Drums Recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter Euan_Fox
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I like a fat kick with a lot of attack (click) the EQ is a lot of low end around 80 hz, a little low mid, and a good bit of high end. I have been playing drums for 30 years and still have trouble sometimes miking a new kit. as mentioned here the best thing you can do is start with a good tuned kit. if they sound like crap live they will sound the same recorded. one cool thing to use if you dont have gates are remo rings, google it. just a plastic ring you lay on the head to take out ring. also mentioned here mic placement on the kick can really change what you get.
 
There is an old saying in Nashville that goes,"You can't polish a turd". The saying was talking about songs, but it applies to sounds also. It doesn't matter what you do, or how you do it, a mediocre set of drums in a bedroom is always going to sound like a mediocre set of drums in a bedroom. Period! You can't polish a turd! LOL!
 
XploZiveToyz said:
There is an old saying in Nashville that goes,"You can't polish a turd". The saying was talking about songs, but it applies to sounds also. It doesn't matter what you do, or how you do it, a mediocre set of drums in a bedroom is always going to sound like a mediocre set of drums in a bedroom. Period! You can't polish a turd! LOL!
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Oh, I have polished many a drum turd. Surprising what you can get away with with the right triggered samples. Still the overheads are what the room and mics give it. Can't polish that at all, so I agree.
 
Yeah....with the editing power of most DAWs, that saying is no longer accurate.
If you know how to use the DAW tools, you can put an absolute sheen on most turds, if you so desire....it's just a lot of work, but very doable for all but the most extreme turd cases.
I'm still surprised sometimes with how much power there is in a DAW to manipulate audio...and the kind of edits that are possible......is insane.

Much easier though to just gently "tweak" an already decent track. :)
 
miroslav said:
Yeah....with the editing power of most DAWs, that saying is no longer accurate.
If you know how to use the DAW tools, you can put an absolute sheen on most turds, if you so desire....it's just a lot of work, but very doable for all but the most extreme turd cases.
I'm still surprised sometimes with how much power there is in a DAW to manipulate audio...and the kind of edits that are possible......is insane.

Much easier though to just gently "tweak" an already decent track. :)
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And much more fun to play with great tones and performances. I find myself 'geeking' out way more than I should. But I suppose not everyone can be everything.

So I polish a bunch of turds with the occasional diamond polishing...
 
What do you use Jimmy, Drumagog or Slate? I like when I make someone sound better than they actually are, and then they don't even acknowledge the fact! LOL! There's many times I've sit for hours making stuff better just to satisfy myself. Damn sure wasn't getting paid for it! LOL! Did you check that link I posted a little while ago about the old mixing boards?
 
XploZiveToyz said:
What do you use Jimmy, Drumagog or Slate? I like when I make someone sound better than they actually are, and then they don't even acknowledge the fact! LOL! There's many times I've sit for hours making stuff better just to satisfy myself. Damn sure wasn't getting paid for it! LOL! Did you check that link I posted a little while ago about the old mixing boards?
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SS Trigger Platinum Deluxe. All the shiz. SSD4 as well.

Yeah man, I spend much time just to make myself happy. Most clients understand the need. Hell, it don't take long to fix a drum track unless it is played like shit. Timing issues take a bunch of time to fix. Enhancement with Trigger is simple and not so time consuming.

I do 2 or 3 tunes a month for a guy that does drum covers in a small room with no treatment and not the greatest mics. It comes out quite good.
 
Did you do the drum replacement for those two videos ^^^...?

It's kinda weird/funny.....the guy does covers, and then has his drums replaced with samples.
He's covering the song, and the samples are covering his drum sound. :D
 
miroslav said:
Did you do the drum replacement for those two videos ^^^...?

It's kinda weird/funny.....the guy does covers, and then has his drums replaced with samples.
He's covering the song, and the samples are covering his drum sound. :D
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Yep. Not replaced though. That is not really possible with a live kit. Enhanced/supported with triggers is a more appropriate way to describe. He still played the track, I just used Trigger to make what he played sound better. It is really that simple.

