another short clip of my drums (not raw)

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skiz

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hey guys, so i took your advice and moved my kit out from the corner of that room and put some sound proofing behind the kit on the wall

tuned my kick lower and moved my overheads infront of the kit but still pointing at the snare. *and still only one kick track

let me know what you think, also these are not raw these have EQ, compression, and reverb.

using my marshal MXL 604's as overheads, beta52 on the kick, audix I-5 snare top and ive added another audix I-5 snare bottom to this recording

(and yes i reversed the phase on the bottom snare mic)

what do you think?



****EDIT****

ok so i feel like a bit of an idiot but i actually forgot to invert the phase on the snare and thought i did... so here is the same clip with the bottom snare mic inverted.. sorry about that

 
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nice aggressive sound overall. i have recorded worse sounding drums more times than i care to admit. in a perfect world, i would use some creative eq-ing to bring out the toms without boosting the cymbals. they sound good (the toms), but are getting lost. from the beat you demoed with, i would imagine strong toms are important to the music you will record. also, the snare is kind of sharp and thin. however, it will probably cut nicely in a full band mix. the flip is, it will probably lose more body as other instruments (read: heavy guitars) are mixed into its space. seems like the mids are pulled down into that familiar smiley-face territory. i realize that a lot of subtle tonalities are lost in a typical mp3 conversion. i like the fullness of the kick--- i am tired of those papery "ticky" dealies you hear in a lot of heavier music.

really, it is kind of hard to predict what a kit will sound like in its intended context. perhaps someone can be a little more specific.

a
 
Sometimes it can be helpful to to invert the polarity/phase of the kick drum. You should zoom in and see if the kick is in phase in the overheads. if it's not, try inverting the phase while listening to just the overheads and kick. If it sounds better, leave it. If it sounds worse, don't

It sounds pretty good though. The snare is pretty deftone's like. The kick sounds like it would get lost in most rock/metal mixes though.
 
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oh ok cool donkey

i went back to my mix and i had EQ'd the overheads by cutting the mids (300-700) and boosting some higher freqs to get the cymbals brighter. the mid cuts were killing my tom sound

i took off the mid cuts and the toms really really come out much better. really decent volume and they sound great so im happy with that, thanks a lot!
 
Big improvement!

Um, I didn't hear much toms in those clips. The snare isn't the way I like a snare to sound, but I've heard a lot of drummers that really want that sound. In the first clip the snare sounds like a typical chrome snare and in the second it sounds like a wooden snare with the wires pulled too tight. I agree that you need more presence with the kick. I'd like it to be a lot fatter sounding. The cymbals actually have a lot of character now (I'm not sure it's exactly what you'd want, but I like it). They sound thinner with more sizzle and a faster decay.
 
thanks for the post rimshot,

do you think the kick is lacking presence because of the tuning and mic placement or because of the eq and compression ive put on it?

listening to it again now i definitely agree that it needs more presence tho
 
This is a good guess....

I think that the raw signal coming in from the kick needs to be as close to what you want as possible first. Then you won't need to do as much with your EQ and FX. For the type of music you're playing, you need that "pounding in your chest" kick drum sound, and what I'm hearing is "jazz club" kick.(which is what I do)
Mic placement, and tuning and a rearranging of your dampening on the kick will be the answer I think.
 
The kick is kinda boomy - like it's boosted in the 50-60 range maybe? Maybe try keeping the kick EQ flat in the lows, scoop around 400, and boost up high to find some attack. Also, where's the mic? Sounds like it's just inside the resonant head. I'd get that thing up near the beater. Speaking of beater, what kind are you using? A felt beater naturally doesn't have the smack that a plastic or wood beater does.

As for the rest, it's getting better, but still needs work. That snare sounds pretty terrible. Way ringy and kinda weak. But, it's your call there. Some people like their bell-snares. It may sound okay in a mix. The toms sound dead. I don't know if thats the heads, tuning, mics, or whatever. I won't even get into the bashed up cymbals. :D
 
the toms sound dead because of the eq i stupidly put on the overheads. i scooped out 400-700 and it really killed them

i went back and took out that cut and the toms sound really nice, just dont have a clip for you, ill upload one later if you'd like to hear?
 
oh and to answer your question bout the kick

yeah im boosting bout 60 - 90 hz so i guess i should be boosting like, 125?

or even leaving it flat?

im using plastic beaters, and the mic is about 3inches away from the batter head inside the drum, and pointed straight at the beaters so it cant be that its too far out cause its definitely in there. perhaps i have left the batter head too loose? ill give that a little tighten tomorrow maybe.

