Investiment recomendations to enhance drum recording

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vcneves

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Hi All,

I know this is not a easy question, but regarding drum recording, I would like to hear from you some investments ideas to enhance my drum recording experiences. In other words, I would like to know a good cost/benefit investment you would recomend based on your personal experiences.

I have already done some investments in my home studio on soundproofing and acoustic treatment. I have a mackie 1620 "firewired" to my notebook and I generally mic the drum kit as the following: drum bass (shure beta52), snare (shure 57), 1 rack tom (shure 58), 1 floor tom (shure beta 57), overhead (2x behringer c2) and room (2x behringer c1).

I'm looking for tips such as 1) to replace the overhead mics for 2x shure sm81 or 2) to buy the external pre-amp device XYZ or 3) to add a mic to start recording hi-hat or

To make it more objective. please consider a USD 1K budget.

Thanks in advance
Virgilio
 
vcneves said:
I'm looking for tips such as 1) to replace the overhead mics for 2x shure sm81 or 2) to buy the external pre-amp device XYZ or 3) to add a mic to start recording hi-hat or...
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4) Hire Neil Peart

What exactly do you feel is lacking in you current drum recording?
If you know that...then you can plan your investment better.
 
vcneves said:
I have already done some investments in my home studio on soundproofing and acoustic treatment.
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Can you be more specific concerning this? Usually, one is detrimental to the other. What kind of "sound proofing" have you done? What kind of "room treatment" have you done?

As far as mics go, you'll get a million suggestions as to what mics you "need", but it looks like you're already pretty set there.

I definitely wouldn't waste money on a hi-hat mic. I'm not even sure you need the 2 room mics, but if they work for you, then it's not my place to tell you that you don't need them without knowing more or hearing your drum tracks.

Miroslav's question is very relevant. What is it you don't like about your drum recordings? Seems to me you shouldn't need to spend another penny. It's probably more about proper tuning, proper mic placement, proper levels, etc....

There are a few people on this site that get awesome drum tracks using less mics than you, plugged straight into whatever they're recording into.
 
Thanks Miroslav and RAMI!!!!

In general I'm happy with the results and I may be trapped to the never ending quest for the perfect drum recording sound, but I confess this is part of the fun for me and probably to most people here :-))

Regarding soundproofing/acoustic treatment I 've done basically three things: 1) created a "second" door and window, both made of wood and placed from the inside, 2) added a 4 mm flat cardboard layer all over the room and 3) (you may laugh now) added another layer with egg boxes ( Paper_Egg_Tray_Paper_Egg_Boxes.webp)

There a two things that bother me most today:
1) I felt overhead mics recordings could be better. The celling is not low and I have played around mic position quite a bit, but the sound doesn't have the tone/color I expect. I tend to blame the cheap mic I have for this job (2x behringer C2). Would a ribbon mic more capable of being closer to what I'm hearing accousticly?

2) Bass Drum recordings have a great sound but the level is a bit low what pushes all the other pieces down when mixing. I felt specially uncomfortble with the overall level of my recordings when comparing to professional ones that play in the radio. Would compression be a solution here?

Thanks again
Virgilio
 
1. There is no perfect drum *sound*...each song, production and music style will/can be different, so you have to decide if you are getting what you need for your project(s), and then proceede from there AFA changing your room or your gear or your techniques.

2. If you are mainly intersted in discussing soundproofing and acoustic treatment...try the Studio Building forum, but if you bring up cardboard and egg trays, duck...'cuz those things are not considered of any real value in a studio environment.
 
Cardboard and egg cartons aren't room treatments or soundproofing, but they do pose a substantial fire hazard. I would get rid of that stuff ASAP.

Real room treatments would involve fiberglass soundboard and maybe some Helmholz resonators, depending on the room dimensions and the room mode.
 
Oy Vei!.....I'm not even sure where to start.

I'll say this: If you're not happy with your drum recordings, I can guarantee you it's not because of your mic collection.

If you're not happy with your overhead sound, it probably has less to do with your mics and everything to do with what you think you did for "sound-proofing" and "sound treatment". First of all you haven't "sound proofed" anything. Second of all, cardboard and egg carton are probably in the top 5 worst things you can do to a room, so you haven't "sound treated" anything either. If anything, you made it worse.