Not sure how you find it 'weird/funny'. I didn't replace any of his performance with fake drums. Only enhanced the sound of them with samples that were triggered by his performance. Did you not watch the video? The dood played the parts.

That is what Trigger is for man. It not about replacing a drummer with a program...
 
He's playing a cover...and his drums are being covered (you call it "enhanced").
It's a cover of a cover. :D

What do you mean you can't sample replace a "live kit"....???
I don't get what you're saying.
Trigger is a sample replacing program, right... for lousy sounding drum tracks that were played/recorded live by a drummer.
I get it that you can also just layer/blend samples over the existing drums, but that's just a matter of going for the best sound. I mean, there's plenty of people who completely replace the original drums.
 
Dood, have you even taken the time yet to understand what 'Trigger' does? It is layering well recorded samples on top of what was played by a real drummer. It triggers from the actual performance. You can't replace it all without programming the whole performance (replace). I would never do that because it would be sterile and stupid.

The overhead mics will have the whole kit in there. The idea of using samples is to enhance the sound of the individual drums. You can't just replace them.

Come on man, what are you thinking here? 'A cover of a cover'? WTF?

It is just simple enhancement to the sound of the actual performance. Nothing more.
 
You're getting defensive over nothing. :)
It's just funny to me that the guy would take the time to do a cover and then have you "enhance" his drums for it.
That's it.
I wasn't making any comment about his playing or your drum enhancement quality.

AFA what Trigger is/does....I know very well, regardless of the fact that I haven't used it yet. It's nothing complicated to understand. It's a drum replacer....they even call it that on the Slate wesbite.
Like I said, I know you can layer it on top of the existing drums, but you can also completely replace them, and it's not "programming" new playing...since the original drum hits are already there and acting as the "triggers" for the samples...so the "programming" is the original groove played by the drummer....right?

I'm not sure what else you're trying to get at...?

SLATE DIGITAL's TRIGGER is the next generation drum replacement VST/RTAS/AU plugin. TRIGGER has a phase accurate multi layered triggering engine. This means that in one instance of the plugin, you can seamlessly trigger multiple samples simultaneously such as a close mic sample, stereo overhead sample, and a stereo room mic samples. Or, mix many direct mic samples to develop your own custom unique sounds. This multi channel triggering functionality allows the user to recreate the sound of natural drums with real multitracked samples.
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They clearly state on the website that Trigger can be used to replace and recreate the sound of natural drums.
 
Man, you are just trying to provoke an argument by acting as if you didn't say something that makes no sense.

I am not getting defensive. You are making statements that sound as if you do not understand what Trigger does best.

What the hell is funny about someone wanting to make his performance of a drum cover sound better than his recording done in a 'not so ideal' environment?

Trigger is not a 'Drum replacer'. I don't care what you read into what you heard. Use it before you make statements like you have. Yes, you could completely replace drums with the program, but that is absolutely not the purpose or intention of the plug like I and most use it.

Your comment of a drummer doing 'a cover of a cover' is ridiculous. Shall we call adding a reverb a sham as well?

Whatever man. You do what you like and judge as you see fit. All I know is it works for me. I would never judge you or anyone for being fake. Sorry, but I did actually take offense to your comment. If you don't understand why, then we will just agree to disagree.
 
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jimmys69 said:
Man, you are just trying to provoke an argument by acting as if you didn't say something that makes no sense.

I am not getting defensive. You are making statements that sound as if you do not understand what Trigger does best.

What the hell is funny about someone wanting to make his performance of a drum cover sound better than his recording done in a 'not so ideal' environment? You sound like Gerg right now..