and as for my snare... i know it sounds horrible i really hate the sound. really dunno what to do tho. i think the head might not be ideal for it tho, im using a 2ply head and i really think i should go out and try out a singly ply head and mayb try tune the reso head a little better...

you also reckon the wires are too tight?
 
skiz said:
oh and to answer your question bout the kick

yeah im boosting bout 60 - 90 hz so i guess i should be boosting like, 125?

or even leaving it flat?

im using plastic beaters, and the mic is about 3inches away from the batter head inside the drum, and pointed straight at the beaters so it cant be that its too far out cause its definitely in there. perhaps i have left the batter head too loose? ill give that a little tighten tomorrow maybe.

and as for my snare... i know it sounds horrible i really hate the sound. really dunno what to do tho. i think the head might not be ideal for it tho, im using a 2ply head and i really think i should go out and try out a singly ply head and mayb try tune the reso head a little better...

you also reckon the wires are too tight?
Click to expand...

No way. A single-play head will just ring more. Everyone's tastes vary, so you're gonna have to play with it. I personally like "rock style" snare batter heads with a dot in the middle. Pretty dead, but tune it pretty tight. It gives a nice loud crack with minimal ring. I doubt the wires are too tight. It does still sound like a snare - just a gross one. If they were too tight you'd get no snare effect at all and it would just sound like a tight-ass tom.

For your kick - stop boosting. Don't boost it anywhere, cut frequencies from the low-mids and see what happens. you don't need all that boom. You need more attack. cut the mud out in the mids and see what happens.

Just my 2 cents.
 
i too like that rock sound for snare but just cant find it..

would you recommend the evans power centre? or evens reverse power centre for that?
 
greg, one thing i wanted to know is if my mic technique is severely lacking and that may be the reason i get such a shitty snare sound?

heres a clip of just my overheads so you can hear the snare without the close mic, and let me know what you think? i still think the snare its self sounds a bit crap but let me know.


by the way i really appreciate all the help and tips im getting on this site, its really helping me come a long way from when i started so thanks a lot!
 
I think I just hate your snare

It doesn't crack and I'm really not hearing the snare wires the right way. Is it tuning? Is it the heads? or is it just a real crappy snare drum? It is so obviously WRONG for your drumming.
I'm of the school of : "garbage in-garbage out". If your instrument does sound right going in, then sure with a lot of EQ and modelling and electronic alchemy, you can make it sound a lot better............ but it ceases to be your drumming at that point and ever so much more about the machine.
 
im using remo emperor as batter and evans hazy 500 for reso.

i bought the hazy as they didnt have clear 14" ambassador at the time and i really want to try get an ambassador on there and see if it sounds any better.

i really dont know hey i mean i know my tuning skills arnt great but i get my toms sounding nice i just struggle with snare.

as for the snare its self its just the snare that came along with my gretch carribean birch kit. dont think its an amazing snare but im sure it should be able to sound a bit better than it does currently..

ugh this is really annoying cause ive been playing with the tuning today and cant seem to get a great mic'd sound out of it hey.. but i dont have the money for ANY new equipment at the moment..
 
skiz said:
yeah im boosting bout 60 - 90 hz so i guess i should be boosting like, 125?

or even leaving it flat?
Click to expand...

You've got to decide that for yourself by what your ears tell you. Don't worry about "numbers". You might have to boost (or preferably cut) a frequency(s) that you never read anyone mentioning in book or a post.

As has been mentioned, a lot of times cutting the boomy frequency(s) is preferable to boosting the ones you think you don't hear. A good way to do this is to narrow the "Q" on your parametric EQ, boost the gain and sweep through the frequencies. You'll hear the most obvious culprits this way because those frequencies will "sing" or "hum" right out at you. Usually, anywhere from 150-400hz, you'll hear the really box-y frequencies, usually when you get up around the 200-250hz mark.

It can also depend on your room. In my old place, my kik drum was really boomy at 150hz. In my new place, it really hums out at 175hz, so I cut usually that.

By the way, your drums don't sound bad at all. A little more snap on the snare (try tightening up both skins), and a little less boom on the kik and you're on your way.
 
thanks a lot rami, i really appreciate it!

ill give that a shot, it makes a lot of sence especially the whole different rooms means different frequencies will react in different ways.

im pretty happy with my kit. its just that damn snare! but ive gone back to that prof sounds tuning bible and read up a bit more on snare tuning and im gonna give that a go too. i havnt really paid much attention to tuning the reso skin higher than the batter and i think a little more detail to tuning might be the trick so ill keep on trying!
 
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