Like someone else said, you should go into the STUDIO BUILD forum on this site. There's a wealth of information that can help you out a lot. Until then, I'd recommend you don't spend another penny on mics or pre-amps, because you probably don't need to.
 
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You would get SOOO much more help if you posted a sound sample. You could get even more help by posting the individual tracks to mix. You would be surprised at the mixing talents here. Of course, mixing is not going to solve all of your problems. Placement, tuning, room sound, and playing will.
 
This may be obvious but it always bears repeating:

Make sure your drums sound good before you put up a microphone.;)
 
OP - Rami and Greg_L are two really good drummers and, more importantly for your question, recorders of their drumming.

Strikes me you have quite a few variables in your set up already. I'd suggest you listen to some of Rami's and Greg's tunes, compare the drums, in the context of the music, with what you're getting, and ask them in particular more specific questions.

Spending money on gear is always fun, but you may not need to at this stage.

*apologies to any other drummers in this thread I've not mentioned....* :D
 
Thanks Guys!!! I still believe I did "sound-proofing" and "sound treatment", maybe not good ones :D But seriously, as a newbie I must acknowledge all inputs here, but my ears still tell me those cardboards have improved the recordings. Am I crazy? Deaf? Both? :D

Just letting clear, I'm not a pro and don't work in audio recording industry, just a guy who likes to play some instruments on spare time and found himself recently interested on audio recordings too.

Armistice, that's a very wise advice. Thanks! Where can I get those tunes?

Other question: how can I post samples here? I can't upload audio files neither external links. It seems I can't get myself any newbier :D

Here goes a picture from my home studio for "HomeRecording.com" creepy home studios gallery archive
View attachment 65986
 
I have no clue why you can't upload stuff... Did you try using a website like Megaupload or Dropbox?
 
If you heard your drums in a properly treated room you would begin to understand that the cardboard isn't helping improve your situation.

Sound-proofing and sound treatment are two different solutions. Cardboard isn't a factor in any of the equations that lead to those solutions.
 
squibble94 said:
I have no clue why you can't upload stuff... Did you try using a website like Megaupload or Dropbox?
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It seems I need to perform five posts before being able to add external hyperlinks. One less now :D
 
RAMI said:
Some people still believe in Santa Claus. Doesn't mean he exists. :D Believe me, you didn't do either. Possibly. :eek:
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Are you saying Santa Claus doesn't exist?! Now you hit me :D

But OK, I have never recorded a drum kit on a professional studio. So I can't really make any meaningfull comparison but my basement experiences. I confess sound treatment sounds less fun to me than buying new gears, but I guess I needed to hear that, right? Thanks Sami
 
c7sus said:
If you heard your drums in a properly treated room you would begin to understand that the cardboard isn't helping improve your situation.

Sound-proofing and sound treatment are two different solutions. Cardboard isn't a factor in any of the equations that lead to those solutions.
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Agreed partially. Cardboard and wood has some mass and mass should help on sound-proofing. I promise to bring my neightboors testmonials anyday here :D

But I really understand you guys. It's like saying to a wine expert that adding vinegar to his glass would make the wine taste better. Anyway, essentially we are talking about human senses which leads to personal and subjective opinions. Said that I'm not ready yet to avoid the common sense and I'm considering to replace egg boxes with other stuff
 
vcneves said:
essentially we are talking about human senses which leads to personal and subjective opinions.
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I don't want to dwell on this because I know one day you'll realize that what you're saying is wrong. ...But this isn't about anything that leads to "subjective opinions". It's about scientific fact. Wood and cardboard do NOTHING for sound-proofing. Period. Dress it up all you want. You're wrong, Steeve.
 
RAMI said:
Wood and cardboard do NOTHING for sound-proofing. Period.
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It surely does SOMETHING and now I know I'm not deaf, thanks again! Crazy is still a possibility :D

As I've said before, I'm considering to replace it with other stuff: coconut shells or crocodile tiles are in my list. Just kidding...

Anyway, I felt my main goal here is not being achieved. Said that I really apreciated all the answers and hope I can get the drum sound I want eventually

Cheers
 
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