60's Drums?

[michaelwookey]

I want to get that classic 50's/60's drum sound, where it sounds very roomy etc. Examples of this can be found on various old recordings, -anything by The Doors, Buddy Holly and lots of stuff.

I have a Rode NTK and 2 GT33's, and a twintrak pro. Any ideas on how to get the sound I'm after would be greatly appreciated. I want to know where to put the mics, how much compression to use (if any), and anything else - specific drums?

Thanks.

Michael Wookey

 

[patlang12]

I don't know much about drums, but most of the bands you are talking about used just one mic on drums.

 

[BroKenSticKs]

i'd say mess around with room mics....maybe some overheads, and u might want to mic the kick so u have more control of it when mixing.

 

[dadadam]

i only have two inputs on my multi-track, a BR-8 from boss and it is 6 years old. i don't know how to mic a thrashing drum without missing a part of the the kit or having too much of the toms. i have a Sm58 and a seinheiser i can't remember the name.
Should i buy a mixer and get more dynamic mics or what?

can someone help me?

 

[dr.colossus]

as far as a sixties sound goes i would look at minimal micing. look at even just one l/d condenser out the front of the kit about six foot, snare hieght pointing straight at the snare.. option two is ld condensor o/h and an ld condensor on the kick (you can get away with an orindary dynamic kick mic here though). would type more but am now late for work

 

[vanguard]

it also helps to have a vintage drum kit. modern drums are made differently these days as far as the shape of the cut on the shells. You're not going to be able to get a pearl export series drum kit to sound like anything but a modern kit.

there are things you can do to treat the kit to get that dead sound.

If you tune the snare drum pretty low and put a light rag over the head you can get some pretty cool "old" sounding effects.

I also like to cut a small hole in the center of a washcloth and put it in between the high hats. it makes them sound old and trashy. (the hole is for the high rod to go through so the rag sits evenly between the cymbals).

as for micing, I would rely more on the room mics if you're wanting it to sound roomy (obviously). But I've had some luck with close mics on treated drums to get that vintage sound.

 

[PhilGood]

I think the biggest obstacle you're going to encounter is the right room. Most 60s records were in big huge studios, sometimes designed to produce the desired amount of reverberation. Unless you've got a good reverb module that you can fake it.

 

[dadadam]

I think the biggest obstacle you're going to encounter is the right room. Most 60s records were in big huge studios, sometimes designed to produce the desired amount of reverberation. Unless you've got a good reverb module that you can fake it.

ok
i am recording a hardcore band that sounds like hell, really fast.
the drum is in fact a pearl export and the cymbals are 21inch large.
it is true the drum's sounding pretty "new school".
but all the guitars are playing vintage amps. and i want the sound to be
clean but large and kinda live sounding. thanks for the advices anyways, i'll try room mics..maybe i am in the wrong thread. i'll check out somewhere else.

By the way what is ld condenser o/h?
i am french canadian so i have some difficulties with abreviations sometimes.

 

[dr.colossus]

it also helps to have a vintage drum kit. modern drums are made differently these days as far as the shape of the cut on the shells. You're not going to be able to get a pearl export series drum kit to sound like anything but a modern kit.

This was going to be my next point had i had time yesterday. what you put in is what you get out.

an l/d condenser is a large diaphragm condensor, such as Rode nt1, mxl v67, sp b1 etc etc. dadadam, i think most of the responses are in reference to michaelwookey's question, you might get some help if you perhaps start a new thread in the drum forum.