Drum recording issues...Someone please help!

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ClapHands

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Recently, I started playing in a band (who've never had a drummer before) and they expressed to me that they wanted to record some of their new material with me behind the kit. Though I've been recording other musicians for a while (guitarists, vocalists, bassists) I've always been frustrated by the results I get when I try to record drums. But now I have to find something that works. I don't have the best equipment, in fact it's pretty lo-fi (16 bit), so I know not to expect amazing results. I just want to keep it from being embarrassing.

Here's what I got:

1 Rode NT1A LDC
1 AKG Perception LDC
1 AKG Perception SDC
1 Shure Beta bass drum mic
1 Shure SM58
1 Audix instrument mic
Fostex MR16

Some please help me!
 
I really need to know what mics I should use and how to position them.
 
This isn't a gimme, but a simple (or complex, depending on how you look at it) idea to try. If you can swing it, borrow or rent some extra gear. How many tracks are you dedicating to drums? Maybe, just maybe, you can use the mics you have into a little submixer. If the submixer has inserts, try some extra EQ and compression. Especially compress the kick, and probably the snare. Now run stereo out to two tracks on the Fostex.
The Rode is a vocal mic to most people, so leave it our for now. The Beta 52 (if that's what you have) is your kick mic, the Audix(?) can be a snare mic, and the AKG LDC can be an overhead, or put out in front maybe 6' and say about 6' high for an overall drum mic. Don't EQ or compress it.
You know, with just those three mics, maybe you don't need an extra submixer. It's more noise added, so maybe this isn't such a great idea. But it won't hurt to try. You can only record four tracks at once, so you may have to go mono, and have the other three tracks for the rest of the band. So maybe a submix into one track of the Fostex is the answer, making the submix very important.
Recording drums is difficult work, with a lot of preplanning. You may have to tune them differently, and muffle the kick. I always think there is a way to tune and play for 'live' and a way to tune and play for 'recording'.
Don't worry about recording 16-bit and 44.1KHz. The lo-fi sound, if you are careful, can be very retro cool.
 
I'm really hoping to get something of a stereo image. All of my previous recordings sounded so cluttered.
 
Since the recorder only has 4 mic inputs It is going to be hard to record as a band unless you go direct on the other devices.

If that is what you are doing, then I would pick the 2 LDC mics as overheads and use the bass drum mic on kick and the sm58 on snare.
Use the Glyn Johns method for the overheads. (do a google)

Should be fine.
 
We won't be recording live so I'll be able to use up to 16 tracks on it. So far, it seems like the Glyn Johns technique is the closest I'll come to getting what I want. Still looking for other options, though. Any suggestions are appreciated.
 
ClapHands said:
We won't be recording live so I'll be able to use up to 16 tracks on it. So far, it seems like the Glyn Johns technique is the closest I'll come to getting what I want. Still looking for other options, though. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Click to expand...

The Glyn Johns or Recorderman method are your best bet in my opinion. I have 24 inputs and I still only use 4 mics on my drums; Kik, snare and 2 overheads.
 
One thing that tripped me up the first time I tried recording drums was phase. The individual mikes sounded OK but turned into a mess when they were combined into a stereo mix. It turned out that because the mics were at different distances from the drum they were recording the sound was hitting them at slightly different times (apparently sound travels about 1 foot per millisecond) which meant some frequencies were being cancelled out so I had to manually line up the seperate drum tracks so they were perfectly in sync.
 
Honestly, unless you have a figure 8 patterned mic (to do mid-side) my suggestion is your best bet.
Like RAMI, I have 32 channels of good to great converters and some pretty tasty preamps, but I generally stick with 4 to 6 mics.

If you are just getting started the more is not the merrier.
I would be more concerned what the acoustics were like in your room.
 
tmix said:
I would be more concerned what the acoustics were like in your room.
Click to expand...

That's the best advice you can get. Room treatment is (one of) the most important thing, and usually the most over-looked.
 
RAMI said:
That shouldn't be necassarry with proper mic placement and/or using less mics.
Click to expand...

There's probably alot I do that isn't necessary :)

Should I be putting the mics equal distance and concentrate more on what part of the drum they are pointing at?
 
OK, so I've been working with the Glyn Johns technique for the last week, and I'm pleased so far except one thing is kind of bothering me: the snare leans a little to the right. I know that I must be doing something wrong, I just don't know what. I've been using measuring tape to make sure mics are equidistant from the snare drum, but it doesn't seem to help. Does anyone have images of how this setup is supposed to look?
 
Most excellent thread.

I was just readin thru this to see if there was still somethin I could help with...
noticed the posters who have helped...
and ended up with a post like this.
:D

Much wisdom abides here. :cool:



:D
 
So the drums sound great, but I'm thinking I might want to compress it a little bit. Does anyone know of any good settings for this technique?
 
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