like hitting together two 2x4 pieces of lumber, etc. in order to mix in with and reinforce the clapping.
Absolutely hand claps can be very difficult to record you may want to find some samples to mix in also.
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
Actually, come to think of it....
If you're after the 80s hand clap percussion sound (um, Satriani's "Always with Me, Always with you" or that sort of thing), a "sampled" hand clap might be the way to go, either finding one on the net somewhere, or just recording a couple claps yourself, selecting one, and pasting it into your projects either as a single-clap loop or as individual hits. It won't sound organic, but if that's the sound you're after, well, that might be the best way to get a perfectly consistent, even clap.