New guy looking for feedback:)

S

sandman357

New member
Hi All,
I am new to the forum and to recording in general. I have been lurking on the forum for a while reading as much as I can. The following link is my first attempt at recording drums. The drums are basically a dry mix, I just leveled them a bit and messed with the pan on some of the tracks. The vocal, acoustic guitar and bass are just reference tracks and will be re-recorded once we get the drums nailed down. I do plan on recording them the same way though so even though I am interested in drum feedback, I will happily take feed back on those tracks as well ;)

I am using a Zoom R16 and my drummer has drum mics. Not sure what brand, but he got them on special at Guitar Center a while ago. So, I am assuming they are entry level quality. I messed up and did not realize the overhead mics needed phantom power, so they did not work. The result being the crash cymbals did not come through.

The drummer placed the kick drum mic in the kick drum. He clamped the tom mics on the under side of the toms, but outside the toms. I believe he positioned one mic to pick up the snare and hi hat.

I am looking for suggestions on mic placement on the drums for when I go back and record again. The videos I have watched say to place the mic on top of the toms aiming at the drum head. For the first run through, I just let the drummer place the mics like he normally does figuring he knew better than me. (I am the bass player.) I also am not happy with the floor tom, but can't remember how or if he had a mic on that.

Anyway, here it is. Remember the two over head mics were not working. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post and hopefully offer advice on the recording.

 
The mic failure that killed your crashes was a blessing in disguise. Most songs sound better the less crash they use--IMO! I like your song. It's got a good groove potentially. The bass and guitar were not tight with the drummer, so it made the song jolt in places. Once you've rehearsed it, it's going to have a nice easy groove that draws people into the song. The vocals were good. The vocal has a slight harshness that could be tamed with some EQ cuts--don't ask me where. I'm a beginner at mixing. A couple of femaie backup singers doing harmony over the chorus would light this track on fire!

The drummer is good. The drum track sounds like it could be rehearsed more. Some of the changes were tighter than others. I didn't really miss the lack of high end on the drums. The hats came through a little. I don't know enough about recording drums to comment on the raw tracks you posted.

Welcome to the forum and to MP3 clinic! Hope you stick around and post alot, both songs and comments. I see you have already started commenting on other tracks posted on the forum. Good on you, and keep it up. The more we all post comments on other peoples' tracks, the more we will get comments on our own.
 
Some observations:

The song itself is not too bad, although maybe a bit generic. I reckon with further attention to production it would scrub up nicely. Singing is good. I can easily imagine some harmonies popping up here and there.

The drums need work (the recording, not the playing). One mike to cover snare and hats is fine. Hats can be very penetrating and rarely need their own mike.

Where you place the kick mike depends on what sound you want and the position that delivers that sound. Try a variety of positions, record about eight bars of each, then compare and pick the best.

I have generally (though not always) found tom mikes to be more of a nuisance than a benefit. So were I to be doing this I would not use them. However, I would most definitely use the overheads; that's where you get the sense of space and separation from, and they pick up toms just fine. Just make sure phantom is on next time!

If new to recording, try the walk-before-run thing and minimise the things you have to deal with to start with . . . there are fewer things you can mess up.

In the track, at times the drums have presence, and at other times they disappear (see, for example, at 48 secs. They come back in at 57 secs). I'm not sure what that was a result of. It needs to be checked.
 
of all the pieces, i thought the kick needs the most work. and there's a tom in the left that pops out way too much. unfortunately i use electronic drums, so not much advice to give on improving live drum sounds. composition wise, it's not a bad tune. the outro should be re-worked a bit. you almost can't tell it's an outro, and then it stops pretty short. i agree with harmonies, that they should be added though I couldn't say female for sure, just something additional.

i know you were looking for drum feedback, but since i couldn't contribute there, i tried elsewhere. ;)
 
The drums...work on their levels/balance. The only time they come in loud enough is on the fills.
Vocals too loud..and the main rhythm guitar track too.

Needs some more mix work.
 
I liked the guitar in the beginning. Generally a nice song.

The bass and kick are really loud. They're also a bit "thuddy". Too much low end.

Vocal is really loud. I have a bit of trouble hearing the guitar when the vocal is happening.

Toms are SUPER loud. They need to be pulled down a good 8dbs.

Vocal has a nice tone generally. There is a little strange reverb to it. It sounds like it's in a different place from the rest of the instruments. I think if you EQ'd out a notch somewhere around 2500hz it would help the vocal.

A drum fill or two was a bit clumsy.
 
Thanks to everyone who took the time to listen and reply with suggestions. I just ordered some additional mic stands so I can experiment with better mic placement for the drums. I hope to re-record the drums later this week. Once I have a solid foundation with the drums we will go back and record the other tracks again. I will post that when it is finished. I also have an electric rhythm track and a lead track to lay down:) Harmonies are definitely in the plan as well. Those will be last.

The foundation has to be rock solid first with the drums then I will build everything around that. I am assuming this is how it is done. Is there any particular order that is best for recording tracks?
 
I start with bass and drums. But I'm not very efficient, so I generally wind up re-recording the bass a time or two along the way as the arrangement evolves. Guitars for some reason come easy for me, so I tend to track those pretty early in the process and rarely have to change them.
 
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