2-microphone drumset recording

[ShawnT]

Hi. I'll start by saying I'm so broke it ain't even a joke.

So, I cannot really afford mics right now.

My guitarist friend and I have been assembling songs for a couple months now. I'm still learning about mixing, eq, all that. I use Adobe Audition and various VST plugins. I have a Shure Sm58 and a Creative Labs headset mic I ripped off a broken headset. Yeah. I'm serious. I have no mixers, preamps, no real equipment other than a drumset, some instruments, a mic stand and those 2 mics.

So, to record drumset, I typically mic the snare with the Sm58 (1.5 inches in from the rim, 2 inches above the batter head) and position the headset mic on a pillow about 8 inches in front of the bass drum pointed in toward the beater.

Most of the time, I play as normal, but don't use any crashes. The crashes I normally drop in later in Audition so I can control volume, decay, etc.

I recorded a sample a few minutes ago using this mic setup, and this time I did use a splash and crash while playing. Please listen to the samples and tell me whether this is acceptable quality for say, demo purposes.

The first sample is completely unprocessed: fileden.com/files/2008/9/4/2080854/Raw%20Drums.mp3

The second sample is the same file processed a bit: fileden.com/files/2008/9/4/2080854/Processed%20Drums.mp3

You have to do the "www" thing in front of those, the BBS wouldn't let me!

Please listen to them and tell me what you think. Yes, I know the track is busy, no I wasn't using a click!

Thanks so much,

Shawn

 

[Tag]

The snare sounds good (Personally I'd damp it a bit, but that's a style issue not a mic one!) - not surprisingly as I seem to remember that an SM58 is a perfectly acceptable, if not totally usual, 'pro' choice for micing the top of the snare. The rest of the kit is maybe a little weak by comparison - the snare seems very dominant to me. You're getting a nice thump on the bass after it's processed, though perhaps a bit lacking in body. It's not at all a bad sound, and demonstrates your drumming talent fine, but I think you might find the snare a bit overpowering when trying to mix with other instruments.

If you're looking for an alternative way to use your mics, 'Sound on Sound' had an interesting article a few months back about Daptone Studios, where Amy Winehouse's last album was recorded), and where they record in the spirit of the 60s and 70s funk classics.

'Drums usually get one or two microphones, and that's about double the number everything else gets. The RCA DX77 or the Shure 55 often goes on the floor next to the bass drum in such a way that it picks up the snare, as well. "From the drummer's point of view, if you looked down between the snare and the kick drum, you'd see it about a foot or two away from the snare," [Gabriel Roth] explains. "The second microphone is often in the same spot as the first but adds different frequencies. Sometimes the one and only mic is over or behind the drummer's head. Sometimes the only mic is a Radio Shack dynamic."

'In one scenario from a Winehouse session, he placed both a DX77 and a Shure 55 close together on the floor, then boosted the high-mids on the DX77 and cut the low-mids, around 400Hz, on the 55, resulting in less definition but way more chunk.'

(Full article in Sound on Sound June '08, or from at the Sound on Sound website, with subscription.)

He goes on to explain that this position is the key to a lot of what you hear on old soul records - for example, the toms getting quieter as they go down in pitch; it's just because they're moving away from the single mic (this can be heard on Amy Winehouse's 'Rehab'; look for Sharon Jones or Daktaris if you want to hear more of Daptone Studios' stuff). If you're OK with that vibe, that might be a good thing to try with your two mics. Or you could compromise by using that position for your main kit mix, then adding in a bit more 'thump' from the headset mic positioned nearer to the bass drum. That might give a better balance between your snare and the rest of your kit, and let you put crashes in live with a better balance.

Alternatively, if you want more of a modern, 'processed' feel, and find you can't get totally happy with your bass drum sound, you could use the signal from your headset mic to trigger a bass drum sample.

 

[ShawnT]

Thanks for the input TAG, I really appreciate all the info. That's interesting about the Winehouse recordings. I had no idea you could do so much with so little. I guess you have to have the right mic

Regarding the processed/raw tracks I posted, the snare is a bit high in the mix, and the bass drum is a little lacking especially in the processed sample. Actually, that was a poor example of "processed", as I always process to suit the song, never just for drums alone. I have recorded punk, metal, blues and even rap songs and they all sound different - as they should. The kick is always represented better in the songs final mix. Maybe I should have posted a song clip, not just drums. Oh well!

I would love to know how to trigger sounds, but right now I have no idea how to do that with my basic setup. I'll look into it, though.

 

[Tag]

I don't think that Roth is using significantly more expensive mics than you are - the Shure 55 is just a dynamic vocal mic, marginally higher-end than the SM58, but only ~$150 vs. ~$100; and, as he says, sometimes he'll just use a cheap Radio Shack dynamic, which will be a lower-quality mic than your 58. I think the 58 would work fine for this kind of approach; you will get a very particular vibe out of the one-mic approach, though, which may not be what you want.

If you want to try drum triggering, there's a Sound on Sound article (I don't work for them, honest, I just read the magazine so when I come across a question it often reminds me of something I've read there) which is on their website now about drum triggering - I can't link to it because I'm new here, so you'll have to go to soundonsound (dot) com, and search for "drum triggering" - there's an article called 'Drum Triggering in Cubase' which mentions some free software that can do this for you - KTDrumTrigger (google it) seems to be the most functional (though also hardest to use) software, or Boxsounds Replacer for a much simpler approach (though it's PC only - you didn't say what platform you're using). Obviously you'll need to transfer their instructions from Cubase to your own setup, but the plugins should work with Audition.

 

[mshilarious]

Hang the headset mic above your right shoulder, and put the 58 on kick.

 

[Elapses]

OK, I don't know about adobe software but you could try this:

Try the setup Tag suggested or play around until you have an even mix of the entire kit (maybe try two mics - one in front and one behind the kit, etc). Do a good take as tight as you can to a click, and then lay sampled kicks, hats, snares etc, over the top of the track you recorded live. I have seen this done in some big studios and it sounds great... Plus you can use your own samples using the sm58 (sampling each piece of the kit individually).

Experimentation is the key to innovation!

 

[ShawnT]

Thanks, I'll try those suggestions. I'll let you know how it turns out.