Drum Sound - love it, or hate it?

Chris F

Chris F

New member
Here's a trio cut I played bass on not too long ago where we've gotten some really strange mixed feedback about the drum sound - some people love it, and some hate it. To be forthcoming, I did not record this session, but found it interesting that the engineer decided to allow the drummer to be in the same room as the piano to allow a pair of room mics to add to the ambience of the kit. I was skeptical at first, but in the end, I really like the effect.

Also, I found it interesting that with a ton of expensive mics in his locker, the engineer went with a pair of V69's on the piano...I think they sound great. What say about the drums?
 
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The drums feel like they are right on top of me. They need to be pushed back further into the mix.
 
Thanks for the feedback, guys...Spaztic, do you mean they should be quieter in the mix, or somehow spaced differently panning wise?
 
Nice song.

I am on the "hate it" side of the fence. Although I don't hate it at all.

The song intro w/ the acousic bass really draws you into the ambience and room space the bass is in. You feel like you are IN that room. You hear the transfer function, and the few millisecond delay of the string buzz and articulation.

But then the drums kick in and suddenly I that feeling of the room i was in has changed. They sound good, but the bass had a different defined source. The drums are very ambient and (correct me in I'm wrong) but the snare sound was a product of the overheads... and there was no microphone on the snare and possibly not even one on the kick drum.

The keys fit well with the bass. But I think that the ambience of the drums throws them off.

I can tell they were tracked at different times, in different rooms (unless it's verb you put on the drums). It makes the production not transparent enough for the kind of music this is.

I want to feel like I am there watching the band in a club, drinking a cocktail and peering through cigarette smoke to a lady I want to meet.
 
I like it, but...where is the kick? You've done such a great job on getting the bass to sound the way it does you've left no hole for the kick to poke through.

I feel there's too much reverb on the snare it's way too far back from the toms.

Tell you what though....bloody amazing musicaly which pulls me away from the critical listening thing...that doesn't happen often so it's all good. The piano could come down a hair
 
second listen....

if all that room ambience on the snare is from a room mic try and EQ the snare out a little cause the rest of the kit sounds fantastic.
 
yeah i dont think i like the drums. its akward too becuase the snare, cymbals, and kick sound very distant but then the toms sound like they are right there!
i do agree with the great piano sound. the drums are just too buzzy. i think if i wanted the drums to have this effect i would of just closed miced them alll and then just turned them down.
 
tarnationsauce2 said:
The keys fit well with the bass. But I think that the ambience of the drums throws them off.
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Interesting - the bass was recorded in the vocal booth, while the piano was in the big room with the drums.

I can tell they were tracked at different times, in different rooms (unless it's verb you put on the drums). It makes the production not transparent enough for the kind of music this is.
Click to expand...

Actually, everything was tracked together at once - we did two takes of the tune and kept the first one. But I think I see what you mean about the sounds - the bass and piano sound very clean and present, while the drums have more ambience. I think the reason this happened is because the piano mics were under about 3 or 4 blankets put there to help drum bleed through, and therefore there wasn't any piano in the overheads.

Lemontree said:
where is the kick? You've done such a great job on getting the bass to sound the way it does you've left no hole for the kick to poke through.
Click to expand...

Ahh...the kick was too "puffy" because the drummer didn't have the right rear kick head on, so we had to cut it back. The whole time we were mixing, the drummer was lamenting that there wasn't enought "click" on the front end of the kick, and the engineer was lamenting that the rear kick head didn't have a hole in it, which would have allowed him to put a kick mic right behind the front head.

I like the ideas about lessening the ambience of the snare, though. You guys have great ears! :)
 
This basically sounds like a pair of km184's (or something like km's) placed behind the drummer ...and thats it...no kick mic or snare mic.

Id say that if it were me i would've used the mics a little more intimately as to lessen the reflections.

The piano and bass sound fine.

Again though...i might have pushed the piano back a tad with some verb.

Also if he did use a kick mic.....it could stand to come up a tad.

Furthermore.... when mic'ing jazz kits ill use a pair of ribbons over the condensers any-day.
 
It's rather like a Binaural recording from the drummer's seat - except the kick isn't there- mixed into a stereo recording of a piano with pushed over to the side a little. I know that can't be done but , well, but...
All that nice toppy definition from the bass disappears after the intro.
I don't dislike the drum thing - except for the volume of the incidentals from the bass & kit it sounds OK.
My ideas on jazz you don't want to know about.
Cheers
rayc
 
I think the overheads were a pair of Royer ribbon mics. He had the other parts of the kit mic'ed up, but the consensus seems to be that there's too much overhead and not enough close mic.
 
I'm listening to this on my ipod headphones at work, and wow, the musicality is bloody awesome. Production sounds fantastic too; I'd buy a cd of this kind of stuff.
 
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