A little help Recording Drums

  • Thread starter Thread starter TragikRemix
  • Start date Start date
TragikRemix

TragikRemix

I am NOT a Gear Whore. ;)
I seem to be having a bit of trouble recording drums. Im using a 1970's Ludwig Vistalite, 7 piece, but i took out a bunch of pieces for easier recording (?). i have:
22" Kick- Akg d112
14" Snare- SM57 on top, (i have another sm57, but i dont get a good sound on the bottem)
13" Rack, 16" Floor- OH's are akg c430's
zildjian z custom 14" hats
paiste signature 20" prototype ride
18" advedis zildjian crash
14" Paiste 2002 crash
(also have 8, 12 racks, and an 18 floor)

so i only hit the hats, kick, and snare, im just trying to get a decent sounding steady beat, (into a digi002 and imac g5) so i can play some guitar and bass over it.

it just sounds bad. i try eq, compression and limiting, but i dont know what i am doing. i dont expect you to sit here and tell me everything, but could somebody point me in the right direction, with a good link or something?

it will be appreciated greatly, because ive spent way too much money on this gear, for somebody my age, and i cant use it because i belong in Special Education Audio Production.
 
How are the overheads setup? XY? You may need to add delay to the snare drum so its in-phase with the overheads



-jeffrey
 
i just kinda have them there... on is over the crash, tom and hihat, and the other is over the floor tom and ride.
 
Tragik, I had the same problems recording our drummer. We found the answer is to mic the snare and hi-hats with one mic (SM57), one sm57 between the 10 & 12, one sm57 between the 14 & floor tom, one inside the bass drum and two over heads to cover the crashes and ride. You'll need to back off the crashes a pretty good bit or they are going to overpower your sound. With this setup, we get a great sound from the snare and the hi-hats are as crisp as a craker. With the tom setup, we're able to pan the toms. the bass is still an issue but we think we can fix the problem with a bass drum mic instead of using the sm57. Good luck
 
You could try:

57 on snare,
D112 on kick,
C430 aranged so they are pointing like:
image006.jpg

(corner)
or
drumkit2.jpg


It takes a bit of practice and a lot of luck to get the mic'ing down right, I don't own any good mic's so I stick a mic on the snare/bass then have one pointed so it will pick up the ride/one tom/floor tom/crash and the other so it will get the hi-hat/tom/crash/some snare, it's all about getting the right stereo image of your kit and a dab of compression goes a long way.

this has worked decently for me:
P6030008.jpg




-jeffrey
 
OhSh1rt said:
You could try:

57 on snare,
D112 on kick,
C430 aranged so they are pointing like:
image006.jpg

(corner)
or
drumkit2.jpg


It takes a bit of practice and a lot of luck to get the mic'ing down right, I don't own any good mic's so I stick a mic on the snare/bass then have one pointed so it will pick up the ride/one tom/floor tom/crash and the other so it will get the hi-hat/tom/crash/some snare, it's all about getting the right stereo image of your kit and a dab of compression goes a long way.

this has worked decently for me:
P6030008.jpg




-jeffrey
Click to expand...


if thats your kit in the last photo, you should work on your tom angles a little bit, that may seem comfortable to you, but try making them even if you know how to!
 
JoeyPazera said:
if thats your kit in the last photo, you should work on your tom angles a little bit, that may seem comfortable to you, but try making them even if you know how to!
Click to expand...
It's my drummer's, when I play my kit (shitty) it's setup way diffrent


-jeffrey


edit: and Yes, I do know how losen something and move it, not to hard. fool.
 
im going to try all the above styles. i think the 57 betweent the hats and snare might be good for me... from the looks of it, i also have to raise the OH's quite a bit... maybe thats why they've been clipping even with the gain way low.
 
what kind of room are you in? i find it different for every set and every room, so the key is put your head phones on and havce someone play the kit while you move the mic's to find the "sweet spot" for every mic.
 
eh, the room = no good...

7ft cielings, if that.., aboout 20X15, but filled with oversized amps, pa speakers, plus the studio desk and everything else... its kinda tight.

walls= hollow, which is supposadly the worst scenario.
cieling, i have the foam that goes under the carpet stapled to the cieling directly over the kit, and also on the wall behind the kit. it's a rough setup, and no room for improvement, because im not putting money into my parent's basement...

although, i have an idea... i could get some studio foam, bass traps or whatever and just velcro them to the walls and cieling, so when i move out, i can take them with me!
i need to read more on that kinda thing though.

i dont know what im listening for when looking for the sweet spot. it sounds very much the same to my "untrained" ears...
 
Although the room size does have something to do with your overall sound, you can work with the mics to get the optimal sound out of what you have to work with. You are going to have to put in some nerve-wracking time to find the "sweetspot" for each phase of your drum set. Try this.....

mic the snare and hi-hat like i mentioned in my earlier post. Then play/record a few taps of the snare then the hi hat. Play them back to see if you got the sound you're looking for. If not, adjust the mic, then repeat the play/record until you find the right sound.

Next, go to the toms and do the play/record thing. Adjust until you get the right sound. and so on.

You mentioned that you're getting clipping on your overheads. Back off on the crashes more that you would your ride cause you would normally hit those alot harder than the ride.

Just keep this in mind. When you play the whole set at once, you're gonna hear some snare and over head on the tom mics, your gonna hear some tom and overhead on the snare-hat mic....that's where your volume levels will be important. It usually takes anywhere from 2 to 6 hours of working with the mic and volume levels to get the sound you want. by all means, when you find the right sound, write down your settings and mic distances so you won't have to do it over again should you have to move your set for any reason. Again, Good Luck!
 
Have your Tried Close Micing every Piece?? That is what I do on my Crappy CB700 Kit ($400) and it sounds Quite Good....

I have a Mic on my Snare and on all 3 Toms and 2 on my Bass Drum(One Dynamic inside and a Home made Condenser just inside the Hole) and I have 2 Overheads (home made Condensers) all going into a 8 Channel Mixer out into my DAW and I get a Great Sound considering I am useing 8 Mics that cost a Total of under $100.....

I use those Cheap Mic Clips and they seem to work quite well.....

cheers
 
1. Drums, Heads, and Tuning - Most important - New heads are a good idea. Tuning them well is very, very important. I've never recorded vistalites, but I've heard they can be challenging -- probably better for live playing than for tracking -- but you should be able to get a usable sound. You may need some moongels or other dampening for recording.

2. Room Acoustics - As drums are very loud and reverberant, and you use the overhead condensers to capture a large part of the sound, your room is critical. Carpet/Foam/Blankets will tame some high frequency reflections, but without proper bass trapping, your recordings will still sound muddy. For Cheap bass traps, put furniture/matresses in the corners. See the studio building forum for more tips.

3. Mics & Placement - Seems like you have some decent mics, so focus on placement (after addressing #'s 1&2 first). There are lots of ways to do it. I would stick to a basic 4-mic setup (kick, snare, 2xOH) with overheads in an XY (to minimize phase problems). Plan to spend at least 1 hour placing each mic...seriously. You have to find the sweet spot, which will vary based on your drums, room, heads, drummer, and what sound you want.

Here are a couple of different drumming tutorials to check out, too:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=39030&highlight=recorderman
http://www.danalexanderaudio.com/glynjohns.htm
http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html
http://www.shure.com/stellent/group...ts/web_resource/us_pro_micsmusicstudio_ea.pdf
 
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