First attempt at recording drums

[WhiteStrat]

As a guitarist who can't chew gum and count to 4 at the same time, I'm in awe of good drums. Perhaps I'm jaded by years of listening to and studying guitarists--but my favorite 15 minutes of musical wanking in a concert is usually the drum solo--not the guitar solo.

So it is with trepidation that I slowly approach recording drums. I'm keenly aware of the fact that they can make or break my recordings. The following link is a snippet of my first test recording of a live kit. I'll give details later if anyone cares to know, but for now I'd love to hear your thoughts on the sound of this:

 

[JuliánFernández]

First let me tell you that the drummer owns! Great groove!

The drums sounds nice too! I feel that the sound lacks of punch... maybe trying to open the OH a little more?

Which was the signal chain?

 

[WhiteStrat]

First let me tell you that the drummer owns! Great groove!

The drums sounds nice too! I feel that the sound lacks of punch... maybe trying to open the OH a little more?

Which was the signal chain?

Thanks! The drummer is my future son-in-law; he's marrying my daughter in May--it'll be great to have a drummer like that in the family (and he's a great guy!).

Signal chain:

Overheads: Rode NT-5's (spaced wide, not XY) into MPA Gold Pres

Toms: GLS/ES57's into M-audio Octane Pres (basically 8 DMP-3 pres in a single unit) Note: 80% of the toms sound is coming from the overheads. Very little mixed in from these mics.

Snare: Audix i5 into Symetrix 528e with EQ & Comp bypassed. But only about half of the snare sound is the i5--the rest is the overheads.

Kick: Cheap kick mic from a Audio Tecnica Digital Reference set. Into ART Pro Channel with EQ bypassed & just a touch of comp. (I'm still chewing on which "real" kick mic to go with...)

HH: MXL 993 (SDC) into a Rane VP12 (the same Pre as a MS-1).

Room Mics: CAD M177s into a couple channels on the Octane.

Thanks for taking the time...

 

[aidan_m]

Sounds great for a first go.. OHs definitely need to come through a bit more, and the kick is lacking punch.. but otherwise very impressive. nice stereo image from the toms

 

[WhiteStrat]

Sounds great for a first go.. OHs definitely need to come through a bit more, and the kick is lacking punch.. but otherwise very impressive. nice stereo image from the toms

I’m assuming you mean that the cymbals need to come up some. At least that’s what I hear. Here’s my question for drummers, then: Since the overheads are already doing a great job of picking up the toms (and everything else!), how do I get them closer to the cymbals without making everything else louder? (Which would put me right back in the same place.)

If I move the OH mics down and closer to the cymbals themselves, I lose the balance on the stereo spread.

Or could my cymbals be crap? They’re old and fairly beat. (I’m a guitarist remember…)

Thanks for the time and the input!

(BTW--got a sweet deal on a D112 just this morning and picked it up not 20 minutes ago. Looking forward to trying again with better results on the kick.