Trigger is not a 'Drum replacer'. I don't care what you read into what you heard. Use it before you make statements like you have. Yes, you could completely replace drums with the program, but that is absolutely not the purpose or intention of the plug like I and most use it.
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Jimmy...take a chill pill doood.
You're the one getting uptight and taking this as some negative swipe by me at the guy's playing or the "enhancement" you did.
Not at all what I was saying. I'll try one more time.
The whole damn video is funny to me... :D ....because the guy intentionally goofs around when he's playing....he's trying to be funny. I was just amused by all that, and the fact that it's a cover, and then his drums are "covered" (as in - layered over) by your samples...get it?


AFA what Trigger does....
Don't be fooled by the fact that I just got the app. I know very well what it does. I've know about drum replacement apps for quite awhile and I've done plenty of research as to which one I was going to buy. That's why I asked all those questions about Trigger...I was looking for details that would set it apart from the other apps.
It's a drum replacer....that's what they ALL are.
That's how it's advertised, that's how it's sold, and that's how it's used....but YES...you can also use it to layer/enhance existing drums.
For you to say that it's purpose and intent is NOT to replace drums....???....well, maybe you're assuming that because you primarily use it as an enhancer, WHICH IS COOL....but people in pro and home studios *REPLACE* drum tracks completely all the time.
Drumagog was the big one that started it all, I believe, and is still used in many studios, and you have Trigger, and there are a few other apps that do the same thing in various ways.

I'm not saying your way of using it is wrong or that enhancing is wrong or that you have to replace...or any of that....but you can't say that Trigger is not intended for drum replacement. :)

Slate Digital even describes Trigger's purpose as drum *replacement*...here it's in their video demo, they say "replacement" about a dozen times...and correct me if I'm wrong, but the Mix setting in the video demo is constantly set to 100%...which means what we are hearing are 100% samples that have replaced the original drum sounds.





There's no arguing from me here at all...but your trying to dismiss the strongest selling point of Trigger and other drum replacers, and you're even implying that drum replacement is not the norm or that it's not what's the best way to go...or something....???
 
Dood, stop being such a ****. I don't give a shit about what things are advertised as.

You always come up with arguments just for the sake of arguing. Please stop.

Use the software as you wish man. I could care less what Drumagog or SS Trigger is sold as.

You found something funny about something that is not funny to me. It doesn't even make sense to me why you think that someone would not want to sound as good as they can. Whether a drum cover guy or a client in the studio, the job of the studio/engineer is to get the best possible sound possible. Done.
 
jimmys69 said:
It doesn't even make sense to me why you think that someone would not want to sound as good as they can. Whether a drum cover guy or a client in the studio, the job of the studio/engineer is to get the best possible sound possible.
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Huh?
Where did I say/imply that I thought someone should/would not want to sound as good as they can...?

It was just a silly play on words....the whole "cover/cover" thing. I never thought you would get so upset about it.
He's covering a song, and your samples are covering his original drum sound = "cover/cover".
That's it.
It's that simple....there was no other implication...none, nada, zip.


The part of the conversation about Trigger and its purpose....
I'm not trying to argue with you...really....or tell you how YOU or anyone should use Trigger...but you saying that drum replacement is "absolutely not the purpose or intention of the plug like I and most use it"....well, that's just not that case, at least not how many other people use it.
I mean...you can use it for "enhancement"...but that's just one way and really, not the main intent of Trigger by any/all accounts.
Please....bounce around the net a bit, read how other people use Trigger and other drum replacers like it, and don't just keep saying "I don't care".

How believable anyone can make 100% drum replacement sound....is up to the song, the mix, the choice of samples, the person using the tool, etc, etc.....and that's no different than using SSD4 or EZ/SD.
It's all about the use of high-quality samples along with and/or to completely replace, crappy sounding drums done in less than adequate rooms with poor mics and techniques.

Didn't we just have an agreement about how it IS possible to polish turds these days with the DAW tools at hand? :)
 
....and just in case you STILL don't believe that there was no "slight" intended.

I thought the guy was pretty good (just funny) in the video, and that you did a nice job with his drums.
Honestly. :)
 
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